Tpoppa

I took the kids on the Goodtime 3 during the air show a few years ago. That was the best viewing spot I ever had. Parking and crowds weren't a problem either.

That could be the car and the bike 👍

Congrats?

Sometimes it's hard to believe what you see on the internet.

The Ninja 400 I just bought might be the most fun of all of them.

I'll probably ride Saturday, but I can't leave until around 10.

I saw a guy riding a Grom on 480 yesterday Cars were swerving not to run him over.

Where wisdom and maturity fail, a strict horsepower limit keeps me from doing anything too crazy. Joking, but yeah. I honestly have zero reason to ride any faster than we were on this trip, which got pretty hot at times. The 400 handled that pace just fine. More importantly, it was super fun at that pace...more fun than I ever had pushing the VFR1200. I'm sure it can even be ridden a bit harder when I get more used to it.

I already ordered the hanger.

Weight shaving is underway. VID_20190826_112101020.mp4

The motor is plenty capable. It needs to be revved, but is happy at high rpms. The spring rates are softer on the Z400. Not sure if the gearing is the same or not. I looked at them both. The reviews on the Ninja 400 seem to be a bit better so that's what I went with. While the looks are sport bike, the riding position is definitely sport tourer.

Full of fuel it weighs 361. I can get it down to 345 with just a slipon and lithium battery & removing passenger pegs and tool kit. I could probably get it close to 335 if I was willing to throw more $$ and time at it...spoiler alert: I'm not 😄

I covered about 1400 miles total. Saturday was about 480 miles of relentless curves. That might be the best day I've had on 2 wheels. WV has so many amazing motorcycle roads. Many are in areas with little population which means traffic is light and LEOs are basically non-existent. There's a great mix of tight/technical & fast/flowing. btw, I'm loving the Ninja 400. It doesn't have quite the pure sportbike capability of my old 1125R or CBR600RR...but it's not as far off as you might think. Riding it is all about momentum. Luckily I can chuck it into corners at speeds I couldn't on the VFR1200. It only has 44 rwhp, but the gearing is spot on & I can use 100% of what's there. Passing cars was never a problem. The only times I I felt limited by power was on corner exit in a few sections where the pace got particularly hot. I had to get a little "creative" to keep that Hyperstrada from waking away on corner exit. Pound for pound it might be the most fun motorcycle I've owned 👍

I have it on gpx files. I can share via email.

In a related story, the Ninja 400 is a capable sporty motorcycle, and did surprisingly well in sport touring duty.

@Pauly and @Blitz finally got to see some of WV's excellent wiggly roads.

I'll be on a slow bike.

Don't worry. I got you

I used to ride about 12k/year. The last 3 years have been more like 3-5k for various reasons.

For me it's always easier to lose than maintain. I can stick to my plan...mostly, when I decide to drop weight. It's harder to find the right balance when I'm being less strict, if that makes sense.

My cutoff is about 38 degrees. Below that too much risk of ice in low lying areas or the road surface being below freezing. My normal gear does fine in those temps with under armor and a sweatshirt.

This. I've never even considered buying heated gear.

Selling a used bike is brutal right now. You have about a 1 month window when spring hits, then prices drop fast.