I'll be the first to admit I am probably overexcited on being back on two wheels after a long dry spell so if I overpost with inane subjects please feel free to slap me down.
This is the most well balanced bike I have ever owned out of a string of bikes that includes a '71 Bonneville I bought in the late '70's.
My first street bike was a Honda 350 if memory serves. I was riding that bike doubled up back to Jeff City one night and we hit a doe at 65. She came out of nowhere like they always do and I had just enough time to shut the throttle down and fortunately we centered her between her legs and the impact threw her up and away instead of under the wheels. The only damage done to the bike or us was a headlight pointed at the ground, a little deer hair and poop down the side of the bike and the front fender was pressed against the tire which turned out to be a good thing because it immediately started braking us and with sudden lights out I couldn't see where we were going. I got us stopped and pulled over on the shoulder and I yanked the headlight back up and we were 5 feet away from hitting a speed limit sign.
We went to work the next day and nobody believed us that we hit a deer at 65 mph on a bike and were walking. The hair, the poop, it was all there and we showed them but still they called BS on it.
I was riding home last night on the four lanes and dropped the throttle off from about 80 getting ready to downshift into 5th to vary some speed and took my hands off the bars and placed them on my knees while the rpms were bleeding off. The bike tracked straight as an arrow so I started using my knees and weight and pressure on the pegs to move it side to side to see what it would do and the bars never moved an inch. I was on a long straight and if the bike had been on cruise control the bike would have tracked straight and I do believe you could steer the bike with your weight through a long slab sweeper while picking your nose.
For those who are just starting out riding this is NOT a good thing to do at any speed if you are totally inexperienced.
Believe me I've ridden a lot of bikes that if you took both hands off the bars at any speed you were veering right or left almost immediately.
But there is no other way I know of to truly test the balance of your bike and learn what it will do other than letting go of the handlebars while she is running down the road and seeing which way she veers. If you have to do it just do it at a safe speed on a clear road on a straight stretch and keep your hands hovering above the grips when you do it. Don't freak out if it suddenly feels like it wants to dive to either side just put some weight on the other peg or drop a little hand weight on the opposite grip to get it upright.
The friend whose band I went up to see is an avid sport bike rider and owns a nasty tweaked Ninja 900 that he bought from a guy out in California that had set it up for race. Charlie has some huevos when it comes to laying it down on the curves and is a very capable and knowledgable rider. I've learned a lot from him in the past month or so. I doubt I'll ever emulate him but it's nice to have a credible resource for info!
He's given me some great pointers in the last couple of weeks about riding this style of bike and it's helped immensely.
His bike will do a true 180 according to the previous owner and he says he has only had it to about 165 and it was still pulling like it was pulling from 120 when he let off.
He was impressed with the Sprint when he saw it for the first time other than in a picture and his words to me when he sat on it were "oh h**l yeah!" He really liked the feel of the riding position.
He told me today just picking it up off the stand he could feel that it was a very well balanced bike and that he is sure that he can scrape those bags if given half a chance.
This is an amazing bike.
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