First Impressions.

So I patiently waited till 5 to get out of work, got my temp. tags on the bike, finalised all the paperwork, and was going to buy some Icon Barrier pants, but we did not have any in my size, so I decided to tough it out and ride in my Dickies work pants (should have bought ANY pair of those Icons, though...).

Anyway I had the master tech ride the bike to make sure nothing was on the verge of falling off, and after his O.K. , I finally got on my beast and rode off into the sunset (literally).

I got on the highway, and came up to speed (about 75 MPH) with the other cars, and everything was fine for about minutes. Although it seems like the supposed "heated" handgrips werent working at all, I dont believe they would have helped considering the temperature gauge read -4 degrees Celcius (...gonna have to learn to convert that to "American" on the fly.)

I was warm for the most part, especially since I could no longer even feel my fingers. I decided to push on and open the bike up, but only slightly because cold tires, cold road, below freezing temperature and possible ice equals recipe for disaster. Besides, I was told to ride the bike like a grandma because its bad luck not to.

After about 15 minutes of riding, I was thinking not how amazingly fun the bike is, but how much I don't want to ride any more. I couldnt feel my fingers, and since my mother's deli was on the way, I did a detour and planned on warming up there. Unfortunately, she had closed already ( I could have SWORN that she was open till 6 on saturdays. Then, I was swearing due to the fact that I had to be in the cold for another 15 minutes more!!).

I warmed up my fingers on the exhaust gas, put my gloves back on, and began riding again. With 10 minutes car-time of driving away, I said screw it and ripped the throttle wide open. This bike is FAST!!! I figured since im not gonna get any warmer by going faster, and I can't any colder than I was, I might as well get home faster. Got home in like three minutes, jumped off my bike, and ran into the shower to warm up. After getting feeling back in my fingers and being relieved they didnt fall off, I finally had a chance to marvel at how beautiful the bike is, and how well it rides.
I'm EXTATIC about my purchase, and need to get some warmer pants and gloves, and as long as theres no snow or rain on the ground, if you're in the central New Jersey area, and you see a nutjob on a yellow 5th gen in 20 degree weather riding arond, remember to say hi! : )

Anyway, I have off tomorrow so im gonna get those gloves and pants, and Ill see if I can take some pictures.

 

Enjoy your new ride!!

:biggrin:

BTW, it doesn't exist if you don't take photos.

:tongue:

 

I'm pretty sure all 99's have a button over the fuel gauge that lets you change the Celsius to degrees, unless it's not a option on the euro version...

Are you sure that's all you did in the shower

 

Hehe... no coment about the shower fiasco....

As for the temp reading, the LCD doesnt even have a little "F" to display, so im indeed stuck with Celcius. I should get used to it anyway, to be one with my Polak heritage :smile:

 

It only changes from degrees celcius of Air temp to degrees celcius of coolant temp. Not sure if ALL euro bikes do that, as mine is from the UK, but im sure theyre all the same on that side of the pond. So no... I cant change from Celcius to Fahrenheit. Bummer..