First ride on my 06 RSTD

[peterg]

I bought it about a month ago, and I finally got to ride it. I live in southern Alberta and we get Chinooks which melt a bunch of snow, so I was able to chop paths to the road in front of my house, and out to the county road, and it was good from there to the local paved highway. I took the Goldwing out first because I'm used to it and the paths aren't that wide. Then I took THE RIDE. I loved it. It's easier to handle than my 83 Goldwing. It feels much lighter on the road and it's much more powerful. It'll take getting used to where the shift levers are (my GW has heel & toe but in a different spot), but otherwise I'm good. My only concern is that when I made it pull hard, the engine vibration increased a lot. I do my own maintenance so I guess I'll do a tune up with valves, plugs, carb sync., etc. Maybe the increased vibration is normal, but I don't know. My GW after carb sync., is really smooth.

Anyway, today was a great day. Weather report says I may get to ride again Saturday. Peter

[cowpuc]

OUTSTANDING PETER!! That V-4 should run as smooth as a wing, I agree with ya on the carb syncing routine, be a really good idea..

Hey, how come you Canadian brothers of ours keep sending all your snowfall down here in Michigan, sharing is a good thing but you guys are giving away the farm!!

 

 

Oh yea, and

 

 

[awsmsrv]

...My only concern is that when I made it pull hard, the engine vibration increased a lot....

Could also be that you're lugging the engine. It really likes higher rpms. Just a thought.

[peterg]

Today I started early to sync the carbs, but thanks to Carbtune (that I read about here) and the great photos of the adjustment screws (that I saw here) I think I was done in about 20 minutes. The last carb sync on my GW took about 2 hours of fooling around with my old set-up. What a great site this is for tech info.

Anyway I took her out again for about 90Km. Had lunch at Twin Butte General Store and Mexican Restaurant. If you ever near Waterton National Park it's a great place to eat; lots of bikers there. (But not today. I was their first bike this year.) I have "the whine", but I'll try Amsoil to see if it quiets it a bit. (It helped my GW). RSTD still isn't as smooth as I'd like. I hadn't read the post about lugging it so I'll take special note next trip. (Min speed for 5th gear roll-ons? I know, I know - - just listen.) It was a beautiful day with melting snow but when I got home my driveway was a soggy gravel/mud mess. Fun pushing the bike backwards into the garage.

I have a Clymer manual coming and when it gets here, I'll do a full tune-up, valves, ignition timing, plugs, and re-sync.

[billmac]

I don't think I ever get in 5th unless going at 65 or more. keep the rpm's up and enjoy.