re: Dustom's Harley-Davidson SuperLow 1250 is now Turbocharged Thanks everyone.
Recently had a Trip to Bareilly . For some Official work.
I was suppose to Hire a Taxi, but I had other plans.
Started early morning 5.30am, I was under Impression that It is warm enough now to start early morning.
Although I had put on a Heavy Leather jacket, and Helmet but soon enough my Fingers nearly froze .
Ended up halting for Chai in just 20odd km.
After that , for the next hour or so maintained a speed of 30kmph.
When it was warm enough , gave in some gas and Najibabad Onwards I was in 3 digit speed almost all the way.Bareilly is about 300km from Haridwar, it took me 5 hours exactly, largely because Highway was awesome and not too much of traffic.
Now For the bike:-
Did not have any problem on the Highway, however 80kmph is most comfortable speed , Its comfortable , smooth and you get Time to react for road Imperfections.
Although I maintained something around 100 , but the wind gets you after a while.
You dont get to hear the exaust is the biggest problem, also even slight surface Imperfection:- joints in tarmac ect consume entire suspension travel.
Front as well as rear.
But 300km later when I found myself in Bareilly, I was fresh, not even hint of fatigue.
No problems whatsoever.
Return Journey was entirely other game though, decided to visit a Friend in Ruderpur, which was about 80-90km from there.
Gone was the lovely Highway, it was such a broken road all the way from Bareilly to Ruderpur, Trust me when I say I have done fair share of riding and driving on Broken roads.
But this time, It was like Learning to slow ride all over again, there was practically no road, whatever little 100mtr patch I found were patched up by filling Potholes with gravel and tar mixture which actually extended above the road level.
I probably would not have gone past 15kph for entire 80kms, and I was not the only one who was going that slow.
But I was the one who was scraping almost everywhere and was bouncing right out of seat even at 15-20kph.
Front suspension is a total No-go on that sort of road(sorry to call it a road, Harley should be sorry to call it a suspension).
Not for the love of the Bike, for your own Backbone. Its a Disaster. Couple of times My hands left the handlebars.
So that Whole concept of finding out where the Road ends, Riding off to that Unknown Sunset and every other Harley Tagline Goes for a toss. I am sorry but that suspension is sorry as well.
Its tooo damn soft in the front and it does not have even Half the Travel required for Indian Road.
For me , this bike with Stock suspension can only be taken to places where you know what sort of road are you going to get.A Venture into unknown is not this bikes Forte.
Atleast not with Stock Suspension.
By the time I reached his place, I had no more energy left. I was exausted. We had planned for all night Party, but I hit the bed in his flat in no time.
If someone Bets It can be taken for a Trip around the world, or to ladakh and somthing like that, I would not argue.
People will do anything just to prove someone wrong. And the bike would go there aswell, no doubt.
Its not about Breakdown of the motorcycle. You simply do not enjoy, nor does your bike
.
Its Stressfull to take a superlow to such a road.
and ofcourse its a bike for riding alone, added weight of a Pillion would be a Big Issue even on a highway with stock suspension.
I do not think raising the GC alone would make it a India Spec Bike.
Progressive and fancy stuff will only make suspension harder, Something needs to be done for increasing the travel by atleast 2 inches, with higher damping and stiffer springs. |