2013 Riding Season Starts!

I took my first serious ride of the year earlier today. After work, I took the bike up north to Belfountain, home of the infamous (at least locally infamous) Forks of the Credit Road; a very short 6km stretch of road that features a mix of good scenery and some decent (by local standards) twists and turns... and as of last year freshly paved too!

Patiently waiting in the office parking lot

The nice thing about riding during weekdays is how deserted the roads are. Low traffic concentration means low police concentration too.

The coffee shop at the end/start of the run is usually packed with bikes. Not today :)

Got the roads all to myself

Not quite the tail of the dragon, but its home

Including today's ride I've put around 350km on the new motor. So here are my impressions of the bike:

Motor
Still being broken in so I've kept revs between 4k-5k. The new carbon fiber tubes really amplify the induction noise epecially when the throttle is mashed open at low RPMs. Can't wait to really push it. The CVK carbs are fine for the most part. The off idle action is a little weak but I can ride around it for now... and technically that's a problem with the carbs not the engine.

Suspension
So far the fancy Ohlins suspension hasn't wowed me but thats mostly my fault (probably). All the compression and rebound settings are stock (for a ZX-10R). I have however set my static sag to around 35mm at the front but haven't touched the back yet because I can't figure out how the preload adjuster works.... gonna have to call Ohlins about that.

Brakes
The first time I went out with the new brakes I squeezed the Brembos like I was squeezing my old Nissin setup. I felt the rear suspension completely unload and had a genuine 'oh shit' moment. The Brembo M4s coupled with the 19x18 stops the bike VERY quickly with VERY little effort. Takes some getting used to, actually.