First 100 mile ride review on Expedition

Since bringing the bike home a few days ago, I installed a new AltRider luggage rack, transferred my tank bag and tail bag from the Super Tenere. Transferred my Zumo GPS from the ST and installed the Camel heat plate over the catalytic convertor. I also took the foot peg rubbers out.

The day was sunny but the wind was blowing, 30-40 mph. All of he flags were straight out from the pole. Still trying to get used to the quick shifter, which I turned off about half way thru the ride. Maybe my feet are too big for the way the shifter is set up now. I keep forgetting to hit set after selecting any options on the main screen. The bike is nice and quite while riding The standard Expedition windshield seems to be the right height for me (6 ft, 32 inseam), the wind just barely hits the top on my standard street full face helmet. The helmet road noise doesn't really change in the rider pocket when I move my head around. There is quite a bit of air coming in from the sides of the shield that hits my upper arms and shoulders. I don't think it is all from the mirrors, but will eventually be ordering the adventure double take set. I think the shield needs to be maybe 4-6 inches wider. Not necessarily taller. Lots of sight line above the top of the shield, I'm not looking through it. I do notice my face shield getting hit with more bugs than on my Super Tenere with the adjustable wing on top of the V-Stream shield. The Norden was stable at speeds from slow city streets to highway speeds in the front, rear and side wind positions.

Another thing that was readily apparent was I was needing to be in one gear lower than on the ST. Such as 4th instead of 5th or 5th instead of 6th. The low end torque is not there compared to the ST, coming out of corners or pulling up a hill. Where the bike does shine is in the get up and go arena. In the right gear, it is much faster than the ST. I had the slip control set at 5 and it would spin the rear in 3rd or 4th with ease on the graded dirt road I was on.

The weight difference between the ST and the Norden is not quite day and night but very noticeable. It should be, as the Norden is about 100 pounds lighter. The Norden might seem big compared to a dirt bike, but it is much smaller and lighter than a so called full size big bore ADV bike. I'm very happy with the Norden's weight.

I noticed that my fore arms were getting sore, maybe because of the bar sweep of maybe having the bars set too low, I had 2 inch rok risers on the ST. Just something else to play with to get corrected. Maybe I'll start out with 1 inch risers.

I haven't spent much time on the bike yet, so can't really talk about the seat. I didn't even think about it today, so that must be a good thing. I do have one of those mesh seat covers coming which should make a big difference in the hot temps that are coming soon. The bike is just tall enough for me to not be able to use my bead seat cover on it. Every 1/2 inch counts when trying to touch the ground off road.

I also seems to be getting great mileage. With over 100 miles on the clock, the so called gauge is still showing 190 miles to go. Not bad for a brand new engine. It should only get better as it breaks in.