Today I took the love of my life (Deb came too
to Powerslide in Derby where I left her for a couple of hours to go & test ride the 800RE.
What a lovely bike. Obviously has more power & lots more torque than the 650, the ergonomics are excellent, for me anyway, at 5' 10" & 29" inside leg. With my thick soled boots both feet firmly touching down. I might try bar risers though. Plus what seemed like a very comfortable seat too. Brakes & suspension (Nitron fitted to the 650) were better too.
The weight isn't much different but the 800 feels much lighter to handle, not sure why but it just does.
It took me a while to get used to the quickshifter, even after 2 hours on the bike I was still not quite there. (1st time I've rode a bike with one) Before I rode it I would have been happy not to have it & have a centre stand instead but I'm sure, once used to it, I'll be glad it has it. Besides, I got a very good deal on the centre stand.
I've (we've as Deb had a lot of say too) had it fully kitted out ready for touring.
The only three things we could find a problem with were ....
1. The screen is bloody awful, the buffeting above 50mph up to motorway speeds was shocking, far worse than my 650 ever was before the Airflow was fitted. Wind noise wasn't too bad though.
2. The rear pillion pegs are sitting a little higher than on the 650 & Deb's legs are more bent, not bad but might be an issue.
3. There's not as much room on the seat for the two of us as the 650. The demo bike didn't have a back box so it'll be interesting to see what it's like when we get it, complete with back box.
Anyway, deposit paid & should be ready in a couple of weeks, giving us a few days to get 500 miles on it before our trip to Scotland at the end of the month.
Gone for the Sparkle black (the same as out 650) with aluminium panniers & back box.
A couple of photos to prove it happened.
PS, not much room under the seat but should get a bigpie fuse box under there.
