Concours Main Page Why a Concours? Concours Adds and Mods
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My impressions of the bike.
Reliability. In its first 45,000 miles, the Concours hasn't had any mechanical problems. Honestly, I'd expect to say the same thing at 88,000. The only failure I've had, if you could call it that, was the left rear turn signal filling up with water. The wiring harness runs downhill into the hollow mounting post. Water on the wire runs into the post and then into the lens. I think its worse on the left side because when the bike is on the side stand gravity helps to make sure the water makes it all the way through the post
Weather Protection. That big fairing does a great job keeping me warm. I have a heated vest and gloves and can ride forever in 30 and 40 degree weather. I also have some heated socks. I've only made the mistake of wearing those on the Connie once. I thought that something must have shorted out and the socks were burning my feet. When I stopped to investigate, I determined that nothing shorted out, but my feet were burning. The problem is its damn hot down there around your feet and lower legs. Its a feature in the winter, a bug in the summer. During the summer if it's was more than about 80 degrees outside, I leave the Connie in the garage and take my KLR.
The fairing keeps the road spray off your legs. If its really wet, my not so waterproof boots will eventually get enough water sprayed on them to soak through. But it takes quite a while.
Function. Big 7.5 gallon gas tank. I generally hit reserve somewhere around 250 miles. Even when I think I'm pushing my luck, I've never put more than 6.7 gallons of gas in the tank. The big tank is great, the fuel gage isn't. Its in the red zone by 150 miles and the needle is pegged at empty by 180. The bike has two trip odometers so it really doesn't matter, it just seems that it wouldn't be that difficult to make a more accurate gage.
Big, lockable, hard sided, easily removable saddle bags. I love the bags. Helmets, groceries, rain gear, work papers, it all fits. I've found a little bit of water in the saddle bags a couple of times, but no big deal. There are two other small lockable compartments in the fairing. These do collect some water. A couple Zip-Lock bags fix this.
After living with the bike, my favorite feature is it doesn't draw any unwanted attention. Its not loud, flashy or egotistical. As far as motorcycles go, it looks responsible. The police ignore it. People don't mess with it in parking lots. Kids don't want to sit on it. So on and so fourth. Its great.
The bike starts easily, warms up quickly. It is equally happy with trips around the block, or around the state.
Comfort. I'm 6'0. 170lbs. Everybody's likes and dislikes are different; here are mine. I think the bike was designed for somebody with really short legs, a small torso and gorilla like arms. Luckily the aftermarket has dealt with this. Admittedly, I made my bike worse, before I made it better. The first change I made was adding a Corbin seat. The Corbin seat is advertised as having a longer rider base section to allow for more movement and seating options on long rides as compared to the stock seat. Unfortunately, the most comfortable dished out section of the seat is really far back. Sitting in the furthest back position of the seat makes the angles of your knees comfortably relaxed. Unfortunately, to reach the bars it forces you to stretch your arms to a near locked position or bend much farther forward at the hips and lower back more than I'd like. Since changing the seat I've raised the bars, but still spend allot of time sitting pretty close to the tank in the forward section of the seat.
Foot pegs. The bike has big vibe dampening foot pegs. There is enough room down there to move your feet around and stay comfortable on long trips. I tried the Gen-Mar foot peg lowering kit for a day. The kit was ok. It just seemed like a better solution than it really was. The exhaust pipes force the lowering kit to move the foot pegs out and away from the bike as well as down. The shift lever and brake pedal can be moved down, but not out. I could have gotten used to the shifting, but is was a little odd. The kit also adds sloppy movement to the pegs as a result of the longer moment arm to allow for the pegs to retract up if they hit the ground. Finally, I feared the great weather protection would be lost if my feet were below the fairing.
Handlebars. The aftermarket has several options to move the bars up and back. I have the Gen-Mar risers. As much as I didn't care for the foot peg lowering kit, I'll promote the bar risers. Very clean and professional. No messing with cables. They raise the bars 1.25". It makes a big difference. I suspect that a Heli-bar kit that allows the bars to come back a little farther would be even more comfortable for me. I've gotten used to the way it is and it works well.
Windshield. As I said earlier, I think the bike was designed for folks with real short upper bodies. The stock windshield is the supporting evidence. Rifle sells a 1", 3" and 5" taller than stock screen. They will custom cut any size. I should have ordered the Rifle system two weeks before I bought the bike so I could have installed it in the parking lot of the dealership before riding home. I cant say enough good things about the Rifle system.
Vibration. It's there, it doesn't bother me. When you run it through the gears its really noticeable at high RPM. I just don't spend allot of time riding in excess of 6500 RPM.
Handling. It is what it is. Not great, but good enough. I desperately need to replace the rear shock, so until I get that dialed - I shouldn't complain too much. Its heavy, but doesn't do anything unexpected. The only quirk that took me a while to get used to is the turning radius. Its turns a circle more like my F-150 than a motorcycle.