hey guys in a few months i will finally have my black licence and am thinking I will buy a new 1200 custom. I will use it mostly for commuting to work with is a 70 km ride each way at about 110km on the freeway and was wondering how the 1200 custom would go covering this distance at this speed. Also wondering how it would go with a passenger. I weigh about 80 kgs and my girlfriend about 48 kgs. Any advice would be great.

Hi Rambo. I have a brand new (well, 1000k's on the clock, Brand new) 2012 1200 Custom with the chunky front end, And it's a great ride. Bit of a 'sway' in handling, With a passenger, And much more likely to bottom out the shocks over avg->large speed bumps/potholes etc, But plenty of power to make two-up acceleration a complete non-issue.

As for fuel economy, As I said, I'm 1000k's into the run-in period, Now, And I'm still BARELY getting 150 to a tank, Before the light comes on, And I've done a fair bit of city and freeway riding, So you'd really be pushing it, For a while, Unless you fill up before each trip!!

Rambo, I picked up my 1200 custom a couple of months ago, have done 2500ks and couldn't be happier. She will sit on 110 nice all day, you wont want to get off. As far as a pillion goes I have added a detachable sissy bar for the missus (and kids) and works a treat. Not sure what sort of traffic Brad is in, but I get the fuel light come on at around 200ks, might be a little early as if I fill it then it only take 11-12 litres. You will be easy to spot, you be the one with the smile.

Do you think you you could push it to 300km before re filing I will be mostly riding on freeways

With about 10ks to spare depending on how you ride/modify, see how you go, fill up after 1 trip to work and home and do the calcs from there.

You guys are working it out in how many litres you're putting in the tank, right? Most people don't fill to the top, so saying its a 17 litre tank doesn't mean you're sticking 17 litres in there. I'm probably stating the obvious, but sometimes its the obvious that gets overlooked.

 I bought my 2011 custom march last year and have already put over 34,000 km on the clock. It cruises very easy at highway speeds and yes the low fuel light does come on too early but it doesn't take long to work out that you have at least 100 km to go before you need to get nervous. The best mileage I have recorded a few times is 4litres per 100km (highway) after stage 1 installed.

The stock seat isn't fantastic for pillion passengers so I upgraded mine now i can ride day in day out in comfort too. I upgraded my rear shocks to iKons and that made the ride much better under load too.

 

Cheers

Dave

 

 

 No! I usually fill my 2005 1200c at about 200 to 230, I bought mine at 1,900 kms about 3 yrs ago & done 20,000. Easy cruise all day at 110, would do the same with the two of you. But you will need to upgrade ur rear sus & or a new seat. My missus hates the seat on my bike.