First Ride Report

[BobK]

So I finally got a chance to ride my new to me 2011 C14 for a bit. I went with a friend of mine who rides  a C14 2012 We put about 150 miles on the bikes today. We rode about 70 miles and then switched bikes as his is completely stock with just a sergeants seat. I bought mine from a friend and it has Cee Bailey screen, Heli Horizon adj. bars, a Kawi low gel seat with a Utopia drivers backrest. When I first rode the bike before today and was wearing jeans I thought that the seat was too hard and was already thinking of sending it to Spencer. Today I rode in my racing leather pants which I normally wear and I was OK with the seat. Maybe a little on the the hard side but not too bad and I love the backrest. I have the same one on my Goldwing and it is adjustable both for height and lean angle. So after the ride I have decided to sell the Cee Baileys screen as it just doesn't seem to work for me. I wasn't sure about the bars before the ride but after riding my friend's bike with the stock bars I find that I like the Heli bars a lot! I have a stock muffler on mine and he has a VH slip on with a Guhl ECU flash and he walked away from me on a 4th gear roll on and he is a little heavier than me so we will try it again when I install my Two Brothers slip on and see if it is the pipe or the flash. His tires are getting ready for a change and it is just amazing the difference in handling between new and old as I had said in a previous post. So my overall impression is very good with the bike being very comfortable and very capable in some high speed sweepers which we took at around 130-140mph. I actually felt better at that speed on the Connie than I do on my ZX14R! This was all done in South Florida today so I can't wait to get it back up to my mountain home in North Georgia and see how it likes the mountains. My friend had his up there last year and said it handles the twisties extremely well and he would know as he is a track racer and can really ride those roads. If I like the way I can ride it up there my 2009 Yamaha FZ1 will be hitting Craigs List.  

[maxtog]

I have a stock muffler on mine and he has a VH slip on with a Guhl ECU flash and he walked away from me on a 4th gear roll on and he is a little heavier than me so we will try it again when I install my Two Brothers slip on and see if it is the pipe or the flash.

It's the Ghul flash.  Replacing the muffler [alone] will have no noticeable effect on power.

Thanks for sharing your story and info.  I am a bit jealous of the Horizons.

[BobK]

Yes, those bars are pretty cool and I haven't even begun to mess with the settings yet. They are pretty far back which is OK for Florida but when the bike goes up to Georgia (and stays there) I think I will rotate them forward for a more aggressive riding position.

[maxtog]

Yes, those bars are pretty cool and I haven't even begun to mess with the settings yet. They are pretty far back which is OK for Florida but when the bike goes up to Georgia (and stays there) I think I will rotate them forward for a more aggressive riding position.

That is one thing  they can't do- telescope.  So they can't be made any shorter, just moved around in lots of ways.