Yesterday I managed to blag a ride on a friends Commando, a 750 with a Mikuni single. He thinks the engine in a Combat but I was too polite to make a note of the engine number; he rode my W800.
Having never ridden one before acquiring my cNw, I’ve been inquisitive as to what Matt’s work has achieved over a more stock machine. Fast Eddie’s is quite close to mine and certainly closer than my friends. FE’s as commented before has a little less low end grunt but more up top, I prefer mine for road riding but I preferred his front end, mine dives a bit. I did learn that I don’t want rear sets too but do like his narrower bars.
The 750 was a very different story. First time kicker and a lovely instant idle. A very grabby clutch from a standstill, stalled the bugger first off
Much much quieter than my bike which I wasn’t expecting. I’m used to Matt’s peashooters and K&Ns compared to stock peashooters and a ham can. The big surprise was his Dunlop tyres, they were actually really good (dry ride only) and none of the scary shit I suffered with them on my W. The REAL difference though was how relatively gutless the bike was. Don’t get me wrong, it was really nice end enjoyable (apart from the stock seat which was frankly awful; kept slide backwards). I’m obviously used to the incredible throttle response from my FCR35s, the rapid acceleration and the aural accompaniment which is very addictive.
I look forward to test riding some others especially with twin carbs and also a MK3 but at this point I have more of an idea of what my investment has bought me. Regardless I know I’m happy because I ride it as often as possible; always good sign I guess
