Went on my first ride today. And... well, the bike has a name now. It looks like a dirt bike. Handles like a cruiser. Has the power of a bear. Heavy as a pig. Refined like a politician's speech. Made out of bits and pieces from other bikes. (And will be even moreso after I'm done). It's also a little bit nuts. So...... Manbearpig it is.
After my initial ride, I got back home and adjusted the throttle cable, brake pedal position, and shifter position. Now the bike fits a lot better. The very first thing I noticed is the front brake lever is largely unusable. I wear an XL glove, but I can barely reach the lever. It's made for Yeti hands (this may have influenced the bike's name as well). I actually find it quite dangerous, as I can barely apply the front brake and end up relying too much on the rear. That's a bad practice to get into. Is there an adjustable lever out there that's not made out of pot metal and shipped on a slow boat from china? I see the eBay ads for adjustable shorty levers, but I want something a little more stock looking and a little more high quality.
The front brake lever is the first deficiency... the second are the footpegs. They're MISERABLE. I hate them SO much. I see an $80 set of rubber and metal adventure pegs on eBay. They any good? They look like an official Star accessory, so I may even be able to buy them locally.
Power on the bike is adequate. I didn't flog it, as it had zero miles on it when I started, but it definitely has some gumption. Every time I looked down at my speedo I was going faster than I thought. Position is relatively comfortable. Seat is adequate... it does hurt the taint after a while, but honestly not quite as bad as the Corbin seat for my 84 Magna does. It's livable for a while. The ground clearance is not. I'm going to go for 2" longer shocks for the rear, and slide the forks down in the trees about a half inch. I scraped the undercarriage HARD on this ride, upsetting the whole bike mid-turn. Not fun. It wasn't even a sharp lean, it was just a normal turn onto a side street. Only seems to scrape hard on the right side though. Never even hit the feeler on the left side... yet. I'm sure it's coming soon. My 2002 Ace 750 had FAR more ground clearance... and that's bad, mmkay.
I'm finding I want the footpegs moved more rearward. I think I can fabricate some relocation brackets out of 1/4" plate. Of course, that moves the footpegs and the brackets another 1/4" outwards, but with the suspension raised maybe that'll be okay.
First ride and the right front reflector on the front forks disappeared. Vibrated right off. D'oh! Dealer already has another one for me waiting for me to ride over and pick it up.
I'm used to riding my 650 scrambler. It's a 1979 CX500 with a CX650 motor in it. 65hp, 9500rpm redline. I've also got a EX500 Ninja-turned-adventure-scrambler, and a V65 Magna. Comparatively, the SCR is sedate. It takes its time to get up to speed, and I don't have to (read: can't) wring its neck to get there. I don't have the same GETOUTTAMYWAY feeling on the SCR that I do on all my other bikes. It invites a slower, more relaxed pace.... until I look down at my speedo and see I'm doing 70mph in a 45 zone without not even trying. But when I'm stuck behind traffic, it doesn't bother me all that much. Maybe it's just knowing I can't start at 40mph and be doing over 100mph with a gear change and three seconds, to pass a line of 5 cars that changes my attitude. I dunno. The bike feels like it can just eat up the miles, where the CX and EX both feel a little raw and leave me fatigued after a ride. It's got nothing on the long-distance cruising ability of the V65... except that it's 33 years newer, and reliable.
Other minor gripes and positives: I like the bar position. The turn signal and horn buttons are too close together. The speedometer is hard to read, I'd prefer a standard analog gauge. No tach is annoying, but livable. Air cleaner doesn't bang my shin nearly as much as I thought it would. Grips feel good, not too hard and not too soft. No real ability to mount a throttle lock that looks nice. Overall, I'm really liking the bike. I had a big smile on my face the whole time.
Charles.
