First impressions on a long trip!

[McRuss]

Well May 3rd finally came; my friend Duane and I picked up our Rally's at Bradford Marine in Texarkana, Texas, and rode them home (494 miles to my door.) Great machine but, and I knew this, they are not designed for long distance riding.

We picked them up from the dealer, took them to our motel Friday evening where we fitted the CalSci windscreen and Ebay top boxes. No problems with either though I may need to modify the mounting for the top box to move it back a bit. I ordered the medium windscreen and wish it was 2" shorter as I can just barely see over it. Not sure what I will do at this point with it.

All else worked perfect. I did forget to take the throttle lock and wrist wrest off my FJR so my right hand and arm suffered a little. The last two hundred miles were a bit brutal, both on hand/arm and butt! I used an Air Hawk on the seat, can't imagine riding it very far without it!

I forgot to ask about the 'tool kit' and now I don't seem to find the screw driver. Not a big issue as I've put together a kit of my own. I found one of my shock adjustment tools will work but not sure how ANY tool would work on the rear. As it came, it seems a bit harsh, will probably soften front one notch for now and try that.

Overall, very pleased with the Rally, riding it for a short ride again today to show it off to friends. And by the way, the two of them attracted lots of attention at each gas stop!

[Mikey]

on the new ride!! I to got to ride one of these snappy little rockets yesterday at a test drive event here in Maine. It was a total blast, I must of had the biggest smile on my face when I came because the factory rep came up to me and asked me if I hated it!! Oh no, I said!!! First impression were just what you have said, I think it's a FUN Puddle jumper out of the box, but leaves a lot for comfort. But for the price you cannt bitch you are getting what you payed for, and I am sure the aftermarket companys are going to get rich on this little ticket!! It handles and responds so nice that all you want to do is rip the roads to pieces May you have many happy miles and smiles and get that ride the way you want it!

[Aufgeblassen47]

A HUGE factor of a long ride it how rough the road is. I'd HATE to have to ride in CA where they spend money on illegals instead of fixing the damn roads!

[Chupaca]

Sounds like it went pretty well even for a long ryde. Same issues for many ryders here on different models hence all the available seats, shields, controls etc. Know you had fun regardless and will more than likely do it again....Welcome to the Ryker/spyder world....

[ARtraveler]

Thanks for the update. My goal in the near future is to test drive one...so I can get a personal impression also. Been reading all the comments...but first hand information is always better.

[McRuss]

This coming weekend will hopefully result in an 'off highway' video. My dual sport 'breakfast club' is meeting for a ride over nice back roads, 90% of which are dirt/gravel. My friend Duane and I are taking our Rally's, should be a blast (at least we hope it will be) to get them on the dirt. I did find that road surface had a great deal of influence on the handling. Hitting a rough section with just one front wheel often caused a brief 'tank slapper' wobble. I'm going to soften up the suspension preload a bit and see it it will reduce some of that.

One thing of interest on the trip: we were getting a drink after gassing up and a black Bently Convertible pulled in next to us. A gentleman and a little boy got out and my friend said "Nice ride." The guy said thanks, then "are these yours? What are they?" and so on. I'm going to steal a saying from my Ural riding days "UDF" meant the Ural Delay Factor. Meant going to the post office or the store would take much longer than usual. I'm coining the "RDF"! Same thing everywhere we go!

[sandeejs]

1. You could ask around for somebody who cuts down windshields. (Or get used to it. Your choice.)
2. I get the Spyder delay factor sometimes when I'm riding by myself. Often it's a couple, they used to ride together when they were young, and they tell me about what they rode and where they went etc. Kind of a nice interaction. Sometimes the woman rider says "I think I could ride something like that."

~Sandee~

[nchangin]

Congrats! It's been great listening to your progression to ownership!

[McRuss]

Congrats! It's been great listening to your progression to ownership!

It seemed like the day would never come! And now the rain is back..........grrrr.