I unloaded the bike last night. I Read the owners manual to catch differences between the Lightning and this Thunderbolt; Mainly: fuel injection, and the associated things that means, like no petcock or choke. It has a low fuel light, but it comes on at .4 gal left, which seems a bit low to me. If the bike gets 40mpg, I'll only have 16 miles until empty. I think I'll monitor fuel closely and refill early to figure out what MPG I'm getting. It does have a 5.4 gal tank, which will give me a good range regardless.
It has an aftermarket shock by Works Performance. I read the manual for that, and I can set ride height. It's currently set high, so I'm going to clean the exposed threads (tonight?) and lower it to the lowest possible setting. From there I'll work on getting the other setting modified (front and rear).
The saddle bags are HUGE, and come with form fitted liners so I won't have to remove the hard bags when I get where I'm going. They are wide, and I seem to be scuffing the right bag throwing my leg over it. I used to keep hitting the rear turn signal stalk on the Lightning, and after replacing it twice, got a newer model that was flexible. I'd think if I had the narrow bag lid it would be better (at not hitting with my boot), but I'd lose space inside. I'm keeping an eye on eBay and craigslist for a set anyways.
The previous owner gave me one fairing lower and a tank bra. the tank looks good, so I think I'll pass on installing the bra for a while and see how much I contact it. I don't think it needs protection. I'll also note my legs and see if I feel the need for more weather protection for them. Again, I doubt it.
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