Home Safe and Sound despite the rain
Well things changed a little bit and I got to pick the bike up at 1:00 PM in Riverside. It was raining all the way there. It didn't matter much because I had my Shoei, Sidi boots, Olympia AST jacket, Ranger pants and Rain Drop gloves.
After the normal greetings with the owner it was time to give the bike a once over before handing him the check. It didn't take long and he had the check and I had the necessary things like keys, security card, and paperwork. I loaded up the extra black plastic (headlight surround (front faring), air box cover (tank looking piece) and tail section) into my dads van and sent him home.
I had unloaded all my riding gear, or so I thought, when just before putting my helmet on I realized I somehow missed my gloves.
Lucky for me the temperature was in the low 70's and the rain had actually stopped. :bow1: When I asked him about the fuel level in the bike he said he forgot to check but it was whatever was left from when he bought the bike. He had only put 28 miles on the bike and lucky for me there was a station about a mile down the road.
He lives in a gated development but we got lucky and followed someone in when we got there. Trying to leave was another matter, the bike didn't want to trip the gate opener. Lucky for me Zach came to my aide with his gate opener. As soon as I pushed the bike back far enough to go out the in gate, I somehow tripped the opener for the exit gate and free to leave.
This was my first ride on an 1125R and the streets were wet and the tires were still new, not scuffed in yet. You don't know how cautious I was stopping and turning with the bike, not to mention the starts. After a fill-up at the gas station it was homeward bound. I decided to do surface streets for a while to get use to the feel and didn't particularly want to do freeway without gloves.
Maybe half-way home I decided that getting on the freeway might be the only way to get home without getting rained on. It sprinkled lightly from time to time but nothing really to speak of. I was surprised at how well my hands were protected. The air pocket created by the front faring kept the wind and any rain off my hands. I was pleasantly surprised. I'd already had the bike up to 65 mph on the surface streets so the freeway wouldn't be much different except for no more signals. Don't worry I wasn't speeding much, the posted was 60 mph on the street I was on.
Besides with a 6 speed trans I was only getting into 4th or 5th without lugging the bike.
So it was up on the 60 Fwy to the 15 Fwy and then the 210 Fwy and home. This bike really wants to fly, it was hard holding back. The break-in says stay below 6,000 RPM for the first 600 miles. So I decided to take it up to that limit and see how fast that was. It crossed the boundry from double-digits into triple-digits, 100 MPH and it wasn't even breathing hard. I varied the RPM's as outlined and the bike ran smoothly between 65 & 75 most of the way home.
I got home a little after 2 PM and checked in with my dad to let him know I was back but going out for a little longer ride since it was not raining. I grabbed my rain gloved and headed back out. I didn't even get out of the parking lot of the shopping center that is behind my house when the rain began to come down again. I decided to call it a day.
Here are a couple shots of the bike:
So now I have to wait for things to dry out but because the bike is in my possession I'm OK with that. I must say I like the sound of the bike. It has what the ST1300 should have. A little bit of a growl without being overly noisy.
Time to sit back with a cold beer and enjoy the evening while I listen to the sound of the rain on the roof.
