I've already clocked in excess of 3000 km mileage on this bike. Of that, 800km was clocked in Malaysia in one day.
600km was spent putting the NC through its paces on numerous trunk roads that wind through Malaysia's towns and oil palm plantations. The remaining 200km was spent blasting in a straight line across the north south highway.
This was the bike's first foray long distance into Malaysia. I went with two of my riding buddies, Paul and Simon from the 2013 WMLR. Our mission was to shoot up the east coast of Malaysia, cut across, and return from the west in one day.
The NC was subjected to trunk roads for the first half of the day. The suspension really shows it's stiffness here, as I traversed across the potholed roads, the bike absorbed every single bump along the way and transferred it directly to me. If you had any dental fillings, there is a chance that the suspension on this bike might cause it to be knocked loose.
As mentioned in the earlier posts, the tiny ass windscreen does nothing to block wind, there is a constant hurricane raging inside my helmet, a good pair of earplugs would be advised to be worn. If you ride with your visor open, prepare to eat a face full of bugs, sand and stones.
The bike's light weight really excels here. At first the steering feels light and floaty while negotiating the corners, once I got used to it I was having fun flicking the bike in rapid fire through the lefts and the rights. The bike's light weight makes it extremely agile.
Overtaking on two lane trunk roads leaves a bit more to be desired, rolling on the throttle in top gear to overtake is possible, but you would have to wait a few seconds as the engine chases the revs to peak torque at 3k RPM.
Any monster torque to give you the surge is almost nonexistent beyond 3K RPM. I have to bang down the gear to 5th to overtake safely to beat oncoming vehicles in the opposite lane.
Tires are grippy and the three position front brake caliper stops the bike quickly in sticky situations. I still haven't managed to activate the ABS thankfully.
Fuel consumption on trunk roads returns 25 - 27km/L.
The headlight and the high beam illuminates the pitch darkness of stretches of trunk road without street lights adequately. I find additional fog lights to be unnecessary.
On the north south highway, the bike is happily cruises along at 130km/h comfortably. I had to maintained a tucked in hunched posture throughout to streamline the wind blast. My shoulders ache from the crouch and wrists hurt from hanging on for dear life and maintaining a constant throttle.
The seat cushion is totally non existent after the first few hundred km. It won't matter because after that you won't be able to feel your backside anyway.
I went on this trip with the bike in fully stock condition. I managed to fit in a raincoat, my bag of tools, a small pouch and two small bottles of mineral water. Barely enough for a day trip, longer trips would require that a bag be strapped to the pillon seat or minimally a rear rack and box to be fitted.
Overall, this is a very competent bike to go touring on. Although it was not specifically designed for this purpose, it gets the job done. However if you're looking for a more responsive engine, greater stability and higher top speed for touring, I would advise you to look elsewhere.
No comments:
Post a Comment