BuffaloR3
.060 Over
I've always thought the handling on this bike (06 standard LE) was pretty good but after this weekend I was truly impressed.
I was getting bored doing the runs with the Harley crowd so I decided to branch out a bit and do a ride with some more aggressive riders. There's a local meetup group of sportsbike riders and I thought I'd give the big girl a real test and do an outing with them. There have been occasions that I've taken her out and given her a good run through the twisties but I was usually alone (or if I was with someone else it didn't take long to leave them so far behind I felt like I was riding alone) but I never had anything to compare her against. The ride on Sunday consisted of 8 other riders on various metrics in the 600 class, some neophytes and a couple of guys who like to ride the amateur racing circuit. They aren't the crazy weave in and out of cars on the highway types but they do like to hit the back roads hard when able to do so safely. At first I thought they were taking it kind of easy, a few hard leans on some on-ramps and a few twisties on the back roads, a little outside my usual comfort zone but nothing more than I haven't already done a few times while riding alone. I was happy I was keeping up with the leaders and almost ran up their tail pipe once or twice shooting out the last turn of a string of snake curves. We eventually stopped for gas and I was unexpectedly presented with a crowd around my bike asking all sorts of questions. Apparently they were not "taking it easy" and were rather impressed that I was able to keep up with the pack. After the fuel stop I was asked to lead the group as they wanted to see if I could outrun them, I respectfully declined as I did not know these roads well and didn't want to get someone hurt leading them too fast into a dangerous area. The rest of the day was spent pushing harder and I certainly wore down the Metzler a few millimeters, never did I fall behind and the other riders weren't foolish enough to try and outrun me on the straights (although it's quite possibly the only place they had a chance to do so).
Now that I've had real opportunity to test this bike head to head I feel vindicated for all the times I blindly told my friends that it can outrun alot of sportsbikes, now I know it's a true statement.
I was getting bored doing the runs with the Harley crowd so I decided to branch out a bit and do a ride with some more aggressive riders. There's a local meetup group of sportsbike riders and I thought I'd give the big girl a real test and do an outing with them. There have been occasions that I've taken her out and given her a good run through the twisties but I was usually alone (or if I was with someone else it didn't take long to leave them so far behind I felt like I was riding alone) but I never had anything to compare her against. The ride on Sunday consisted of 8 other riders on various metrics in the 600 class, some neophytes and a couple of guys who like to ride the amateur racing circuit. They aren't the crazy weave in and out of cars on the highway types but they do like to hit the back roads hard when able to do so safely. At first I thought they were taking it kind of easy, a few hard leans on some on-ramps and a few twisties on the back roads, a little outside my usual comfort zone but nothing more than I haven't already done a few times while riding alone. I was happy I was keeping up with the leaders and almost ran up their tail pipe once or twice shooting out the last turn of a string of snake curves. We eventually stopped for gas and I was unexpectedly presented with a crowd around my bike asking all sorts of questions. Apparently they were not "taking it easy" and were rather impressed that I was able to keep up with the pack. After the fuel stop I was asked to lead the group as they wanted to see if I could outrun them, I respectfully declined as I did not know these roads well and didn't want to get someone hurt leading them too fast into a dangerous area. The rest of the day was spent pushing harder and I certainly wore down the Metzler a few millimeters, never did I fall behind and the other riders weren't foolish enough to try and outrun me on the straights (although it's quite possibly the only place they had a chance to do so).
Now that I've had real opportunity to test this bike head to head I feel vindicated for all the times I blindly told my friends that it can outrun alot of sportsbikes, now I know it's a true statement.
