Graywulf

Now THAT could well have been a HD I'd have bought. The closest I've come to buying {very close} was the XR1200X, But I went for the Yamaha MT-01 instead. I've ridden just about all of the models from the iron head sporty up to the V-rod, twin cam etc

additional info sent... DUH, lol.

I know you PM'd me Freebird, Re postage to NZ but I will take 5 if possible please. GW

Over here our biggest pests are goats, and possums. I have a nice hi-power 'puff of air' for possums. Don't know what they are like in the USA, but they get cat sized over here

Ithink they are kinda good idea. If you'd be happy to ship overseas? I'll throw my hat in for a couple.

That's really encouraging to read. My 'ex' {we are still damn good friends} rides a Spyder RTs and has done for 7 years {she was the first woman with an RT in NZ}. I also had an RSS {which I sold and financed the Venture with}. They are a lot of fun once you master them, well hey I used to own a combo for rallying many years ago. I am often amazed at the negativity directed towards the Canam's by motorcyclists, so it is very refreshing to see a positive outlook towards them. Vicki has a 1330 RT, and the riding group from work consider her 'one of the boys', she does not hang about on it and at 5ft 4ins, you can imagine how little she looks on it. They are one way smaller women can ride 'big machines' that can keep up with the 'man bikes'

Ahhhh, as a non car user, I don't really follow much. I just know about the MX5 conversion {rotary} from meeting someone with one, no idea of HP but was blardy quick. Mind you the V8 motor you are talking about would likely have a lot more torque than a rotary.

I would imagine you'll have a firm who can do the same there. In Aussie, there's a place of 'nutters' who give the MX5 {miata} a serious heart transplant. They stuff a tuned RX7 or RX8 rotary in them.

As you say 'us old coots' don't like being bent up. but I had an XJ650 special {same bike} early in my biking years and it was a damned comfortable 'little' bike. Actually did one London to Spain trip on it as my 1000 Kwaka was in the shop. Obviously couldn't do the 1000 mile 'blast' on it, but arrived on day two and in pretty good shape.

BlueSky, starting to make me think the carbs are 'gummed'. I cannot even touch the throttle with the choke fully out, when cold, but once you feel 'warm' on the fake cooling fins, you can start to throttle, but it sounds 'flat and lifeless' till it's actually hot. Don't know if the bikes we got {NZ} will have the blanked off adjusters, but Daniel {mechanic} is the shops tuning 'go to' guy. Slowroll I'd love to do my own 'wrenching' within my limits, but being honest, with fuel injection/ECU's, it's many years since I touched a bike 'seriously', and old arthritic knees do not like being 'bent up' or kneeling down. Lets not even THINK about getting back up again. {Don't you hate it when you remember aged 20 something, when you got injured and a Doc told you. "you'll feel this in later years"} :/ Riding Vicki's RTS Spyder made me realise how much better the knees felt, compared even to the 'mild bend back' on my CB1300 or Spyder RSS. I will ask plenty of 'stupid questions' no doubt, it's the only way to learn about your machine. It's quite interesting the reaction these bikes get, Both stops on the way home, fuel/food I got approached and asked, what is it?

Hi slowroll, thanks for the welcome, I've seen 'factory' lean, this is way beyond that. if you touched the throttle at all during warm up, it dies. Literally the engine has to feel 'warm' to the touch, before it will allow throttle use, and has no 'pull' from take off until it is actually HOT. It sounds and feels wrong at just off idle/low throttle and I avoided going onto the main jet. BTW, I threw in 'wyn's cleaner' at fill up {we don't have seafoam here} and rode it 200 miles to come home, so it had a damn good run. The mufflers are 'wide bore' and no baffles. Plus I had experience with 'stage 2ing' on an MT-01... {the fuel in New Zealand is utter rodent urine} and that needed a fueller with a similar change {mufflers}. It's in being given a full service, and the mechanic who is doing it recently totally restored a Gen1 for a customer. I am also allowing possible 'varnishing' inside the carb's and partially blocked jets.

Yup as of today, 'officially' a Gen 2 owner, 2006, black cherry, 27km {17,00 ml}, she's like new for condition. Basically going for a full fluids change, service, grease up, and 'worst parts' two new tyres to go on, and the previous has put a set of {HDtype?} Vance & Hines, Big Oval mufflers on it. But did no 're-jetting', it's running horribly lean. Why do they do that, and not 're-jet'? Had a 200 mile ride home with it today. Very interesting, as my last cruiser 12yrs ago, was a Kwaka VN1500. Certainly can notice the low speed weight etc, but by the time I got 'home', knew I have made a good choice. Comfortable, 'adequate' power {probably will improve even more with re-jetting} Trundled along at around 70mph and thoroughly enjoyed the ride, once I had acclimatised to how the bike handles and feels. These things FEEL huge, even sitting on it, and certainly have 'road presence'. And there I had been worried a 'mere' 1300cc would not be enough to do the job. My last big twin a couple of years ago was a bike the USA didn't get for some reason, the Yamaha MT-01. Warrior motor, even more hotted up {90bhp, 110ft lbs} some serious GRUNT! Not to worry, even 'lean' the V4 was a pleasure to ride and a lot more tractable than I had anticipated from reading about 4/5th gears being overdrives'. Didn't try to explore anywhere close to 'limits' with a strange bike, and old/worn tires, but found it pulled reasonably at 100kph in 3th. Have to get some stuff ordered, probably B/stone Excedra tires, K&N airfilters and a 'dynajet' kit for the carbs, as well as the service/once over..so she'll be in there a few days. Looking forward to how it will feel with new boots and carbs jetted correctly.