A mix of mega tight hilly turns and loooooooooong fast straights, with a sensational 40 k's of 140-180k sweepers (taken at the speed limit of course).
1st thing I noticed with it, was how doughy the power comes on. I don't care who they are, bike manufacturers are yet to show me an EFi system, which is as smooth as a set of CV carbs. Homer drool.
2nd thing I noticed was, the impression the engine gives when revved stationery, is of a harsh rough motor. Nothing could be further from the truth. Silky smooth it is. From just off iddle there is a little roughness till 3000 rpm if you load it up, but no different to a 2006 R1 really in terms of harshness. Then from 3000rpm on, the motor just Zips up through the rev range akin to a spinning turbo. Smooth as. Power initially dissapointed me. More on this later.
3rd thing I noticed, was how plush the whole chassis and suspension is! Magic carpet ride it is in comparison with the Hornet. I guess a cantilever rear shock really does have it's limitations. Where the Hornet would have been kicking and screaming the 9 just floated over it with barely a movement. Mind, the rear does pack down a bit under duress.
4th thing I noticed was how feckin far the clutch lever sits from the bar..........I nearly need two hands to grab it!
Got used to it as the ride progressed thankfully.
5th thing I noticed was 4th gear can go walkabout sometimes if you are not positive or get lazy with the shift from 3rd!
6th thing I notice was, that i could almost live with the ride position
It grew on me the more I rode it!
left che' Strika and headed along Douglas Pde, and up onto Francis st to fill up. Got the cheap crappy stuff which seamed to work pretty good (98).
jumped on the freeway and remembered to take it easy with THE BRAND NEW TYRES!!!
I turned right off Willy Rd and onto the W.G. Westbound. As I turned the corner and straightened the bike up for the onramp, I clicked second, and pinned it. Clicked 3rd and repeated process. Backed off before i went into orbit over the crest and settled into the traffic. I started playing about a bit with the throttle in various gears to try and gauge how much power it had and where, and initially, I was a little dissapointed with the power it had. I thought it was wimpy off the bottom and through the middle. But I wasn't taking much notice of the speed, till it was almost too late. I think, the smooth motor hides what it's doing to some degree, as it was hauling arse like a mad bastard, but just did it in a really unfussed silky smooth way, which gave the impression it wasn't working hard. But, it's not slow!!!
The run over Mt Macedon was done a couple of times to try and get rid of those green tyres. I had already had a moment, when new tyres met a shiny smooth surface in the middle of a fastish lefthander, and let go momentarily, till the hit some rougher stuff and regained grip, so wanted to have them scrubbed clean as soon as poss.
The bike is long, a little top heavy, slow steering, and very very stable. Absolutely perfect for the road. At the track the thing is going to need some radical changes to the set-up to get it to steer, but for the road, it was damn near perfect. The rear shock can get a little grumpy when you get up it in the twisties, and very soon starts flapping about a bit. But as road bikes go, it's pretty damn good. Nothing a WP shock and TM forks won't fix!
AS the ride went on, I got on better and better with this bike, and what started as a so so impression, soon grew into a healthy grin. initially, I was trying to ride it like my old 636. But, it doesn't really respond well to being that heavy handed. Very sudden changes of direction tying the chassis in knots for a bit, till it sorted itself out. I changed the way I rode it, riding it more like my 1995 ZX6R racer. They actually feel very similiar believe it or not, apart from the additional inertia from the crank, and a few more Kgs!!! They steer very similarly! So once i approached it a bit differently, the bike really responded well. I do stil think it needs to be sharpened a tad for me as it is running a little wide at some inapproriate moments
The power to 3000 rpm is probably sim to the Hornet, but from 3-5 it's a bit flat. Then from 5 it picks up a bit. But where I saw it's forte, was in the 6-10 rev range. It sings up there like a 600!! Only diff being it tapers off once it hits 11 rather than rushing to the 11500 rpm redline. The last 6 or 700 rpms are a little dull. Maybe some pipe/jetting changes and an ignition may fix it as it may have a soft limiter built into the igniter which tapers off the timing up near redline.
I tended to keep it above 6 for spirited riding. At that it's right in the sweet spot when you need it.
More later!
next time, better be soon 
He didn't set the timing up for me, but several glances down, revealed some interesting numbers being displayed. It was like $2.80 on the cash register. Now I know you have to take the GST off that to make it accurate, but it was interesting to see what it did. I think the ignition would need to be changed to go any further, and the mirrors removed. Big windsocks they are. Work good but!!!
