passenger grab rails I headed South . Rather than just make a beeline for the ferry , I figured I ’ d take the opportunity to pop in and see some riding buddies along the way – and split the trip into three very different riding days .
AUCKLAND TO ROTORUA . 237KM . The plan was to head to Hamilton for lunch with KR contributor Mat Day-Gillet and then on to Rotorua to catch up with my adventure riding pal Doug Cooper , who ’ d just recently added a 2019 KTM 690 Enduro R to his Honda Africa Twin for trail and tougher adventure riding . The end of January is meant to be hot and sunny , right ? Right ? Not this time . Timing my departure with the Auckland floods it was obvious the rain gods were laughing at me . Instead of having all the vents open on my very well ventilated RST adventure suit , the ES700 and I endured 205km of very wet motorway to
Cambridge . I CAN say the ES700 didn ’ t miss a beat despite the torrential rain , engine vibes are much better on this twin-balancer LC4 engine than on previous iterations , and that the very minimal looking seat is actually ‘ ok ’ for a couple of hundred kilometres . It ’ s not exactly what I ’ d term ‘ comfy ’, but it ’ s far better than it looks – easily 200km comfy . I will say that the seat height is tall . Really tall . I have a 34-inch inseam and I ’ ve found myself struggling a few times – it ’ ll be easy to topple over . I see a lowering link in my future on the 700 . Cruising along open roads at 100km / h is tiring . 90km / h is a nicer speed to travel both from a wind and rev point of view . Covering big distances quickly isn ’ t this bike ’ s strength , but it will shine in the dirt ( more on that in the next instalment ).
DISLIKES Seat height . Standard seat for big distances on straight tar-seal .
KIWI RIDER 41