Swede-Andy
19-06-2008, 10:37 AM
I loved the 600 dark I had bought from the minute I rode it out of the dealership. Great noise from aftermarket cans and lovely low down power delivered in a nice smooth build all the way to the top end around 120mph.
The handling on a 600 monster is second to none due to the light weight and great design. Flips through corners and around roundabouts like a dream. It's even light enough that you can get cornering quite seriously wrong and still correct mid turn.
If it wasn't for that I would have been a goner in Italy six years back when coming down a twisty mountain road I encountered a car on the way up cutting the corner completely to overtake a bicycle. We both swerved the same amount resulting in the car being back in it's lane and me missing the corner of the bonnet by centimeters and dropping off the Italian verge (at least 30 cm) into gravel where I had to lay the machine down on the road edge and jump rather than hit the fast approaching jutting out mountain side. I got away with a bruised hip and bent bar/dented tank, but the driver never even stopped!
My only gripes being a full time biker fair weather or foul was the carb icing when the temperature dropped below 2 or 3 degrees C which would make the beast cough and splutter slowly losing power during a ride at +50 mph over 20 minutes, and the problems starting on freezing cold mornings if it wasn't garaged overnight. Italian heritage showing through there. I believe these are no longer an issue with the modern 620ie - is it now fuel injected?
Anyway - a superb first bike. Rode my first one brand spanking new for three weeks until I was mercilessly mown down at 30mph after stopping at a red light in London by the lady behind who was busy looking in her rear view mirror at the time. Got another as soon as the insurance paid out, and that's the one that went from London to Zurich in one day, and then over the passes to the Italian lakes. :)
I really loved it so much that I kept it when I bought the S4 and it still sits in my garage wanting to play.
The handling on a 600 monster is second to none due to the light weight and great design. Flips through corners and around roundabouts like a dream. It's even light enough that you can get cornering quite seriously wrong and still correct mid turn.
If it wasn't for that I would have been a goner in Italy six years back when coming down a twisty mountain road I encountered a car on the way up cutting the corner completely to overtake a bicycle. We both swerved the same amount resulting in the car being back in it's lane and me missing the corner of the bonnet by centimeters and dropping off the Italian verge (at least 30 cm) into gravel where I had to lay the machine down on the road edge and jump rather than hit the fast approaching jutting out mountain side. I got away with a bruised hip and bent bar/dented tank, but the driver never even stopped!
My only gripes being a full time biker fair weather or foul was the carb icing when the temperature dropped below 2 or 3 degrees C which would make the beast cough and splutter slowly losing power during a ride at +50 mph over 20 minutes, and the problems starting on freezing cold mornings if it wasn't garaged overnight. Italian heritage showing through there. I believe these are no longer an issue with the modern 620ie - is it now fuel injected?
Anyway - a superb first bike. Rode my first one brand spanking new for three weeks until I was mercilessly mown down at 30mph after stopping at a red light in London by the lady behind who was busy looking in her rear view mirror at the time. Got another as soon as the insurance paid out, and that's the one that went from London to Zurich in one day, and then over the passes to the Italian lakes. :)
I really loved it so much that I kept it when I bought the S4 and it still sits in my garage wanting to play.