Specs

Not live, only highlights.

Been watching the TT live on TV via my phone. Best £20 spent in quite a while. https://ttplus.iomttraces.com/browse

Too expensive, and the local stealers are useless.

Too tall.

Bloody hell! That simple? Bugger.

I met her briefly at the Overland Event in September 21 where she did her, I think, first presentation. She was sensational and had everyone entranced.

And fugly. The colours are hideous as is that tank/beak.

Tried it when it was first released. The lump sticking out of the right hand side of the engine (gearbox cover?) kept getting in the way of my right calf. Irritating so gave up on it. I went there ready to do a deal!

A startling difference when the engine is worked.

Wet. About 195 without fuel. Felt extremely light.

The Hornet is pretty much the un-faired lower version of the Transalp, same engine with slightly different mapping and gearing. I'd never buy a Suzuki again after the way that my Bandit rusted! Maybe they've improved by now to be fair - I think that someone should produce a stainless steel bike that wouldn't need cleaning and wouldn't rust! I want something with a fairing of sorts, fairly upright ergonomics, capable of handling dirt tracks, has the capacity to carry luggage, isn't too heavy and has the performance of a GS. OK skip the performance, but needs to be about 200kg and not too tall. Unicorn?

Karoo Street I think.

I think they were Metzeler something or other.

First things first. I didn't buy one! I did just over an hour's riding. M4 motorway from Cwmbran to Chepstow and back via Usk - a twisty road with some straight bits and a variety of surfaces. Bike's ergonomics were spot on for me. The pegs are set slightly further forward and lower than on the GS allowing for less bend in the legs giving greater comfort. The engine is a bit Jekyll and Hyde in as much as it will happily chug along in a high gear at low speed, and will pull away smoothly. The power seems to be delivered quite high in the rev range, so for overtakes it needs a couple of gears lower before it really gets going. That's when things get surprisingly interesting! Coming from the GS I missed the low end grunt, and the ease of quick overtakes in sixth gear if I felt lazy. The quick shifter and gearbox were great - no issues. Suspension was very plush, giving a comfortable ride even on poor surfaces, and the bike didn't get deflected by lumps and bumps keeping its line well. There was some dive on braking - good brakes - and under enthusiastic acceleration it tends to sit back and the front gets slightly light . Nothing wrong there, I'm just not that used to conventional suspension. I found the handling great. It was quite windy but it wasn't bothersome. The bike felt very planted at all speeds. The windscreen gave very similar wind protection to that on the GS. The seat ok, but I was only on it for an hour. It tended to sort of push me forward into the lowest bit of it and I'd have preferred to be sitting slightly further back. Different contouring would sort it, custom maybe. It's all subjective anyway! No problems flat footing. Wasn't too keen on the rally pegs as it felt as if my boots were glued to them, ok for off road maybe, but I like to move my feet around. The standard pegs with the rubber insert would be my choice. Standing up the sides of the tank got in the way because of the pegs being slightly forward. GS ergonomics much better in that respect. What else is there? Engine sounded ok especially when the throttle was wide open at higher revs. Plenty of videos on YouTube. All in all I liked it, and although it isn't in any way really in the same niche as the GS, I can quite happily see myself being happy with one. Why didn't I get one? Earliest delivery is in August. I've put my name on a list if there's someone cancelling an order. Some snaps and a quick video.

I could be mistaken. It seems that they have a new brewery down in Cardiff Bay. The company sold off most of the pubs and closed the old brewer during lockdown. At the time of the sell off there was talk of shifting brewing elsewhere.

Brains no more. Brewed in Ingurlund!

I sat one one the other day but it felt too small for me. It's still on my list of maybes though.

I'm sweating in sympathy.

Not so far off the mark! Used to nick my father’s C50 to go down to the pub with my mate on the back. We were fifteen and eventually got caught and made an appearance in juvenile court. I had endorsements before I even had a licence!

Too true. Riding home just felt that everything was off with the bike. Noisy engine, some other noise that turned out to be my visor, bike wandering, and on and on. A simple case of paranoia I imagine but at least it makes me feel better about a change!

UPDATE Picking bike up this morning. Apparently fault on throttle assembly- two historical ones, not current. Also fault on exhaust flap valve, three Exup type thing, and a couple of slightly corroded connections that they cleaned up. Said if it happens again they’d need to change the throttle assembly. Doesn’t exactly fill me with confidence. My brother is going to run me down to collect it in the next hour or so.

Strangely enough I've been watching his trip and thought that for someone who is supposedly reasonably well travelled it was a bit odd that he wasn't switched on to the cash thing. I still have my Euros that I didn't have to change as I didn't get there!

I quite like the dark colours. No matt black option though.

LATEST!!! Apparently the bike has been fixed. The guy I spoke with had no idea what the techies have done and that he'd find out and let me know. Perhaps I'll never find out. Told him I wanted the bike returned here as covered by the extended warranty breakdown cover. It'll probably be another week as he said a different department deals with that. I'm out on the lash tomorrow afternoon, so I told him tomorrow morning or Thursday would have to do. I'm not holding my breath about anything M & P related here.

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