I bought my RC30 on June 8th with 1,531 miles on the odometer. One month later, I had covered my first 1,000 miles…and then some!
I’ve been using it as a commuter for the last four weeks, with the occasional weekend run thrown in. Two weekends ago I went to the Rock Store as part of a part of a Sunday ride that we do over at Iconic Motorbikes – that’s where I made a new friend who recently purchased a CA-plated NC30 (the 400cc little brother to my bike). I felt obligated to park near him and get a photo, because they have a lot of similarities:
Last week Nathan and I went for my favorite local ride – Angeles Crest Highway down to Wrightwood, a beer and a pretzel on the deck of Wrightwood Brewing Company, and then ACH back home. That was a ~200 mile day and the bike was performing much better after all of Steve the Professor’s work. It got the thumbs up of approval – though I still needed those rear turn signals!
Removing the blown steering damper in Part 2 fixed most of my handling woes, though there was still a little slop in the front end and we figured the steering head bearings needed to be tightened. Back on the lift it goes!
Some other parts had also come in by now, so while it was on the lift I finally had the seat lock put in (though now I have two sets of keys for the same bike, which I hate) and the rear turn signals installed – the indicators were NOS and came from Holland via CMSNL!
Over the last few tanks, I’ve found that I’m usually looking for a gas station at around 105 miles and I’m averaging 33 miles per gallon. It also dawned on me that of all the RC30s out there in the world, mine’s probably gotten the most use in the last month, which I’m pretty excited about. I’m trying to keep the bike relatively stock for now as my buddy Zack Courts of RevZilla wants to use it for an upcoming episode of Daily Rider, however I did order an Ohlins shock from Kyle Racing and I can’t wait to throw that on!
Can you identify the car that’s currently in our showroom?
Drool.
Last week Iconic hosted a track day at Laguna Seca, and I was planning on riding my RC30 up and back (with a few sessions on track, of course). However I figured it made more sense to use the trip as an excuse to test the Suzuki Hayabusa, so I rode that up instead. I’ll have a review for that coming soon!
A rare Baby Jack sighting during the ride up PCH to Laguna Seca. Photo by Nathan May.
Photo by Nathan May. The Hayabusa is a big bike to hustle around the Corkscrew…
…or any corner, for that matter. But it is more fun than I was expecting! Photo by Nathan May.
In the meanwhile, I’ll keep enjoying my RC30. Usually when I get a bike that’s new to me, I do an Iron Butt Saddlesore run (1,000 miles in 24 hours) as part of the getting-to-know-you period. My last bike purchase was a Honda Monkey so I didn’t bother, but maybe it’s time to bring back the tradition…?
Feature photo by Nathan May.
On to Part 4!