engine combine to make a bike that loves cornering. It can be tipped into a corner with confidence, changing direction from left to right quickly and easily. I love this kind of riding and the Challenger feels really safe going from one tight corner to another – over and over. Because my own‘ 21 Challenger has suspension lifters on it, I did find myself scraping the footplates a little bit on this standard machine, but I think I’ m used to riding these big bikes a bit harder than most. Where this standard bike might miss out against a sports bike trying to get this weight around the corner, it certainly punches out of the other end of the corner very nicely and sports bikes can be quite surprised to still see you in their rear-view mirrors. Braking is very good, with those twin radialmount Brembo calipers up the front. The rear brake is very effective too, I use it a lot midcorner if I’ m going in a bit hot and need to tighten my line a bit. A quick dab on the rear pedal and it’ s confidently pointing in the right direction.
ELECTRONICS With the Bosch six-way ABS unit comes leansensitive braking and traction control, giving a lot of confidence in corners. If you are leaning right over and need to dab the brakes, the Bosch unit senses lean angle, speed, torque and traction to ensure that you’ re not going to tip it over. And that works with the traction control powering out of a corner too. This engine has a huge amount of torque, so powering hard out of a corner without the traction control to keep an eye on things could get wild. The TC can be turned off if you fancy a burnout or two( I didn’ t, I already said I’ m not a teenager) or heading up a gravel road etc, but then you do really notice just how much assistance it gives you when you twist that throttle hard. Thankfully, it automatically turns back on each time the bike is started. The Bosch unit is a safety and speed gamechanger, I really rate it. The stereo is great, even with the stock set up- a 100W stereo 6.5-inch speaker system( some models come with four speakers). There’ s automatic volume adjustment that gets louder as you speed up- and you can hear music or words really clearly while you’ re riding. And that’ s very cool. Listening and singing to your favourite tunes, while you’ re hooning around the back roads – it’ s an experience most bikes just can’ t offer.
COMFORT A huge double seat and long foot plates make the Challenger a comfy ride. You can stretch out on it with your feet out front and your toes on the front crash bars, or they can be flat on the plates, or you can even tuck your legs under and rest your roes at the rear of the floorboards, like a sports bike. There are plenty of options to avoid fatigue on a long ride. I like that the screen can be moved up and down on the go, electronically. At slower speeds
KIWI RIDER 87