New Caponord on the way

Just put a deposit this afternoon a new 2015 Caponord 1200 Travel pack in the red.
Had a test ride the other day and was impressed enough to tip the scales.
It will be a couple of weeks before I'm able to pick it up so the excitement will be intense by then.
I'm having a few extras fitted, matching top box, heated grips, and a Radguard.
I'm also having the pillion seat altered slightly, namely the bump on the front of the seat is going to be reduced so that it won't get in the way when you slide back along the seat for a change in the riding position.
It's probably only a problem if you're 6'-2".
I've been riding a Kawasaki GTR1400 for the last 5 years and I was looking for a change, a mid sized bike with at least 6 inches of suspension travel, and integrated luggage system and17 inch wheels.
Enter the Caponord.
NiftyNev

Mid-sized!!!

Jeepers, I shudder to think what your idea of a big bike is.

Good choice though.

you'll love the Caponord - just keep in mind the throttle is super sensitive until you grind out more than 15,000kms - then Capo is giving it's best and is perfect at 24,000kms.

I strongly urge you to demand Motul 5100 at the 1000k service and change it at 5,000k.

motorex will give you a sooty exhaust and high oil consumption - I know, I've been there!

The other forum (2014-2016) has a huge volume of photo's and great advice. Beware of anyone who modifies, then complains......mine has not given me any grief, but I also have not fiddled with stuff I know nothing about........

Cheers

Ps Sorry if sounded a bit grumpy (above) - just finished my meal and I'm at peace with the world (again)........

Capo is great, but it is only a two cycl engine and compared to the massive 1400cc Kawasaki motor, it really will be a "mid sized" bike - it only pumps out 107 rear wheel ponies, but, it delivers all of them on demand... Oh, and that suspension really is top notch - just remember to set it to 1+gear or 2-up if you intend to fang it (ADD cannot 'see' what's coming).

The Caponord is ready to go apart from the top box. Heading out to A1 at Ringwood on Saturday morning to hand over the dosh and ride off on the shiny new tyres.
I also had a Scott oiler fitted so I'll let you know how that goes. This will be the first chain driven bike I've owned since 1984 so hopefully all will be well.
Probably gave you all the wrong impression when I said mid range bike. I was thinking something around the 800 to 1000 cc max so 1200 is big by anyone's standards. However it will have roughly the same power to weigh ratio as the GTR. It's more the fact that the engine produces torque at a usable rev range and road speed that's the important criteria.
Roll on Saturday.

G'day Nifty, One minor thing to look at.....the front fork pre-load seems to be left at fully soft (ie anticlockwise is "out" = soft). I have just re-discovered that full soft is nice but that around 3-4 full turns 'in' (clockwise) gives you the more compliant/controlled standard setting of '5 turns out' that the manual states.

This is a better position for hard riding or carrying a passenger...unless you like the really soft cushy setting - oh, note, the hex head fork cap will turn approx 2/3 anti clockwise before it hits the end of it's thread.....that is actually 9.6 turns out from "all the way in clockwise" - so if your's is like mine, and set to full soft......try counting the turns clockwise for say 3 full turns.....

Sorting out a few things

Picked the Caponord up two weeks ago and so far nm not managed to get out for a proper ride.
Last Saturday had to head back to A1 as they hadn't keyed the pannier locks to the ignition key. Turns out that the pannier locks are secreted on the bike under the cover under the rear seat.
Had a few problems getting the panniers too seat properly. The panniers weren't engaging far enough forward to catch properly on the alloy catches on the rear footrest hangers. Because of this the plastic top lugs were only just hanging on to the hoops on the bike.
I ended up spacing the alloy catch with a washer which in effect moves the catch further down the mounting bolt only a mm or two but that was enough to enable the panniers to move far enough forward. Had to also play around with the forward rearward adjustment of the alloy catch till I got a positive lock up. It's something I'll be keeping an eye on for the first few trips as I'm sure the panniers will bed in and move around over time.
Also picked up my slightly modified rear seat today.
All i need to do now is to get out this long weekend for a couple of rides.

Front add

Haven't checked the front damping on the right fork leg yet. I need to ride the bike more to sus out the suspension. Managed to sort out all the dashboard settings. All the odometer title readings are too small to work out.
It would have been much more useful to have an average fuel reading and even better an ambient temperature gauge instead of a max speed and trip time.

Dam right there Nifty.......and the speedo is 7-8% in error on standard Dunlop 180/55 tyre so it will tell you (or anybody that knows to look) that you were speeding at 107kph when actually you were doing 100kph......(a 190/55 reduces that to 5% and gives heaps better ground clearance and handling).

The pannier catch is a common pre-delivery fail for most dealers - they want you cash and the rest they don't know about - but you have clued on quickly and if you haven't seen the comprehensive thread on the 2014-16 site about Panniers, then you can also rotate your peg security hooks 180 degrees to make the security wire's actually prevent an un-locked pannier from moving back and disengaging from the upper mounts.....Cheers from Brisbane

Ok, got out on my first decent ride yesterday. Tried the suspension on one helmet then auto then one helmet plus luggage. I'm thinking that the right leg spring preload was a little hard, but after checking it today it's set on the softest setting. This is understandable as otherwise the automatic settings wouldn't work through its full range of adjustments. As far as the spring preload on the left leg is concerned we may never know what it is. As it is at the moment with the suspension set on one helmet the static sag isn't wildly out, though being 110kgs wringing wet the rear is a little more compressed than the front. A few more kms may loosen up the forks a bit more. The Scott e oiler seems to be working a treat. I've got it set for one drop per 60 seconds and it used about 6 or 7 mms from the reservoir in 400klms. I've just finished running the gps cable through the body work too the battery via a rubber plug under the pillion seat so I can unplug it and have the battery conditioner plugged in instead. I've mounted the gps carrier on a RAM mounting ball that replaces one of the handle bar bolts so it's now centrally located between the ignition switch and the clocks. What needs sorting out next is the screen as at the moment it merely diverts airflow and noise straight at my head. Two schools of thought here. Either a larger screen or none at all. Being 6'2" is often a disadvantage when trying to figure these things out. Any suggestions.

Shame you didn't find the pre-installed Sat Nav cable under the instrument cluster. Old type Tomtom plug but easily removed and adapted. Saves a lot of cable routing.

screens

Hey Nifty, picked up my new Travel Pack last week and the first thing I ordered was an MRA X Screen with spoiler and it works a treat. HIghly reccomended.

Looked at a few screens online and decided on the calsci xl screen. Its about 200mm taller than the standard screen and a little wider all the way up. Check out the website. With the screen at it's lowest setting the top of the fairing is about level with my top lip. Haven't been out of town on it yet but it seems like a great improvement. Was pleased with the fuel consumption the other day when the bike returned 5.3 lt100km, or 53mpg in the old money. Was keeping the revs around 5k on country roads freeway and heavy town traffic so you have to be pleased with that.

Hi Chris , how far up your face does your MRA X screen reach. Is it quiet.

Hmmm, didn't know about the gps cable. Does that connection come on with the ignition. My gps has about 1200mm of cable from the mount so it was easy to route through to the battery. I can unplug it under the seat and plug in the battery charger instead. I'm putting a few pictures up on my Facebook page if you want to do a little stalking.