Waiting for a raise (or lowering!)

Now 2,000km on the bike is handling better and better. I've re-fitted the LePera King Cobra seat again. The seat's a lot firmer but you feel a lot more connected to the road. The Brawler seat has a lot more padding but somehow isn't as comfortable because of its shape.

I'm waiting for the Fournales pump to arrive at Thundertech so that I can get the rear lowered a little. I'm reliably informed that this won't affect the performance. I would buy the pump but apparently it is really, really expensive.

1500km or near as dammit

So the run in is over. Going to get the chaps at Thundertech to lower the ride height a tad. No real revelations in the remaining run in period other than to re-affirm that the bike handles better than ever. I feel a lot more confident powering out of corners knowing I have the best possible contact with the road.

2008 Satin black HD Fatboy

Fournales Pan Cruise fitted

The Great Northern Highway

There is nothing great about Perth's Great Northern Hway. I thought the Lancelin road was bad but at least that has the excuse that it's not a main artery of the state. The GNH has such a rough uneven and generally bumpy surface that it makes for a very unpleasant ride, even with a set of fournales that are close to being broken in (1250km so far). In addition to being rutted and uneven, littered with unfinished surfaces and bereft of white lines it has a general smearing of diesel from the roadtrains that hammer up and down it. It may be acceptable for rodadtrains but there is a heap of traffic that use the road besides those monsters so come on Main Roads WA - sort it out! While you're at it some decent overtaking lanes that don't start or end on a bloody bend would be good. Riding a motorcycle in those conditions, even one with fournales shocks is a white knuckle experience.

U-Turns

When I said that the fournales shocks improved low speed handling I didn't realise that that also meant very slow speed. I've noticed over the last week or so that executing a U-turn on the fatboy has become much easier, smoother, since fitting the shocks. Very welcome benefit!

Freeway riding with Fournales

I ride about 20km each way when I ride to work. Now most days I head into work along the Wanneroo road, a normal dual carriageway for most of the route but fairly low speed. On the way home though I'll take the freeway. One thing I found previous to installing the fournales was that the joins in the freeway where they bridge other roads can cause some pretty serious jarring, coming close to bottoming out the rear and causing a little instability. Now with the fournales, even though they are still running in, those bumps are a lot less sharp and the bike feels completely straight even when hitting the worst ridges.