RC8 test ride

[Jimmy5]

Having never ridden either a litre+ or a twin before its difficult to compare with anything but thing noted were

• Its unbelievably comfortable. In the hour I rode it I never once had to strech my legs or hands. My 600RR is a medieval torture device in comparison

• It sounded familiar but it took me awhile to work out why....my dads Suffolk Colt lawnmower. With the aftermarket Akrapovic costing nearly 2K its something I'd have to get used to.

• Vibrations. At motorway speeds the mirrors shake so badly there nothing more than ornaments and the footpegs could be sold in Ann Summers

• Most of the reports I'd read criticise the gearbox. I never had a problem shifting up or down with or without the clutch but found it a right bugger to get in neutral.

• The sidestand is rubbish. Wearing a Supertech R its virtually impossible to put it down as it sits right up behind the rearset

• The speed and handling. Every negative point above is forgot in an instant the second the car infront turns off or is overtaken and there's 5000rpm showing. I'd imagine to an R1/ZX10/GSXR1000/Blade owner it wouldn't seem so special but coming from a 600 its as big a differnce as the CBT 125 is to the DAS 500. I've never been in control of something that builds speed so easily and never lets up untill you bottle it and wind off. Riding down a country lane the front lifted over a crest and for that one moment I was McGuiness or Martin flat out over the mountain.

• The hour passed far to quickly and I'm still thinking of how I can justify £11k in todays financial climate.

Sorry to ramble on but as you can imagine I'm like ADHD kid without his Rittalin and the only thing the misses had to say was "its quite a nice colour"

[dibblecorse]

nice review, great bit of kit, i'd love one but couldn't ever get rid of the 996, too attached ...

[Chilli]

Please, please please take the 1098 our for a spin and let me know how they compare!!

[Jimmy5]

As soon as I find somewhere that'll let me, I'm on it.

[dibblecorse]

if you do you'd need to take the 1098s out as a comparable, the bog stocker won't compare, also everyone has a 1098, they have become the Ducati equivalent of the Porsche 996, over produced and diluting the brand, all good but the RC8 is still special due to its rarity....

[C8PPO]

Interesting, I would have liked to test one of these as a possible replacement for my K6 Thou, but my local dealer had not only sold every one of his allocation including the demo, but said he'd have no more this year (and that was at least 2 months ago).

They look fantastic but there are one or two scare stories out there about quality in certain areas, and I've heard depreciation mentioned too, although if supply is that short, it's hard to see how that's going to happen.

[Jimmy5]

I was in Crawley last week at P&H and a 1200 mile white RC8 is for sale at list price

Leisure trail have one orange, one white and the demo and said when there gone that's it until April

Decision time!

[RemaL]

love the RC8, and a great colour. would have it orange any day

[Fire99]

regarding the scare stories, surely the bike will come with a warranty so unless ur relying on it for the daily commute im sure any issues could be resolved.

Worth taking the 'slight' risk for something so different and special.

Can relate to the neutral issue. My TL can dance between 1st and 2nd forever and a day before i finally get neutral. A pain but not worth rejecting over IMO

[Fire99]

C8PPO said:

Interesting, I would have liked to test one of these as a possible replacement for my K6 Thou,

Now that would be interesting since i rate the K6 thou as the best of the Gixxer 1000's. A real powerhouse of a bike.. K7 onwards has lost a bit of its edge IMO..

[clarkey]

I've got a white one with the Akrapovic exhaust, and its great.
The gearbox problems are just down to the adjustment of the gear lever and pegs - when i got mine the pegs were low but the lever was too high, and for some reason I could never find 3rd. I've now dropped the lever down and the gearbox is faultless.

I've got a weekend in wales in 2 weeks with friends on new fireblades, so it'll be good to try one back to back.

I went for the RC8 mainly because of the comfort - I've got dodgy knees and can't ride something cramped. I used to have a 999R and could manage about 40 miles before I needed to stop. I rode the RC8 back from Guernsey to home (160 miles) and only stopped for fuel, so that's not too bad.

And they don't have to cost anything like list price. I got a bit of a bargain.

[C8PPO]

Fire99 said:

C8PPO said:

Interesting, I would have liked to test one of these as a possible replacement for my K6 Thou,

Now that would be interesting since i rate the K6 thou as the best of the Gixxer 1000's. A real powerhouse of a bike.. K7 onwards has lost a bit of its edge IMO..

Yes, I have to agree, and to be perfectly honest it's why the K6 is still in the garage and why I haven't made all that much effort over testing anything else. I sit indoors thinking about whether to change it and for what, then I go and get it out and ride it and suddenly it's staying again!

I feel a bit like the K6 is a "keeper", but I'm always doing that, bikes AND cars.....

[reAnimate]

Jimmy5 said:

Having never ridden either a litre+ or a twin before its difficult to compare with anything but thing noted were

• Its unbelievably comfortable. In the hour I rode it I never once had to strech my legs or hands. My 600RR is a medieval torture device in comparison

• It sounded familiar but it took me awhile to work out why....my dads Suffolk Colt lawnmower. With the aftermarket Akrapovic costing nearly 2K its something I'd have to get used to.

• Vibrations. At motorway speeds the mirrors shake so badly there nothing more than ornaments and the footpegs could be sold in Ann Summers

• Most of the reports I'd read criticise the gearbox. I never had a problem shifting up or down with or without the clutch but found it a right bugger to get in neutral.

• The sidestand is rubbish. Wearing a Supertech R its virtually impossible to put it down as it sits right up behind the rearset

• The speed and handling. Every negative point above is forgot in an instant the second the car infront turns off or is overtaken and there's 5000rpm showing. I'd imagine to an R1/ZX10/GSXR1000/Blade owner it wouldn't seem so special but coming from a 600 its as big a differnce as the CBT 125 is to the DAS 500. I've never been in control of something that builds speed so easily and never lets up untill you bottle it and wind off. Riding down a country lane the front lifted over a crest and for that one moment I was McGuiness or Martin flat out over the mountain.

• The hour passed far to quickly and I'm still thinking of how I can justify £11k in todays financial climate.

Sorry to ramble on but as you can imagine I'm like ADHD kid without his Rittalin and the only thing the misses had to say was "its quite a nice colour"

How tall are you? I've a 600RR and am 6'.5" so interesting to compare

[Chilli]

Well, the way he makes that RC8 look like a toy, I'd say about 6.6!

[Jimmy5]

LOL

I'm a diminutive 6'1". I rode the KTM in standard settings but was told ride height, bars and pegs can all be easily adjusted.

6'5" on a 600RR must look like your riding a mini-moto

[reAnimate]

Jimmy5 said:

LOL

I'm a diminutive 6'1". I rode the KTM in standard settings but was told ride height, bars and pegs can all be easily adjusted.

6'5" on a 600RR must look like your riding a mini-moto

it's not tooooo bad.
... not good though!