TOE JAM
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Well, I stopped by SMS this morning and the new 1190 Adventure demo had just arrived. Brian let me take it for a ride.WOW! I took it out for most of the afternoon to try out as many features as I could think of. It has an adjustable seat which I put in high, and a manually adjustable windscreen which I put in high as well. The hardest part was learning to program all the different riding modes without a manual. I spent some time stuck in spanish after scrolling through french and german as well. Once I figured it out it was pretty simple. The seat felt pretty hard, but after riding all afternoon my rear end felt fine. There are four power modes (sport,street, rain and off road). I quickly decided that there wasn't much reason to use anything but sport because it generated the most grins and the traction control will save you if you get stupid in low traction situations. There is lots of power on tap and it just begs you to twist the throttle. The traction control and ABS are by far the best I have ever seen. They are totally transparent and unobtrusive. They both work extremely well on any surface without you feeling any intervention. On pavement the TC keeps the rear end in check and keeps the bike from wheelieing when you grab a handful of throttle. If you like to wheelie coming out corners, just turn the TC off. If the rpm isn't quiet right when you whack it open, a quick one finger fan of the clutch will get the front wheel airborne in the first few gears! Where the bike really impressed me was on gravel roads. The traction control allows the rear wheel to spin up just enough to get things moving in a hurry while keeping the rear end under control without any perceptible intervention. I usually hate ABS especially off road. Most abs systems are way too sensitive in the dirt and can be really scary if you forget to turn them off, if that's even an option. The 1190 has an off road mode that allows you to lock and slide the rear wheel while having full protection up front. It allows you to brake very hard without intervening and allows for some amazingly strong braking in the loose stuff. Acceleration and braking were unbelievably strong on any surface. On a side note the stock (street looking) Continental trail attack tires did an amazing job of finding traction in the dirt even running street pressures. The fuel injection mapping is spot on at all rpms, no hesitation or surging anywhere. I think I like it. Can you tell?