First ride

[falcophil]

Well I picked my bike up Friday night and took it for its first 130 mile ride sat morning, here is my tuppence worth-
Started on damp roads and fairly low temp so with new tyres and 5000 rev limit was talking it steady, its a very confidence inspiring bike to ride, it feels very light and with the riding postion is very like my CRF250L - but quicker! no problems getting feet down (i,m 5,10 but with short legs!)
Out i the main roads I played with the screen, low position was far better as high seemed to bring its own gail force winds!
The handling is sublime and its a blast in the twisty bits almost turns as you think about it, also its very confidence inspiring on the real small gravelly roads- something my Blackbird isnt! you get the feeling if you stuck a set of knobblies on it you could go green laning!
The brakes are good they are proggresive  and have very good feedback.
As the roads dried and the tyres bedded in i started to enjoy myself more, overtakes and threading through town traffic was a blast, it has far better all round vision than a sports bike position, which helps a lot as does the great low speed handling.
I found the rear suspension seems to be a little on the harsh side- maybe cos i,ve been spending the winter on a dirt bike, but its an area i would consider upgrading once it had a few miles on it. i will see what its like two up with luggage first though, it maybe better.
Another area I may change is the gearing, the top 3 gears seemed like they could be a bit longer- the engine is really tractable pulling from just about anywhere, but i found I could use 5th on back roads where i would normally be in 4th, and 6th seemed to rev about 1000 rpm more than the Bird on the motorway, may try a tooth more on the rear when touring, just to extend the tank range, again its only a first ride so time will tell.    
My road miles having dropping the last few years as I never enjoyed the Blackbird as much as my Arilia Falco, but his bike is miles of smiles and I think this summer will see those miles creeping back up again with early morning and summer evening `just going for a spin` coming back into play again :-)   Over all its a fantastic machine

[FigJam-OhNine]

Agreed, but be careful with those evening spins. Riding this bike within a few hours of bed can cause trouble sleeping (because you're too excited to be able to ride it again tomorrow). But if you feel like you can't sleep, might I recommend a ride?

[wessie]

Good review and I concur with what you say about top gear. On occasion I have found myself fishing for a 7th cog!
 
The advantage to this gearing is that top gear roll ons are pretty good. When overtaking it's not often you need to snick down a gear, or two if on the 1999 CBR600FX I had some time ago.