OK, a full service & check on Friday. $400 - plus another 1.5 hours labour sorting our why the manual fan over-ride wasn't working - and it definitely needs the fan override in city riding.
Took the old girl (and me) out on our first big run on Sunday arvo. Absolutely perfect weather here in Adelaide and all I had to do was follow a couple of very experienced riders (+30 years) on a FZR1000 (I think he said the one before the R1?) & 2008 GS1200 Bandit. The bike was absolutely amazing, everything I could have possibly hoped for and surely recognition of what a great bike this was, and still is. Old school lazy & smooth power delivery yet easily enough get-up-n-go to keep up with the two bikes ahead of me - and I don't think I even had to rev it past 7000rpm. As for handling, well it's difficult to define as I can't compare it with anything else. But from my perspective it was just so.....solid. Obviously it was invaluable having riders in front of me to set entry speeds but you just tipped it in and basically adjusted cornering radii with lean angle and throttle, great fun and incredibly stable. It just exuded confidence (almost boredom) in what it was doing which gave incredible confidence to a noob rider like myself. The ride covered all types of runs from very tight and twisty to more open and some straight stuff. Through the really tight stuff around Clarendon (35km/h posted corners) you do notice the size & weight of the bike - it's not a problem but this stuff clearly isn't the bikes forte. The best road was the the Strath to Ashbourne run for those who know the area, especially as there were absolutely no cars.....
The bike was incredibly stable on the straights and handled cross winds without a problem. However whilst the fairing is pretty good to get wind pressure off my arms I had to basically lie down over the tank - which wouldn't have been a good thing for my back on a long ride! I read that the GPz was possibly the first "sports-tourer" - sounds about right to me. Also I'm just 5'8" and as the riding position seemed perfect to me I suspect bigger riders might find it a bit cramped.
Had a good chat (and a cold one) with my mate (GS1200) afterwards. He said that was as hard as he & his cousin normally ride (not silly but no slouches either), and he was impressed that both I and the bike were keeping up. Clearly the FZR1000 is a faster, better handling bike but it's all relative - you would need to be going a LOT faster to start to push the GPz handling/tyres and those speeds would just be crazy on these roads. I also suspect group riding tends to be a little quicker than normal and to be totally honest I don't think I will normally be riding that quickly. Nothing to do with the bike but simply because at the posted speeds it's still plenty of fun & basically I'm a tight-arse who doesn't want a speeding fine!
For me the speed:fun factor is the immediate difference between a bike and car on these roads. In a good sports car posted speeds are pretty boring, especially as you inevitably get frustrated behind slow cars with almost no overtaking opportunities. On a bike posted speeds are still fun, and even if you are held up for a bit by cars it just lets you really enjoy the wonderful scenery for a minute or two till you blast past, which is kinda fun too.... So if you can get a good one the GPz is looking like a great option for folks like myself to cheaply get back into bikes. If I can get two summers out of the bike I will be most satisfied - at that point I will know enough to either buy something else or I might even just keep the GPz and fix her up completely.
It is an old bike and it goes without saying there will be gremlins. The bike ran like a train for 3.5 hours (and sounds a treat once it is really warmed up), but just as I was pottering back into Adelaide the bike began to run rough off idle and the tacho needle began jumping all over the place. Got me home and it settled down, but with the tacho jumping around it's something electrical - was thinking there may possibly be a heat issue with the coils? The bike mechanic is quite knowledgeable and when I asked him about Dyna vs OEM he said "Dyna of course - but if it ain't broke don't fix it!" Whilst it might be coils it could be anything really - he wouldn't be able to help if it only shows up after 3 hours of hard riding so instead wait and see, if/when it starts doing it regularly then bring it in.
At the end of the day I have only one word to describe my first road riding experience - awesome...