What a great time I had. I was so busy in the morning I wasn't going to go. But the demo ride was being held at Bandimere Speedway, a 1/4 mile drag track in the foothills, and I hadn't been there in years. As I got near, I could hear vehicles accelerating down the track. Wow.
The demo staging was in a lower parking lot, adjacent to the track. I signed up at 1:42, and the next demo ride was at 1:45. I asked if a Ninja 1000 was available and it was. There was a 2 minute lecture about rules, no speeding, no passing, etc, and we got on the bikes.
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I was on the second bike, behind the leader. A black Ninja 1000. That's not me. She was the leader of the 2:30 group. The first thing I noticed was handlebars about 5 inches above the triple clamp. Perfect. The windscreen could be adjusted three ways. I put it on the highest one. The seat was comfortable, and the pegs were just slightly high for my long legs.
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And the engine. Holy crap, power right off idle. We got on C470, a major 4-lane highway that parallels the foothills. We accelerated up the on ramp. I wasn't looking at the tach, but somewhere around 7K, the bike took off. Like a turbo. I almost passed the leader. We were doing 65, the speed limit, and cars passed by us doing 80.
The suspension was taunt, but not harsh. I tried putting the windscreen at different settings,but there was a lot of wind hitting my helmet. An aftermarket screen may help. After several miles, we turned off onto Deer Creek Canyon, a super twisty road in the scenic Morrison Formation Sandstone. Just beautiful.
I used to take this road, but the traffic was so bad, you couldn't pass slow vehicles. Now with C470, everyone wants to do straight 80mph, instead of twisty 40mph. It was wonderful. We didn't see one vehicle. Lots of bicycles and motorcycles.
In the canyon, it was hard to tell if I was going uphill or down. The bicycles coming toward us were coasting and the bikes we passed were pumping furiously. But the Ninja had so much mid-range power, I could power uphill out of the corners. This was the best bike I ever tested.
We got back at 2:30. A 45 minute ride. The leader was from Florida and asked me how I liked the Ninja. I was gushing. The only thing I said it needed was a gear indicator as I didn't know what gear I was in. But I think that was just because it was new to me. Then the Floridian gushed about Deer Creek Canyon. I discovered a bike I like and a Canyon I forgot. A great day.
