I bought this bike with about 40K miles on the clock, six months ago, after ogling it in a 1998 motorcycle magazine since it was first introduced. I put bar risers and foot peg lowers on it, replaced the rear shock with the BoxerCup sport shock (yellow), and have otherwise made it more comfortable...
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I bought this bike with about 40K miles on the clock, six months ago, after ogling it in a 1998 motorcycle magazine since it was first introduced. I put bar risers and foot peg lowers on it, replaced the rear shock with the BoxerCup sport shock (yellow), and have otherwise made it more comfortable for a guy my height. Unfortunately, the stock seat is extremely uncomfortable - sliding the rider forward inexorably toward the gas tank and crushing his manly bits.
That said, I've still gone on several all-day rides, including a trip 650 miles to Tennessee one day, spending a day there, and coming back the third day, and would do so again in a heartbeat, given the opportunity. I've been on bikes since I was 7 (now 32) and I've never enjoyed motorcycling so much before! Yes, the seat sucks -- and I'll replace it with a Corbin when the wallet allows -- but other than that, it's a dream. Power output is helped by aftermarket exhaust and fuel management, but it's plenty powerful enough in stock trim to excite all but the most jaded riders. Will I be challenging full out street racers anytime soon? No, that's not the way I ride. But get this thing on twisties or in the Virginia-Tennessee Mountains and it holds curves like nothing I've ever been on.
An elderly gent at a grocery store wanted to look it over, and was talking about his years on motorcycles, just as I got to the end of a 500-mile ride. All I could think of at that point was the fact that my lower back (and other portions of my anatomy) hurt. But then he asked me: Would you get it again?
And you know, I would. I'd go out and get the same bike. That says something.
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