The First 5,000 Miles
A lot has changed since February when I bought a 2007 S40 with 3,644 miles for $1,500. A lot has changed with the bike. A lot has changed with me. I had never ridden so I had to have the bike delivered. It sat in my garage until the first week of April when I completed the MSF Beginning Rider course. I will admit I spent many hours with it in that cold garage during February and March; working the controls and becoming familiar with the mechanics.
The odometer turned 8,644 miles today, completing my first 5,000 miles as a rider; the bike and the rider still in one piece thanks to some good training and a bit of luck from time to time. The bike is strictly recreational. About 3,000 miles have been weekend rides around the central Kentucky countryside. The remaining 2,000 miles were put on in September during an eight day trip from central Kentucky to the Adirondacks in upstate New York. It was during that trip, riding through a rain storm coming into Buffalo that I think I crossed the line from a nervous beginner to a still cautious, but confident rider.
Anyway, in there have been a few additions to the bike in the first 5,000 miles. To each his own but I think they have made the bike better and more of a proper road bike. In order of installation:
Forward control set from Routy. At 6’2” these were a much welcome addition. I would have some difficulty standing up on the pegs now, but there is no way I could put on any meaningful miles without them. Highly recommended.
Memphis Shades Slim windscreen. This does an exceptional job keeping the wind off the chest at highway speeds. I took my time with it and now have it in final trim and have zero helmet buffeting. The screen does have that old style Police bike look and will never be confused with a cool looking fly screen. But the darn thing works well, very well.
Sissy bar from a 2002. The 2007 did not come with a sissy bar and the cost of an aftermarket one is just obscene. I bought a set of used side rails, sissy bar and backrest over eBay from Pinwall for $30. The backrest needs to be recovered but other than that, it was in good used condition. Now I have a place to mount a tool bag and my Saddlemen tail bag.
Corbin seat. This was on my upgrade list for next spring but a forum member about my height and weight put one up for sale in the Marketplace. It was less than one month old. I was the first to jump on it and could not be more pleased. I rode for about an hour and a half today and did not think about the seat once. Very nice.
I scored a Dyna muffler and custom stainless header adaptor from Dave and installed it last weekend. Compared to the stock muffler, it has a much deeper and satisfying sound without being obnoxiously loud. What is very surprising to me is that I am not experiencing any backfire with the Dyna and I have not yet changed the jets! With that said, it was 60 degrees for today’s extended test. We will see.
What’s next? I am considering aftermarket coil over shocks and a fork brace. I think I would like to have these in place before next year’s trips. At this writing, I have blocked out the third week in July for a trip to the Arkansas Ozarks and another run to the Adirondacks in early September.
Please accept my apology for being a little long winded.
Good hunting
Pages: 1
