First week with the H2
Posted: Fri May 30, 2014 9:17 pm
I find this bike fascinating to ride as I get used to it. Just like my Superduke, it doesn't really feel happy pootling around. It wants to go fast.
So having to get used to riding a 2 stroke again It's like 30 years have not happened, I shift back into two stroke mode quite easily, feels like home, but this 750 is still four-stroking all the time at most legal road speeds and then if you shift down a gear it's revving and vibrating but just wants to accelerate. It's hard to hold it on a throttle position that feels right. But then when you get on open roads with no traffic it all makes more sense because you don't cruise along at a constant speed. This bike seems so much better when you are just accelerating flat out to the red line and then braking,(as best you can), then flat out again. Seems to be what it likes and makes for a better ride. I wouldn't want to do a lot of long distance, steady cruising on this bike!!
Brakes are getting better, I really think that the pads were not bedded in. Hopefully things will get better still. I've done about 200-250 miles so far. I can now make the front tyre squeal at 30mph with a really hard fistful so it does make me realise that upgrading the brakes will only be as good as these skinny tyres and dubious compounds. As better braking come in I can start to get a measure of the front fork and damping. Modern bikes are so forgiving if you brake into bends. This one likes to do it's braking upright and there are some interesting things that happen if you experiment with brakes and lean angle!
So far I love the handling. I'm not comparing it to a modern bike, just my impressions of the feel across a mixture of A, B roads and roundabouts. It's pretty planted and stable. Bumpy back roads do set it off into a series of bounces but that's only when you're going fast and I've had no really scary moments yet.
Anyway, still grinning!
So having to get used to riding a 2 stroke again It's like 30 years have not happened, I shift back into two stroke mode quite easily, feels like home, but this 750 is still four-stroking all the time at most legal road speeds and then if you shift down a gear it's revving and vibrating but just wants to accelerate. It's hard to hold it on a throttle position that feels right. But then when you get on open roads with no traffic it all makes more sense because you don't cruise along at a constant speed. This bike seems so much better when you are just accelerating flat out to the red line and then braking,(as best you can), then flat out again. Seems to be what it likes and makes for a better ride. I wouldn't want to do a lot of long distance, steady cruising on this bike!!
Brakes are getting better, I really think that the pads were not bedded in. Hopefully things will get better still. I've done about 200-250 miles so far. I can now make the front tyre squeal at 30mph with a really hard fistful so it does make me realise that upgrading the brakes will only be as good as these skinny tyres and dubious compounds. As better braking come in I can start to get a measure of the front fork and damping. Modern bikes are so forgiving if you brake into bends. This one likes to do it's braking upright and there are some interesting things that happen if you experiment with brakes and lean angle!
So far I love the handling. I'm not comparing it to a modern bike, just my impressions of the feel across a mixture of A, B roads and roundabouts. It's pretty planted and stable. Bumpy back roads do set it off into a series of bounces but that's only when you're going fast and I've had no really scary moments yet.
Anyway, still grinning!
