“
Off the motorways however,
the long loping gallantry of
the Bobber comes into its
own and will thrill you to
your core
The existing shock may impact the
aluminium ‘tractor seat’ base in very
bumpy terrain, given its location, but in
general road riding this isn’t much of
an issue. Only on smaller B roads, and
going too quickly over traffic humps
has this been apparent.
Another original feature of the Bobber
Black is the one-touch cruise control
button. This is simple to use and does
not require taking one’s eyes off the
road. One push on, push to set speed,
and push for off. It is so simple and
clever, why hasn’t everyone done this?
I also particularly like the lower bars
and the slight lean into the riding
position, and with the pegs and
controls slightly forward of centre the
riding position is really comfortable for
quite long periods of time, and seemed
an improvement from the original,
which took a bit of juggling with seat
placement to find a workable set up.
It won’t give you street-racer feel,
however the bike still invites you
to enjoy time on the road. Hurtling
through some coiling hill roads south
of Auckland I chased a Thruxton R, it
wasn’t a fair fight, but the Bobber held
its own very well, and the new brakes
certainly help impart more confidence
in the attack.
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52 KIWI RIDER