1. it is tall, I'm 5' 9" and with both feet down, I;m on the balls of my feet, only slightly better than toes.
2. it is heavy, around 240kg
these 2 issues combined made me anxious maneuvering her, especially in gravel or debris and trying to pull her backward uphill at even slight gradients was very hard work.
so I bit the bullet, I went lower and lighter:
this is my new girl, an Italian princess, a Ducati Monster 800s ie!
slightly larger displacement but lower down in HP and torque, I no longer feel the G's you can get on a VFR but I'm not bothered, the personality of this bike alone is worth the change, I'm lower down similar to the revere and naked to the elements but with more poke.
But when dreams become reality, it's not always plain sailing, after 4 weeks on the monster, one crisp december morning, she wouldn't start. Once I charged the battery, she fired up straight away. I was told it was a new battery, it looked new so I was getting flashbacks, I took her out for a run to see if she was o.k. for the morning and halfway home, she started spluttering and died.
2 hours in the cold, towtruck shipped her off to the shop and 2 weeks later I have her back with a new voltage regulator rectifier, a voltage monitor has been ordered to fit.
So this is my Happy new year story! I've been stir crazy without a bike over the holidays so I have plenty to catch up on!
