Picked up a white Empulse R yesterday, and, under a rainbow, rode home between showers. Just gotta say: I love this bike! Definitely worth the wait.
Got it into 6th gear on the freeway and she felt solid at 75 mph.
Today: too much rain with wind up to 50 mph gusts, so I just go out in the garage every hour and drool over her in repose among my stuff. Shimmering. Wants to go.
I did manage to work on it a bit: installed CRG bar-end mirrors which I like a lot on the bike, but haven't ridden on the freeway yet with them. They are truly beautifully made, and their price reflects it.
The stock mirrors are OK, but I do a lot of lane-splitting and wanted to move the mirrors down, below the level of car/truck mirrors. The overall width at 31.5" is 1 inch more than my TMax scooter, but since their level is low, it's going to work well. I filled the sockets for the stock mirrors with thick grease until I can install a pair of cut-off machine screws.
I also installed a proper horn. The stock one is the wimpiest I've ever heard: like why even bother mounting it? It might be useful to say, "Excuse me please, if you don't mind too terribly much", for pedestrians in a crosswalk, but would be totally lost at being able to say, "Move over now!" at freeway speeds. I went with Scuderia's PIAA Sports line Slim Horn. While not a blaster, it's way more effective than the stock tweeter. It fit exactly where the stock POS was, though it's quite a bit larger. It does stick down more, but I don't think the shock excursion limit will allow the fender to impact it on bumps. If I notice it's cracked all to pieces, well then, I was wrong!
Next is to tackle rigging up a proper 12V accessory port. The bike comes only with a small white electronics connector tucked under the plastic covers in front on the right side. I guess I'll have to visit Radio Shack to find a mating connector and run the leads over to a Centech fuse block that I'll mount some place creatively, in order to run a few items. For the price, it would be a nice touch for Brammo to have fitted two 12V accesses like BMW does on some its models: a powerlet port (or cigarette lighter receptacle), and a small connector to hard-wire a GPS etc.
I've got an email off to Brammo to find out the load limit on the 12V supply.
I want to get power to my Gerbings jacket, since, for San Francisco, it's been cold these past days: 39 one morning on my way to work.
In lieu of my usual heated grips, I may spring for heated gloves, since I made the mistake of trying some on while waiting yesterday at Scuderia. (Yes they have a heated pair just lying in wait for you! Just push the big red button, slip your hands in, grin and say, "My, that's nice. Really nice." Then they gotcha.)
Next up is some Rizoma Zero11 LED turn signals (thanks, Brian!). And some Hyperlites brake flashers and front amber running lights. And....
Eventually, I may have to give Rick Mayer a visit and see about getting a custom seat made. While the stock seat is not uncomfortable, it's just weird, at least to my butt. The most comfortable (widest) part is toward the rear, which is not uncommon. But once I slide back to that portion of the saddle, I find it's slopped up quite a bit and causes my body to place more weight onto my hands and slide back down into the more forward, more narrow portion, where the pressure is borne more like a bicycle saddle, not on the sit-bones. Maybe I'll get used to it. Maybe not.
I REALLY need some bags, since I'll be using this on-the-job as a visiting nurse. No word yet from Brammo on ETA. They're "in development". Meanwhile Rok-Straps, a small duffel, and my backpack will have to do. Sun tomorrow
