Leon (Grand Poobah)  |
| Mon Apr 21, 2014 11:30 am |
| 100 mile report. |
On Thursday I picked up my 300 with ABS.
I rode it around the at the dealership for about 5 minutes before heading home. The ABS seems a bit slow to react. I'm pretty sure that if I got into trouble on a dirt road the ABS wouldn't always save me. I did a couple of hard stops on gravel and the front end moves an inch or two sideways before the ABS releases it - I had to put my foot out to keep from dropping it almost every time I attempted to lock the brakes on a loose surface. It moves far enough that it wouldn't recover if it happened in snow.
So far I've only hit the Rev limiter once. On the last heat cycle ride before the oil change at 85 miles, I pulled out in front of some on-coming traffic and used full-throttle to stay out in front of them. Hitting the rev limiter came as a surprise! I knew I was running the RPM up, but didn't expect to hit it so soon and so hard. The engine was still pulling well and didn't seem like it was ready to shift yet.
It's also very quiet. Part of that may be due to the new helmet, but the bike just doesn't make much noise. For the last year I've been riding a 2000 Suzuki GS500s. It is quieter than my old Ninja 250, but at about 6000 RPM, the Suzuki starts to vibrate. It just doesn't like revving past there even though the redline is around 11000 or so. The 300 just keeps spinning faster and faster until Kawasaki reins it in.
I changed the oil at 85 miles after the last ride yesterday. The drain bolt is on the right side, but the kickstand is on the left with no center stand. I had to lean the bike over against a support to drain the oil. It's handy to have the oil fill on the high side, but the drain should have been on the low side to allow it to be changed without an additional support.
(added) Fuel economy isn't very good on this first tank. Flashing low fuel came on at 147 and a couple of miles later, it took 4.0 gallons of fuel for an average of 37 mpg.
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100 mile report. — Leon, Mon Apr 21, 2014 11:30 am -
Rev limiter at 85 miles? — funkshn, Tue May 06, 2014 1:39 pm
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Break-in — jkv45, Tue May 06, 2014 2:01 pm
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I didn't follow the recommended break-in. — Leon, Tue May 06, 2014 1:51 pm
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700 mile day on Sunday — Leon, Tue May 06, 2014 11:55 am
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IBR; Leon - will we see you at the IBR or in Denver? (n/t) — KDW, Tue May 06, 2014 3:03 pm
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Probably not. MD2020 yes, Void maybe. — Leon, Tue May 06, 2014 3:12 pm
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Great report, Leon.
— djrussell, Tue May 06, 2014 12:55 pm -
Peace of mind. — Leon, Tue May 06, 2014 1:57 pm