Ok, where's my cookie?

[texaninsouthfl]

First impression: This won't be news to experienced darksiders but here are my first ride impressions. First of all, I experienced little to no "bump steer" or following of imperfections in the road surface at walking speed up to 100mph. This may may be due to the more rounded profile of the Avid. Locked u-turns are routine at very low speed but more vigorous u-turns will take some getting used to. You can definitely feel when the tire rides up close to the edge on those manuevers. I suspect it's just a matter of getting accustomed to the odd feel. Quick left to right transitions at 35-40 mph are a piece of cake and require just a tad more encouragement on the bars. The same transitions at higher speeds are again drama free but if you're not familiar with the concept of "counter steering" you will be. Minor directional transitions are nearly indistinguishable from a MC but more agressive transitions require a little firmer push. Now for the suprising part... the highway. It's not like the Valk is anything other than a cruise missle on the highway anyway but the CT turns it into a cruise missle on rails. The surprising thing is that I noticed that the bike seemed less susceptible to cross wind and turbulence from other vehicles. I wouldn't have thought that it would make a difference but it was very obvious to me. I made a quick spurt up to a little over 100mph and it was still rock steady. I tried a number of agressive stop and even with the tire locked up, there was good stopping power. (we all know a locked up back MC tire might as well be a roller skate)

The summary of my impression from the first ride? I will have to re-practice my rodeo skills (such as they are) but with that exception there is almost nothing to adjust to. It looks great and at this point I would highly recommend a journey to the darkside on a Yokohama Avid Envigor.

[TJ]

Welcome to the DARKSIDE.......  :flg:
Don't forget to get your  Decal....

 

[Bighead]

Go ride with either Smokin Joe or whiskey and see what a CT can do. If you are not a VERY experienced rider you won't hang with either.

[Jess from VA]

Good report.  The bike is heavy, but straight line (or nearly so) on the freeway is great.  Very little getting sucked into or blown away from semis at all.  (maybe your shirt or jacket, but not the bike)

After awhile, muscle memory takes over and you really don't notice the differences much at all.

Running over half a raised manhole cover can be twitchy (so miss them).... but so can doing it on a bike tire. 

[texaninsouthfl]

Good report.  The bike is heavy, but straight line (or nearly so) on the freeway is great.  Very little getting sucked into or blown away from semis at all.  (maybe your shirt or jacket, but not the bike)

After awhile, muscle memory takes over and you really don't notice the differences much at all.

Running over half a raised manhole cover can be twitchy (so miss them).... but so can doing it on a bike tire. 

Now that I've put a couple hundred miles on the new tire... I don't notice the differences anymore really. Even agressive u-turns are fine now.  You mentioned manhole covers... I always miss those, raised or not. I have a fear of this things being loose somehow.  Speaking of road obsticles... Another thing I have noticed is that running over certain road imperfections like grooves and such is actually less noticeable with the CT.  So far I'm still liking it very much.