General Comments:
I love this bike! I’m 54 yrs old; hadn’t ridden in 30+ years; am 195 lbs, and 6 ft tall. I bought the bike in August of 2008 and have ridden it for a few months now (as of May 2009 - before and after the winter). The C90T (Canadian model with light bar, windshield, crash bars, white walls and saddle bags included) is great on the highway – very, very stable. Even in high cross winds (which we seem to get a lot of around here) and with semi’s coming and going, I feel very safe on the bike (despite my relative lack of riding experience).
The low centre of gravity made it an excellent choice for someone like me who was not a brand new beginner, but had not ridden in three decades, i.e., really stable and forgiving, especially at high speed. I find it to be fairly easy to manoeuvre at low speed in tight turns as well, BUT, it is a heavy bike so I wouldn’t recommend it solely as a bike for riding around town.
There are only two negatives that I would comment on. The seat is not that comfortable (for me) and the fuel tank is not that big.
No doubt the seat discomfort that I experience is due to my longer legs and where/how I sit on the bike, so it may not apply to others. I’m finding that the trick seems to be to try to sit more forward (i.e., at the longitudinal centre of the seat) than I would naturally do. This means that I have to scrunch up a little, which feels a bit awkward. The natural position for me is at the back of the seat which is the hardest and most painful. The seat is springier in the middle.
I get 40.41 mpg or 5.82 L/100 km in mixed riding, which generally equates to around 225 km/140 mi endurance (250 km/155 mi if I have a tailwind, am feeling lucky and have my CAA/AAA roadside assistance membership card at the ready). That works out to around two hours riding (on the highway) which is about as far as I’d want to go without a break.
Did I mention that I love this bike?
14th Jun 2009, 07:39
Great bike, I am 6'1" 230 lbs and I picked up the Suzuki gel seat. You sit lower and back and I can ride all day without much discomfort at all. The stock seat gave me a sore butt after only about 45 minutes; go with the gel seat, you will love it.