davidscott wrote:
To try a 701 near Shropshire, get in touch with Wyn Hughes at Freestyle in Newtown, Powys as it can't be that far from you.
It's a wing of the Freestyle near here so he may well also do a demo bike.
http://www.freestylebikes.co.uk/find-us ... -sy16-3aj/I booked a test ride and tootled over this morning as the ground is so damned wet, nothing can rally be done at the moment!
Lovely people and a very impressive array of off road kit in a pristine showroom, what happened to the back lane shed....?
I togged up after a briefing and look over, I bimbled off. As I know the area, I headed off down the roads to Kerry and Sarn, then back again and up on to the top, and did a wee bit of the Ridgeway before coming back to Newtown, 40-50mins I expect.
Impressions:
Pros. Build seems nice and the castings etc all looked clean modern and attractive
Lovely, even balanced flow of power from the motor, picking up from nothing to higher levels although as I am a sympathetic soul, it was not revved hard during my ride as it onlyn had 500miles on teh clock(See below!) Nice crisp gearbox and clutch and throttle were lovely as were the brakes both ends.
Handling on the road was solid and planted, no skittishness at ll on the ride and the TKC's are a nice complement. Took it down a dirt road and seemed to soak of potholes nicely
Cons.
For my needs the ergonomics were lousy, high flat seat and low bars, never sure why makers do this as anyone who stands up HAS to put on risers anyway! Pegs too high for my personal needs, which again could be modded as I do on most bikes these days. Seat was the ribbed one and not very comfortable, needs an Airhawk for long distance which would help with the other problem...
Vibes, lots of them and more than I anticipated with a balancer bottom end, through the pegs and seat at 50+ were not what I expected. Grip Puppies would work well on the bars and a rebuilt seat would sort the butt issues I think.
Heat shield is a joke, burned my waterproofs. I seem to have seen this was an issue for other too!!
Gearing... the real stumbling block for me! Why take a modern torquey single and saddle it with a close ratio gearbox??? 1st too high, 6th waaay too low. Lots of bikes with this issue and with a 5 speed, about understandable, but 6?? This is supposed to be a long haul Adv bike, not an enduro tool. Put 6th as an overdrive and first for nadgery... PLEASE, someone?? A taller 6th would negate a lot of the higher speed discomfort I felt.
To sum up, the Bike was not what I had hoped for several reasons although many could have been engineered out for not a lot, but it all seemd a bit too much compromise for an 8 grand bike..
I enjoyed the day out, meeting Wyn and his Missus, and in spite of my not chosing to go for a 701, I enjoyed my ride on it so I could assess the bike properly for my needs. Thanks to Nick and others who suggested it.
Have you considered the ccm gp450. It looks a well made bike.