Saturday turned out to be a decent ride day through eastern Kansas and western Missouri. More on that in a minute.
I picked up my Bee from my dealer in Kansas at about noon. The dealer's mods produced mixed results. A nice job was done installing the carbon fiber tank protector. While the protector was very pricey ($49!) it does look really good. The advantage to using the classy B-King specific protector is the cool looking B-King logo in the center of it.
The Garmin Zumo wiring and installation was done OK and looks good and professional. I have to say the Bee's instrument pod is not super easy to see without any mods. Adding the Zumo makes visibility a bit tighter.
The accessory 12 volt socket install sucked. Not only did they order me a cheesy, cheap half-plastic socket, but it's one with the wires and connectors visible and clearly exposed. I took one look at it and told them that it was terrible and that on my return for service, it's gone and a much better looking (and performing?) "Powerlet", billet socket is going to be put in, in its place. It seems that you either pay a $120 for a Powerlet or $20 for a cheesy adapter...no in-between. Be careful with this! I can't believe my dealer did that install with a straight face.
The paint swirls and scratches were buffed out nicely. Now I have to see if the Suzuki's soft paint re-swirls and re-scratches as quickly as it did the day after I bought it. I love the bike's fit and finish but the paint sucks.
It was in the low 50s when I pulled out of my dealers and onto highway 35 northbound. I made my way to hwy 435 and that's when it got interesting. I ran a gauntlet of potholes and construction lane seams that had me weaving back and forth like a drunk. While the Bee is agile for a large bike, it definitely took some effort to do the road-hazard gauntlet at 70-75 mph. I'm going to need more practice making the rapid directional changes smoothly enough to make me happy. I suspect the fat rear tire has some effect on the forces needed.
One of the advantages to the Bee's weight, centralized mass and fat rear tire is its complete lack of skittishness. Wind, trucks and bumpy pavement not only have little effect on the Bee's handling but its excellent suspension smooths out everything so far encountered. It really is a pleasure to ride even at overly brisk highway speeds.
I also did about 60 miles of ground levels streets enjoying the sunshine and exploring my newly adopted city. I encountered a dozen or so other bikes, evenly split between sport bikes and cruisers. One fellow on a late-model ZX-14 pulled up alongside me in traffic and indicated that we should go up to the highway to see how my Bee performed against his Kawi. I politely indicated that I already knew how it would perform but thanked him for his interest. Displeased, he roared off, scaring the hell out of the cagers and looking a bit silly gunning it through 35 mph traffic.
Just as an aside, I would consider a 1/4 mile drag race against the ZX-14 under proper conditions and after my TRE is installed. THAT would be a contest. But as far as a "top-end" duel goes...it's a "no contest". The Bee is about as aerodynamic as a brick. Over about 150 mph, the wind blast would be inolerable and parasitic drag would probably keep the Bee from ever going over 160-165 mph. Clearly that's 'Busa and ZX-14 territory. I'm not, and never was, interested in such "contests". The idea of trying it on the street is beyond stupid, IMHO!
Anyway, the rest of the ride was uneventful. I pulled into my warehouse tired but thoroughly pleased with the day's ride. Maybe winter is almost over, FINALLY!!!
B-Rex
I picked up my Bee from my dealer in Kansas at about noon. The dealer's mods produced mixed results. A nice job was done installing the carbon fiber tank protector. While the protector was very pricey ($49!) it does look really good. The advantage to using the classy B-King specific protector is the cool looking B-King logo in the center of it.
The Garmin Zumo wiring and installation was done OK and looks good and professional. I have to say the Bee's instrument pod is not super easy to see without any mods. Adding the Zumo makes visibility a bit tighter.
The accessory 12 volt socket install sucked. Not only did they order me a cheesy, cheap half-plastic socket, but it's one with the wires and connectors visible and clearly exposed. I took one look at it and told them that it was terrible and that on my return for service, it's gone and a much better looking (and performing?) "Powerlet", billet socket is going to be put in, in its place. It seems that you either pay a $120 for a Powerlet or $20 for a cheesy adapter...no in-between. Be careful with this! I can't believe my dealer did that install with a straight face.
The paint swirls and scratches were buffed out nicely. Now I have to see if the Suzuki's soft paint re-swirls and re-scratches as quickly as it did the day after I bought it. I love the bike's fit and finish but the paint sucks.
It was in the low 50s when I pulled out of my dealers and onto highway 35 northbound. I made my way to hwy 435 and that's when it got interesting. I ran a gauntlet of potholes and construction lane seams that had me weaving back and forth like a drunk. While the Bee is agile for a large bike, it definitely took some effort to do the road-hazard gauntlet at 70-75 mph. I'm going to need more practice making the rapid directional changes smoothly enough to make me happy. I suspect the fat rear tire has some effect on the forces needed.
One of the advantages to the Bee's weight, centralized mass and fat rear tire is its complete lack of skittishness. Wind, trucks and bumpy pavement not only have little effect on the Bee's handling but its excellent suspension smooths out everything so far encountered. It really is a pleasure to ride even at overly brisk highway speeds.
I also did about 60 miles of ground levels streets enjoying the sunshine and exploring my newly adopted city. I encountered a dozen or so other bikes, evenly split between sport bikes and cruisers. One fellow on a late-model ZX-14 pulled up alongside me in traffic and indicated that we should go up to the highway to see how my Bee performed against his Kawi. I politely indicated that I already knew how it would perform but thanked him for his interest. Displeased, he roared off, scaring the hell out of the cagers and looking a bit silly gunning it through 35 mph traffic.
Just as an aside, I would consider a 1/4 mile drag race against the ZX-14 under proper conditions and after my TRE is installed. THAT would be a contest. But as far as a "top-end" duel goes...it's a "no contest". The Bee is about as aerodynamic as a brick. Over about 150 mph, the wind blast would be inolerable and parasitic drag would probably keep the Bee from ever going over 160-165 mph. Clearly that's 'Busa and ZX-14 territory. I'm not, and never was, interested in such "contests". The idea of trying it on the street is beyond stupid, IMHO!
Anyway, the rest of the ride was uneventful. I pulled into my warehouse tired but thoroughly pleased with the day's ride. Maybe winter is almost over, FINALLY!!!
B-Rex
