A chilly outing today, well in the morning anyway, almost too cold for me at first. On the ride down to Robina to meet my ride partner in the lengthy sections where I was out of the sun and in the morning shadows I started to get a chill spreading over me that was borderline on making me stop half way to warm up. I was saved by the sections where the sun was shining on the M1 as this had an instant effect to allow my body to warm back up a little.
Beautiful day however, lots of people were out and about on all sorts of motorbikes, cars and flying machines. I saw this great view coming past Nerang of four hot air balloons and didnt think quickly enough to stop there, so by the time I did one had dropped below my line of sight and I spotted it landing at Robina a moment later.
I managed also to sight four M109R’s today, but only one was up close, a lot of cruisers out on the roads. I am very comfortable now with my decision not to buy one at the moment since I acknowledge that my riding style is still too spirited in nature. I don’t think I am an overly fast rider, simply I am comfortable on backroads and can maintain a steady pace and predict the road ahead based on the survey style of the road and the lie of the land.
Today I was thinking to explore more of the Scenic rim beyond Boonah but mates MT-01 had trouble, looks like the clutch is gone, so we turned back there and with the days being so short the ride was further trimmed to get us back home before dark. Might take up where I left off next weekend! BTW if you have not been to Boonah lately then well worth revisiting. A few nice cafes and decent coffee (I hear owner of Merlo lives there?) and pub grub as well – I’ll be using Boonah as a kick off for more western exploration in the coming months for sure.
The impressive Mt Barney.
I have ordered some foam handlebar grip ‘covers’ from a Californian touring club. Their items have good reviews about reducing bar buzz. I acknowledge every inline four I have ridden has had some buzz but I somehow think the MV has it little worse.
Another issue is throttle abruptness. I read that this can get better with a service and possibly removing the cat convertor which also boosts lower rpm response so thats on the drawing board if I can get used to the ride issues.
Now that I am able to ride the bike more I detect the bike has an incredible thirst for fuel. It hits reserve at 150km or less, (19 litre tank 4 litre reserve) that’s very poor economy compared to most modern bikes, and rather bothersome to have such a short range in country areas. The Harley powered Buell which people loved to mock used to get average 175km from 10 litres and well over 200km on highway riding.
And lastly I will mention the MV’s turning circle is as big as a cruiser … but sure is pretty.
