Small ove"aking
gaps in the traffic
are no issue with
this punchy motor
because of its surge
of torque at low revs
COMMUTER
Granted a 900cc machine isn’t your
average commuter’, but as an all-in-
one machine for doing the lot, the GT
is pretty good at it. Sure, the panniers
and wide bars mean you need to plan
your lane-splitting and overtaking a little
more carefully than with a compact 200cc
scooter, but I think planning in an urban
tra c situation is always a good thing.
Small overtaking gaps in the tra c are
no issue with this punchy motor because
of its surge of torque at low revs. ou just
need to open the throttle and you’ve got
instant go – boom ou’ve just made
your overtake.
TECH
p front is a dash based on the one fitted
to the amaha ZF-R1 and it’s a definite
upgrade on the old system. The screen is
full-colour TFT Thin Film Transistor liquid
crystal display which shows everything
you might need to know about your ride,
from air temperature to gear selected
and instantaneous fuel consumption.
Brightness can be adjusted to suit the
lighting conditions.
New for this bike is an up-shift assist
commonly known as a quick-shifter
38 KIWI RIDER
which allows clutchless shifts on the way
up the gearbox, but there’s no down-
shift assist known as an auto-blipper for
clutchless down-shifts.
Cruise-control is a nice extra to have and
came in particularly handy for keeping
within the tightly enforced limits on the
long straights between ueenstown,
Wanaka and Cromwell. No wandering over
the limit without noticing, just a simple
press to select speed control – needless to
say, I’m a fan of cruise-control on a touring bike.