Hello everyone,
So not much to talk about over the last few months since I wrote last.
I have continued to ride the bike around town and a few longer trips into other parts of the city, just building my confidence and working on developing those innate skills that will allow me to react by instinct on a trip.
I have seen some improvement in my level of comfort on the bike, no longer as worried about stalling the engine or riding too slowly. I have also found better confidence in cornering and have even started to see a good lean when taking corners at higher speeds now.
The bike did finally reach its break in mileage (600 miles) so I took it in for the first service that the manufacturer highly recommended. They changed all the fluids, adjusted the various components and fully inspected the bike to make sure there were no loose parts or issues that might have been caused by the original shipping, storage, display and final delivery to me. No issues were found thankfully.
The bike drives a bit differently now, they did adjust the throttle and clutch controls some, so now need to get used to the way the bike works now. The clutch slip zone is a little farther out on the handle release now, so need to get use to letting it out more before it grabs, and the throttle itself seems a bit tighter and faster to respond, so again, need to get used to that.
I have not done anything else to the bike, and the time to ride has been impacted by work, cold weather and my lack of good riding gear. I did finally pick up a new pair of riding gloves, but just something cheap to keep my hands warmer.
Now that the new year is here I will get started on the research and acquisition of better riding gear to protect myself from the elements and dangers of the road. Will be looking at a new helmet, good riding jacket and pants, some wet weather gear, boots and good gloves. My challenge will be to find gear that can really be all-purpose as I want to limit the amount of gear carried on the bike, so need to find stuff that can serve as wide a range of duties as possible.
Around February or March I will hopefully get started on some longer rides here around Arizona and even some overnight trips so I can start thinking about that kind of gear and what I will want, which will then help me decide on the size and types of storage I want to put on the bike.
Will not be many updates for a few months again probably, but until then have a great year.