I've been looking to get an XX for some time now, and finally the finances have lined up with an electrical meltdown on my 99,400 mile Concours to allow the purchase. I thought I wanted a 2000, mainly because I wanted EFI, didn't want black, and wanted alalog gauges.
Today I test rode a 97 model, because that's all they had at the dealer. Took it for about 20 miles down the only curvy road in the area. NICE!
Observations:
Mirrors:
Fine for seeing the adjacent lanes, but useless for seeing what is right behind me. I had the LH mirror adjusted as usual, but had to turn the RH mirror in to watch behind me in my own lane after a handicapper in a full-size van surprised me. Has anybody found a good solution to this, like extended arms or spacers to stick them out another 2" or so? I think that would be enough, and that spacer could also be a good place to mount aux. lighting brackets.
Riding position:
Handlebars/clip ons: Not as extreme as I would have expected, though I will need to kick the bars up and back 1.5" or so to make it tolerable past the 500 mile day mark.
Seat: The seat seemed narrow, flat, and the rider section was too long. That little bump was a good 4" behind me. I see a custom saddle in my future, possibly a Russell Day-Long. The custom seat should allow me to push back another 1/2" from the tank, since I noticed my knees rubbing the fairing.
Power: It came on fast and strong. A quick pass made in 2nd sent me from 45 to the rev limiter REAL fast. I'm not used to that! I think this bike may have been geared down, since I could have sworn I was in 3rd. Who knows. One of my first reactions was that it revved like a MX bike with a 1/4 turn throttle, and that maybe a 1/3 turn throttle would make it easier to ration the speed. I don't see anything to fix here, not really. I need to adjust to the bike. A half hour wasn't enough time to get to know it properly, but enough time to know that I didn't want THAT particular bike.
Wind/bug protection:
The bike had a Zero Gravity titnted double-bubble screen that eliminated all turbulance but kept my head out in the breeze. Not ideal for touring, I'll check to see if AeroFlow makes a screen for the Blackbird like Gary Eagan uses on his Duc ST4. It may look a little funny, but it comes off pretty easy for normal riding. You can see Gary and his bike in almost any cycle magazine in his Avon (IIRC) tire advertisement showing off his NY to San Francisco speed record.
Hand protection: I was hit in the hands by several bugs and I think rain would be pretty nasty. Small plexi fairing extensions in this area would be very nice, anybody know of any?
That's about it for now. I've had good luck finding luggage parts on the web. The Beetle bags look nice, but they would be nicer if they stuck out 6" further to the rear and were another inch wider, to increase capacity. They should have done this at Corbin, then also incorporated fluch-mount signals. Maybe I'll make my own bags or just stick my Give E460s on it.
Suspension: Harsh. Maybe it's just this particular bike, but it kicked over small bumps. I have also read of others adjusting the ride height with a spacer. Some bikes use a new lower link to raise or lower the bike, and I've seen a link before that had several holes to make it adjustable in a few minutes. You could lower it for the track or raise it back up for the street. Anybody else seen this, or did I dream it? I do have access to machine tools, maybe that's the answer for me.
Anyway, thanks for putting up with my long post. I would appreciate any replies to some of the specific questions above. Thanks again.
