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First Ride on my 96 Pacific coast
Written by ben.zeppa on 3/10/2012 at 09:39 pm

I am sure that what I say here is not going to surprise any of the
readers that lurk on this board. I am in essense, "preaching to the
choir". I did a lot of research before I bought my PC and poured over
many varied opinions. I am amazed that two riders can ride the same bike
and sometimes come up with completely different findings. For anyone out
there that is on the fence and looking for information, here is my two
cents. I have been a motorcyclist for fifty-two years and have probably
owned more than thirty motorcycles in that time. I have owned bikes as
little as a Z50 and as large as an 1800 Goldwing. So, for anyone that
cares, here is my two cents.I will "cut to the chase". The PC800
surpassed all of my expectations, and was only wanting in a few
instances. Those things that impressed me were:It feels like a
mini-wing. That is good for me because I have owned four Goldwings and
believe me, they are nice bikes. The PC has a Goldwings protection from
the wind, low seat height, those great mirrors, and a very quiet
environment to ride in. With a few mods I believe that I could ride
many, many, miles on my PC, in comfort, and protected from the elements.
I had heard that the Dunlops were a little squirrely and tended to
follow grooves in the pavement. Actually they behaved quite well. In the
140 some miles that I traveled today toward the end I was actually
looking for imperfections in the road to see if I could get those
Dunlops to dance! They were very well behaved and I would not hesitate
to put them on the PC again. One thing that I might mention is the fact
that I usually always run tire pressures higher than what is suggested
from the factory. Today I ran 35 front and 40 in the rear. The only time
that I would use lower tire pressures would be when I am running on a
track. On the street all my tires are run using higher than suggested
tire pressures. I can't believe it, I actually have STORAGE SPACE! And
lot's of it. That flip up tail section is the bomb.I tried to find that,
air pressure thing hitting me in the back, but it was not present from 0
MPH to around 80 MPH. I bought my PC with a Rifle windscreen on it but I
don't know what length it is. Maybe that makes a difference. Some folks
did not like the transmission operation. I guess that I am fat, dumb,
and happy. The transmission, although not silky smooth, would shift
pretty good if you were very observant of the RPMs when you made your
upshift/downshift. Oil leaks? I got no stinking oil leaks. The first
thing that I did when I got home is, I put down paper towels under the
bike so I could see any drips that might make it to the ground. It's
been three hours now, and no spots.There are a lot more things that made
me feel glad that I purchased a PC, I just can't seem to remember them
though. It may be the fact that I am 69 and my short term memory is
really, really, short.I can remember those things that I told myself,
self, it would be a good idea to try to do some mods to change this
characteristic of this bike. The most glaring need, as far as I am
concerned, is the need to stop my PC in a shorter distance. The braking
system is OK in normal every day riding, but is not good enough in an
emergency situation, IMHO. I am five miles from my house coming back
from my ride. I am in dense traffic in the city doing about 45-50 MPH on
a city street. A newer SUV is in front of me and I am probably a little
closer to his rear end than I should be. We near a traffic light and the
light turns yellow, at this point the SUV in front of me gives me what I
call, "a brake check". This intersection has a red light camera and I am
sure that he thought that he did not have enough time to clear the
intersection before the red light camera took his picture. His ABS is
working hard, but not as hard as I am trying my best to not become an
ornament on his rear bumper. He stopped eight feet into the intersection
and I stopped near his passenger door between the two lanes. If I had
not altered my angle when I tried to stop, I would have clearly ran into
the back of the SUV. So what does this prove? It proves that in an
emergency situation, his SUV, with ABS, could stop faster than my PC. I
am going to work on this problem. Maybe better lines, bigger disks,
improved calipers, there must be something. The stock seat? Does not
seem to work very well for me. Maybe Corbin, Mr. Wog, I can fix that.A
little more power would be nice but I think that I will just have to
live in the 4-6K RPM range. That's about it. It is a much better bike
than I had expected and I will probably own this bike until I die or
can't ride a two wheeler.