I was there today with a couple friends, ended up taking off work and staying the rest of the day cause I had to ride the VMax! Ended up on 4 bikes throughout the day, here's my recap: R1: Never ridden a liter bike before so this was one I was looking forward to. Bike was immediately more comfortable than an R6, the seat and ergos felt much better for some reason, not sure why. This was the second ride of the day so because of the rain the course was pretty short so I didn't get much of a chance to stretch the legs, but overall it did have more low end grunt than a 600. I wasn't blown away though or amazed by this bike, probably due to the route, but still fun! Bolt: First standard bike I've ever ridden and boy was this seating position comfortable, haha. Unfortunately, the foot pegs had next to no ground clearance so first turn I went into I thought I was going to take my foot off. Great cruising bike and but not a lot of power. Probably didn't help that there was no tach and I could barely hear the bike over the others and it was shaking quite a bit at all RPM's so I was definitely short shifting, but the guy there said a tach is probably an optional add-on. The lights below the digital speedo were hard to see. Bike looked great though and seems to be priced well. The R-Spec looked even nicer with the piggy-back shocks. FJR-1300: This bike has cruise control? Cool! Buddy rode it after me and showed me that the windscreen adjusted too, pretty nice! Bike was pretty heavy off the kickstand, didn't really like it. Clutch lever felt shorter, which I personally liked. Saw the ABS light on the bike, not sure if that meant it wasn't working or it was on, but cool that it has it! Also had the different modes which was cool, but I can't imagine using anything but the sport mode, haha. Seating position was very comfortable. Once going the weight disappeared and it produced good power up to 5k and better power above that. I really disliked the steering through turns though, felt very unstable and any adjustments unsettled the bike quite a bit. The bike just felt very soft overall which is probably great for its purpose but I wasn't a fan of. VMax: Amazing. Perfect street bike. This bike was just awesome. My dad has an 02 VMax and I had to ride this one. Bike looks amazing first off. Seating position is great. Handle bar position was perfect. Loved the seat design for preventing you from sliding back, which was necessary, haha. Didn't like the position of the digital gauges on the false tank cover. Gear position indicator is not really useful when I have to look down at the tank. Power... was endless. I was telling my friends, there is no power band on the bike, it's all power. Torque was just bottomless. Cruising down the street in 5th and going WOT provided an awesome sound along with a great pull as it accelerated all the way to redline. I just can't say enough good stuff about this bike. The guy who rode it before me said I would get off the bike with a smile and it definitely did. This bike has the perfect riding position with all the power you could ever reasonably want for street use. I fell in love with this bike! Thanks to Yamaha and Iron Pony for putting up this event! Got a free t-shirt and a chance to ride some great bikes! Wish my buddy had the chance to ride the Super Tenere but the ride leader rode it quite a bit. Was great getting to try a bikes I would not normally try though! Glad we ultimately got to do the longer route as it was much better! Let me know if I met you out there so I can put a face to a name, I was there all day pretty much so I probably saw you if you were out there!
