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hi there welcome to the north Devon
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Coastline just overlooking the town of
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wulakum it's a it's a beautiful evening
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a lot of surfers out today and I've just
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gone for a little quick ride out this
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afternoon uh just uh to do a 5 000 mile
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feedback on the motor marine Escape I
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bought this bike mainly because it was
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something different I'd been running the
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the motor guzzy v85 TT for a few years I
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bought that bike to do the um
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America trip got a vanco capacity what
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the Sound Works like but I bought that
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bike to the American trip of 2020 that
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was canceled because of covid I bought
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the guzikus of the cruise control uh the
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shaft drive
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and the large capacity 23 liter fuel
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tank so I found in the UK I just didn't
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wasn't using those virtues I wasn't
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using it enough and I didn't quite gel
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with the bike enough to keep it so uh
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when Bennett motorhome did me a good
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door offered me a good deal on a motor
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marine a brand new one just as they come
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out I thought I'll give it a go you know
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I like trying something different which
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I suppose when you're running tours or
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you need reliabilities but it's a bit of
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a gamble because if something's not
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reliable then you're in trouble
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the motor really over 5000 miles has
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given me no problems whatsoever
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mechanically the only thing has been uh
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the head of a wing mirror has broke off
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I mean I've got the helmet on top of a
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wing mirror now and I think that's
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probably what did it and I've simply
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replaced it in the short term with a
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Himalayan uh Wing mirror but otherwise
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everything seems to be lasting well on
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the bike I like the fact that there's no
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paint tarnishing there's no rubbing on
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the tank there's no rubbing down here
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where the boot goes the spokes look to
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be stainless steel which I think is a
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really nice touch you know given the
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issue that Honduran with the Africa
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twins smokes
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um
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uh because they were nickel plated steel
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and tended to corrode as do the V stroms
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and and the teneres and so many other of
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the Japanese bikes are clearly using
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slightly lackluster quality or
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compromise quality spokes the fact that
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that's what we call a budget bike uses
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good quality spokes I think it's quite a
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nice thing also the fact that the
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tubular spokes for me as a running Road
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tours I think that's you know to have uh
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tube tires on a road bike I think is is
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a big issue when you get a puncture you
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know the new Trans up yeah it's a great
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bike same with the V-Strom 800 great
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bikes but they're tubed bite with no
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Center stand now if you don't option the
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center stand or know how to fix a
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puncture and get the tire off off a rim
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and put a new tube in you really are
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stuck then obviously you've got the
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instant seal kits you know the foam and
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things but if that doesn't work you
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really are a recovery job where with a
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tube tire just put a plug in it and Away
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you go so that was a nice touch
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I guess what one of the big question
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marks over the meridi is the fact it's
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only got 59 horsepower and it weighs on
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my scales about 240 kilos that's with
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the engine goes and the rear rack on
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their spec sheets there's about 218 but
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I've kind of started to take
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manufacturers claim weights with a large
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pinch of salt and also to me it's a very
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one dimensional figure you know weight
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of a bike well where does the weight sit
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in the bar you know where is it balanced
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how does it feel to move and Pull and
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push around how does it feel to sit on
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it and that's far more important and for
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me this feels Slimmer and more
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manageable than the guzzy which on paper
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were largely the same spec spec sheet
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weight so I think rather than just go
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just grab at the the what the spec sheet
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wait for a bite you've got to go and sit
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on it you've got to go and feel it
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you've got to see how Slender the the
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seat is and how far down to the floor it
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is again seat height towels only half a
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story because it again depends on how
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wide the seat is
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um and so I think this judgment by
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especially certainly when it comes to
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whey is just a waste of time so for me
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this is it's it's not light but it's not
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heavy it's manageable
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um it's got a relatively reasonable seat
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height I can get a good foot down a good
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solid foot down
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and so for me it fits me quite nicely it
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doesn't feel as big as my gs12 it
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doesn't feel as heavy as the guzzy it
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just feels like a bike that's
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you know Well Suited well sized for
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touring screen is pretty decent on it
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it's not a big broad screen but it seems
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to work cutting off all the the buffets
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in so I can ride a good Motorway speed
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with the visor up even it just seems to
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give me give me a lot of face protection
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uh cruising speed on these you know I
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saw clean speed top speed of 106 miles
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an hour but when I was running late to
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get to Wales one morning very early on
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Sunday morning you know this would sit
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at 100 miles an hour all day long it was
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as smooth and refined at that speed as
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it was at 70. so can you Tour on a
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mid-sized bike yes no problem at all
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could you do it two up yes no problem at
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all and I think what's good about the
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motor really is the handling it's just
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got a really nice chassis it's a versus
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650 er5 derived at chassis as is the
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engine but they've sort of fitted it
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with a mazaki front fork which works
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really well it's fully adjustable which
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again is really good for this kind of
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price point uh it's just it just works
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on the road KYB adjustable rear shock 19
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inch from 17 inch rear just seems to be
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a really nice package for a bike to
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create a bike that sits well on the road
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Corners really neatly really crisply and
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allows you to make the most of that 59
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brake horsepower in and in and through
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the corners and out of the corners so
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you can be winding on the power through
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the corners where somebody or maybe a
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faster bike is still waiting waiting
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waiting power out but by the time
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they've got their power on you're
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already halfway down the straight so the
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chassis on this
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is really good and for me is it a slow
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bike well it's not a fast bike it's not
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a fast engine but you can ride it
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quickly and that probably matters more
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than having a stocking engine having a
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nice chassis for me more important than
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the engine but so it kind of eats to
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their own you know everyone's going to
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have a different ingredient for what
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makes them their perfect buy would I
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like a bit more power yes would have
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like a bit more refinement from the
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engine yes it's kind of a raspy strain
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it's only took a few thousand miles to
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bet it in you know it's not it's not a
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charismatic engine I rode it back to
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back with a V-Strom 650 up in the
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highlands and the the V-Strom just felt
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smoother more tractable a little bit
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stronger and it made this engine feel a
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little bit rough by comparison equally
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we both agreed me and the owner of the
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V-Strom the riding position on this was
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was formed better and more spacious more
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upright more room in the leg broader
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bars just add a more mature grown-up
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riding style like an adventure bike
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style riding position and we both
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preferred that about it if we could put
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the V-Strom engine in this I think
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therefore you'd have a great package
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what I also like about the V-Strom and I
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don't quite know how they've done it
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because it's essentially a Touring bike
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made to look adventury but it's got a
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really nice I can't really stand too far
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because I'm on a camber it's got a
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really nice standing up position
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good width bars good room in the leg it
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just all feels really natural it falls
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naturally to hand so you can ride stood
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up on this therefore off-road quite
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nicely and I've took it around sweet
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lamb The Adventure Academy up in mid
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Wales and it actually didn't really did
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really well to a point 145 mil of rear
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traveling I think 165 or 175 on the
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front so not a huge amount of suspension
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travel which means it's good it's good
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to a point and then beyond that point
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it's out of its depth now equally
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there's a lot of plastic uh the tires
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are compromised by being more a road
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biased Tire the Pirelli Str uh rally
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tire is really good I've really enjoyed
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it as a Road tire but it's not a great
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off-road tie uh and it it mirrors the
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bike it will go off-road but it's not
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his natural environment and I didn't buy
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it for that purpose I think a Himalayan
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would run rings around it at a CRF 300
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rally would run two rings around it so
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you know I don't personally think
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anybody's buying these kind of bikes to
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ride them off-road anyway a small small
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minority but you know you can't can't
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you can't design a bike around there
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um so all in all five thousand miles I
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fitted the engine guards I did have the
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upper guards but took those off because
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I thought they looked a bit cumbersome
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and I was convinced well I was I was
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probably suspicious that if you did have
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an impact it would actually just press
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them in and correct the Plastics anyway
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so better off without
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and then the Shad paleo frames which I
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threw some Adventure spec Maggie down
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three panias over for the Scotland trip
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which are absolutely fine for six and
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seven days but then on the long Motorway
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stint back down the heat of the exhaust
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uh melted through the pannier and
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through an expensive laptop so Lessons
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Learned there a little bit hard luggage
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or maybe those hard backed soft panniers
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that lone Rider Boomer and actually Shad
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Shad themselves do so
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a lesson to learn there but as again as
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a Touring bike I think it works well
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it's got a conversation good screen good
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right good all-day riding position it's
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got enough power and performance to make
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a good Pace uh there's not a lot of
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power in
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um in reserve but you know
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um you've got to weigh out what you need
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in life
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that's about it 5 000 miles am I happy
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with it yes do I regret buying it no uh
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will I keep it for a bit longer probably
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yes uh should you buy one well it's a
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difficult Market out there's lots of
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good bikes to buy you know 10 arrays
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yeah versus turns out V-Strom there's
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there's NC 750 even
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uh trying the 660. you know so many good
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mid-size Adventure touring bikes and I
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think most Marini's job now really the
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bike is there the bike is fine it could
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be improved you know the engine could be
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refined a bit more it could give a bit
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more power it could give a little less
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engine heat which is a bit of an issue I
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think
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um you know the ways they could fine
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tune the bike but the product is pretty
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good the way that the Chinese are able
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to copy now quite successfully the
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Japanese uh he means that the product
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there's no problem with the product it's
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everything else that comes with a bike
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I.E the dealerships the the marketing
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the attendants and bike shows you know
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motor marine weren't at motorcycle live
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and I think that's a bigger Mission
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you're trying to get people to get
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behind the brand to buy the buyers and
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to not have to not have your bike at a
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show as big as the NEC you know you only
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get one shot at launching a bike before
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it fades away and there's a new bite
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through so yeah I should you buy one
00:10:08
well are you risk averse are you do you
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like a bike that you know is going to
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have a certain route cell value the part
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supply and everything else that goes
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with buying an established brand well if
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you're that kind of person then no don't
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buy one of these buy something buy
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versus 650. but if you want something
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different you know if you want something
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that looks quite funky I really like the
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look of it that rides well that gets a
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lot of quite a lot of attention people
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are curious but the Marine is a good
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bite I probably buy the cast aluminum
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wheel bike for 7 000 because again it's
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not an off-road bike I don't need spoke
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wheels
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that's it I think that's my review done
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I don't think I've got anything else to
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say if 5000 miles
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got some traffic how does she look
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now we hit record yes I have it record
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handsome boy let me show you around so
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there's welcome behind and if we pan
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around
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we've got C
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eat we should see Lundy Island out there
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somewhere just in the clouds along the
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island out there
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sorry I've got terrible Panic actually
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having a surface down there
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and it goes out
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the sun is coming down
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so yeah I'm just going to point you a
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few details on the bike before I pack up
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and head home
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as I say get the quality I'm actually
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wait a second one second give me one
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second
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yeah the quality of everything seems
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pretty good I don't see any signs of
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corrosion or paintware the guzzy you
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know the engine paint was delacquering
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after a few thousand miles uh at the
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front of the engine because it got a lot
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of stone chips uh this doesn't seem to
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be any tarnishing no paint rub on the on
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where the knees go
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nothing there on the tank where the tank
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bag's been a little bit on the back
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where the straps have been but nothing
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too bad
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you can see the issue with the exhaust
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it's mid mid exit mid height mid length
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so for to set a soft luggage over that
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and not feel the heat from the exhaust
00:12:14
is difficult so it's something to watch
00:12:16
because it can catch you out it's
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embarrassing when it happens and it's
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easy to blame the the product as I I
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guess I did I thought
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you know uh maybe the patties could be
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improved but
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it's difficult you know if it's not a
00:12:29
good combination of buy company as it is
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difficult
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exposed header pipes there you can get
00:12:34
an aluminum sump guard that's probably
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something to look for you know look to
00:12:38
in the future
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the brakes of brembos they're okay you
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know I've had somebody ride it who owns
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a KTM 890 Aventura and his Brembo brakes
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are four part and he's a twin part and
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the the brakes on that advent that KTM
00:12:51
are fantastic and these are okay
00:12:54
they do the job I think it's what you
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get used to again those Pirellis are a
00:12:57
good Tire Pirelli also it turns out
00:13:00
around by China as well so very
00:13:02
difficult these days to differentiate
00:13:03
between what's made in China and what's
00:13:07
not I think China invests the um supply
00:13:11
chain of motorcycling largely by the
00:13:14
design of the uh European and Japanese
00:13:16
manufacturers it they are with us
00:13:19
whether we like it or not and it comes
00:13:21
down to your choice as to whether you
00:13:23
buy a bike that is entirely built in
00:13:25
Chinese or by a bike that has components
00:13:28
from China
00:13:29
I don't know if I've already mentioned
00:13:31
but CF Moto the Chinese company built
00:13:34
this engine but they also build the KTM
00:13:36
890 engine and the 790 engine so it's
00:13:39
not like the stealing technology anymore
00:13:40
it's uh here's the European Brands going
00:13:43
to the Chinese to get them to build the
00:13:44
engines and then obviously it's part of
00:13:46
that agreement the Chinese can use the
00:13:47
engine themselves yeah it's murky it's
00:13:50
difficult politics politics and
00:13:52
everything else
00:13:54
so I said we're gonna head home uh I
00:13:57
hope that was kind of useful if you've
00:13:58
got any questions on them really just
00:13:59
you know just ask in the comments if you
00:14:01
own one let me know how you're getting
00:14:03
on with it
00:14:04
um if you thought about one and bought
00:14:06
something else let me know what you
00:14:07
bought and why why you didn't go for the
00:14:09
Marine in the end
00:14:10
so that's it goodbye Sunset see you
00:14:13
tomorrow
