[ST] New Sprint ST review

[Thomas Emberson <thomas@xxxxxxx>]

> >Well, I think I am going to chance my name to Better Late than
> >Never Dawg. Even though the TT is not sold, I decided to trade in
> >the ZX6e for a BRG Sprint ST.
> 
> About time too, Tom!  We've been seeing your posts for so long now that we
> thought you'd never put your money where your mouth was ;-)

thanks,

> By the way, is a BLTN Dawg a Bacon, Lettuce & Tomato with...Nachos?

> Neil
> P.S. Can I borrow the Kawasaki for the East Coast Rally please, someone has
> to turn up on a green bike!

So I am a conformist :-)

On Friday when I went to pick up the bike, I was obviously riding
the 6.  Thinking to myself, you know this bike is not so bad. Am
I making a mistake?? Damn, hmmm.

Anyway, so I pulled the tank bag off the 6, put it on the ST, not
fun. How in the hell do you remove the gas tank with out a second
set of hands??? I figure I am going to have to make a set of wood
blocks to lift up the tank about 2-4" front and rear so you can
get to the hoses, all freek'in 5 of then. And don't forget the two
sets of wires to be connected/disconnected :-\

So now comes the interesting part. Got the new bike sitting there,
and I am nervous. So I stand and talk to the sales guy for a while.
The mechanics and a couple of other customers where start to talk
about me. I can hear whispers, 'Is this his first bike' and such.

The sales guy knew better, but still. The strange part is that when
I took the RS and the ST4 for test rides, no hesitation what so
ever. Got the front end up on the RS as well, only a foot, but did
not have to on-off-on the throttle to do it.

Anyway, got on the bike, got it out onto the rode. Of course I
wanted to ensure that my form leaving the back of the store was
perfect. No riding of the clutch, perfectly smooth, no wable, feet
of the ground and set on the pegs @ about 2 MPH, just to let the
on-lookers know this ain't my first ride. That is one thing about
the 9r that I do not know if I will ever experience on another
bike, on a still day I could almost sit still at a light, with out
removing my feet of the pegs.

Anyway, down the service road for about 2 freeway entrances, make
sure the first 3-5 miles are kind ones. Get on the freeway, up to
65, even the grey hairs are flying by me. Two exits later, back on
the service road. Better for the engine anyway, right :-) So I wind
up taking the 60 mile route back home, instead of 40 miles. Stopped
at DFW for a couple of minutes. Got to see a quad landing, as in
4 planes landing on 4 parallel runways land with in about 5 seconds
of each other.

But through out all of this, the single biggest thought going
through my mind is, now I know why I got a loan for $9302.

Better leg position, better suspension (by far), etc.

The only problem I have so far, is my left hand is still getting
used to the clutch. It has been a while since I have ridden the
9r, but I am sure the clutch is stiffer than the 9r. It is definitely
stiffer than the 6e.

One thing I am surprised about is the head lights, both on from the
factory, good to be in the US. I remember from the rally last year,
following Bench Dawg, and not being impressed by his lights compared
to the 9r. My ST has wonderful headlights. In fact I wonder if
Bloor started putting in better bulbs, as the light seemed fairly
white.

As for the newbie questions, how do you raise the lights?

And Eric, if you have made it this far in my essay, could you send
me some of the protective film. I will pay for the excess (if it
is not too much) if you could 2 day it here (ups/fedex)

regards,
Tom

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Thomas Emberson  <Thomas@xxxxxxx>        http://get.qnx.com 
QNX Software Systems Inc.  
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