Across the one lane bridge, over the Patea river and straight into the gravel section. With the gravel road in good condition, the bike proved to be stable and planted on the stones with its 216kg wet weight. There’ s good control from the 900mm wide handlebars. This was my first time riding on Pirelli Scorpions and I was quietly impressed with them. I did see 80km / h on the gravel at times but with lots of wandering stock to look out for, and the cows stared at me like I owed them money. I stood up on the pegs for a bit but my 5’ 11” frame is too tall for the bike’ s geometry. Some handlebar risers and 25mm lower foot pegs might help fix this. The 820mm seat height is about right for me and after the 290km ride I didn’ t have a sore butt. I found the single, digital, instrument cluster isn’ t bright enough for daytime riding although you can clearly see the indicated speed. I need glasses to read everything else and it’ s not quite at the correct viewing angle for me, it’ s also missing a gear selection indicator for the constant mesh five-speed gearbox so I found myself counting gear changes like we did back in 80s. I can feel a sprocket change coming along to gear things up a bit. That should give a nicer cruising rev range and a slight increase in kilometre range from the 12-litre steel fuel tank. I like that it’ s a tank that actually looks like a tank.
KIWI RIDER 71