GP800 - Commuting In London

Today was the first day commuting on the GP. One thing is immediately clear, the GP800 will make a fine commuting tool. Even allowing for the fact that I'm obviously nervous of scratching my new toy and for keeping the revs down while running in, I still got home in about the same time as I would have done on the K75 - but more relaxed.

Observations:

• At 1/2 mph its very easy to ride, completely stable and controllable. It's almost "MP3/Fugliesque" in it's ability to come to a halt and stay upright for a second or so before you put your feet down.
• If you do need to "paddle" it at any point though it's a lot less "wieldy". The wide seat makes it harder to have both feet comfortably purchased on the ground. I may move the "bumstop" forwards to put me on the narrower part of the seat which might help.
• I last posted that the mirrors weren't well positioned - I might revise that view to to say that the problem is that the handlebars are a touch too wide. They could afford to be an inch shorter on each side and this would bring my elbows in further. The alternative will be to develop a "GP twitch" whereby I tuck my elbows in at the same time as inclining my head for the mirror. This seems to work and may become instinctive over time.
• It almost goes without saying, handling, ride, acceleration (even on limited revs) are all exemplary.

There's two more things that I'll have to get used to. I've always been a centre-stand man. I hate sidestands. However the GP800 has a handbrake and that changes things entirely. It's much more stable on the sidestand than any normal bike - and although it's fairly easy to put the bike on it's centrestand (especially given the weight), I can see that the only times I'll use it are at home when anchored down as I can chain through the centrestand to increase the level of protection and when filling up with petrol to keep the bike level.

The other thing that's a novelty to me (but not to anyone with a large topbox) is the ability to pop into Morrisons on the way home and not have to carry your "lid" round with you. These quick stops are aided by the Oxford BossAlarm disclock (get yours from John at Thompsons Scooters). It's very easy to hook on when you need "quick security" and it also doubles as an alarmed padlock when chaining the bike up fully.