The first feedback is gonna be 'first impressions' as the final push to get the bike complete on Friday arvo combined with rush hour traffic and fading light meant it was never going to be a long ride.
Here's the final pics - only thing missing is a bashguard (having some issues finding one that fits with the front D) and have the matching handlebars to the stem on order (yep LOUD is the theme of the build).. bars are 760 as opposed to the 780 I've been riding lately
So arrived at the forest, threw the bike at a fellow ccdb owner with the base tune settings and had him have a play whilst I got changed.
One of the things I wanted in a new ride was something that looks a bit more in 'proportion'.. my old farm gate looked like it had midget wheels. Taking a look at this pic with only M and L other bikes you'll notice that the Rune doesn't look 'big' - but don't worry it is!
At this point I should explain what my old ride is - it'll probably make you stop reading right now because yeh it's old and it's a POS.. '08 Enduro with a Van rear coil. however I'd had a lot of work done to it and it was running super nice even the fork seemed to be finally going good after a recent service (who knew - a service makes things work better?!). I'd even started having second thoughts about whether or not I actually needed a new bike (boy how wrong I was!).
Here's a side by side size comparison old v new
Into the forest (Riverhead forest - clay base.. hasn't rained for ages so is rock hard, lots of tree roots and ruts from moto's.. it's just riding unreal right now! Can just take any line anywhere) riding up the gravel road to get to the hilltop asap the first thing I noticed was the rear end stiffness - felt good. Bike pedals very well no bobbing from the rear sits nicely
Straight into the down.. write this first section off as rear shock was totally overpowering the front and bucking me a bit. (fork feels blimin good tho) Quick stop before section two for a consult with the suspension gurus and we decide to just increase the sag for now. Drop 10psi out of the shock and straight into section 2.
HOLY FREAKIN SH*TBALLS THIS BIKE IS THE SHIZZ! Fanged it down an unfamiliar track sitting on my mates wheel.. rear feels much more balanced. immediately going faster on a new unfamiliar bike than I have ever been on my old bike. Despite having fairly slack headangle (I'm riding it in neutral chip at the mo) the handling is pretty quick and it's just super manoeuvrable on the track. The 650 wheels and no doubt the combo with some great suspension means it just rolls over the roots and ruts like they're not there.. get to the bottom laughing my ar$e off with a huge grin on my face and immediately turn around to hit it again!
Light is getting low now so manage a couple more tracks back to the carpark. More of the same - just riding as fast as poss everything just felt so natural! Wasn't expecting at all to be able to just jump on a new rig and feel like it's made for me! just absolutely rails around corners.. ahh the satisfaction of making a good purchase sets you up for a good evening...
1. Get back to car park do a little dance - i'd describe it as a cross between the running man with a bt of gangnam chucked in..
2. Crack a couple of beers
3. Drive home, feeling so emotional start composing a poem in my head expressing my love for Keith and the new Rune
4. Get home, wake kids to hi five them.
5. Say nice things to the wife - immediately raising her suspicions
6. Get yelled at by the wife about buying a new bike - pretend to listen but really I'm thinking how I can manage a midweek sneak down to Queenstown as well as trying to progress this damn poem... poetry not my strength - stuck on opening line 'there once was a man named keith...'
7. Think the yelling has stopped. Review my decision on going for the 'loud' build. Previous bike builds have just been red, black and white because my wife is bikelexic - they all look the same to her.. there's no hiding this sucker in the garage!
8. Drink more beer - feel happy looking forward to Sunday and a longer ride
9. Try to end the arvo / evening by thinking hmmm what would make this day perfect.. give the wife my most enticing smile mixed with blue steel... this does not appear to work so have to cut my losses there.
10. Feel annoyed that I have to wait until Sunday for next test cause i'm on daddy day care on Sat while the missus attends hens do
11. Sleep.
So to summarise EXTREMELY HAPPY so far.