Bonjour from France

[HBWinger]

Welcome and congradulations I'm also new to the F6B fraternity and enjoy it more than any bike I've had in a while.

[Circle-5]

La F6B est la meilleure bécane du monde -- excellent choix! Ce forum est aussi le meilleur du monde, et tous les membres sont les plus gentils du monde. Bienvenue à bord!~

(The F6B is the best bike in the world -- excellent choice! This forum is also the best in the world, and all its members are the nicest people in the world! Welcome on board!)

[3Chief]

I might be the kid here at 45!

40 myself

[RTaz]

welcome-taz-ag1.jpg

[Nightwing_67]

Welcome to the group (im from NY, also 49 and do not speak french so Hello is all I got ) congratulations on owning the BEST BIKE EVERRRRR. If you get a chance to post video, that would be awesome to see.

[jaygollner]

Living so close to the Alps must be nice.

[ADV67]

Thanks to all for the warm welcome!

Picked up the bike from the dealer today but only rode it home for 15min as it started raining heavily.
This weekend the weather will be nice and I will make a first full day trip to get to know her.

The alps are 4-5hrs riding away from my home. But we have nice hills and and a lower mountain range around here, enough to have fun for a day trip or weekend.

I will post some pics later on!

Au revoir!

[MarcPW]

Salutations de Nouvelle Zélande ! I used to live near the border with Switzerland (Geneva) and I have ridden many passes in the French, Swiss and Italian Alps. And visited l'Alsace many years ago (meetings du GoldWing Club local) Yes this is an awesome forum, so "Bienvenu" !

[Ixol Phaane]

Welcome to the party! Enjoy the ride.

[ADV67]

Thanks!

So this weekend I did some 500mi of riding, 200 yesterday alone and 300 today 2-up. Only twisties, not a straight road and many very small narrow and bumpy roads too, hairpins etc. A good way to get to know the F6B. I am very happy overall.
I mounted Ergo III highway pegs but could hardly use them as there were almost no straight lines in my weekend ride.




My observations:

- The rider pegs scrape really early in the tight turns. Sometimes they hit violently scaring my wife on the back. Suspension is turned up by 2/3rd. The bike could lean much more in the turns still being safe but the pegs limit the angle very early. Any way to raise the bike an inch or so? Different shock and fork springs might help? I do ride a lot of twisties in my area.

- The engine is fantastic! It will lug in 5th gear and has a lot of torque.
As the bike is new to me I am not sure if this noise is normal: when lugging the bike under load below 2500 rpm the gearbox will make a whining noise, a kind of "jiiiii". When revving it in higher rpm or riding it under little partial load like cruising in town it does not make that noise.

- The gearbox clunks pretty loud when shifting gears. Much louder than my old BMW GS and that was loud. Again, this might be normal, I am not familiar (yet) with this engine. Also the final drive has some little play when shifting up or down, this can be straightned out with the clutch but when popping the clutch quickly there is some play. The bike only has 3500mi so it's barely broken in.

- My hips hurt at the end of the day after hours of riding. My knees are pretty much bent ( I am 6.3" and 34" inseam). I might look at a higher saddle to gain some leg space. I am spoiled coing off 1200cc adventure bikes with higher custom saddles (Super tenere, KTM Adventure). The comfort of the stock seat is very good but it's the angle of my legs. The highway pegs help on the longer highway stretches of course.
Are there options for higher saddles on the market or is it better to have one custom made? I might save up some cash and look into Heli bars coming winter to adapt my riding position to my likings.

- My wife is very happy! She loves the bike and is MUCH more comfortable on the back than on any Adventure bike I had over the last 20 years! She wants me to keep the F6B!