RUST magazine: Rust#16

while they felt ever so slightly different,
there wasn’t an easily-definable difference.
The motor hasn’t been strangled, it’s just as
it was, only now there’s this odd canister
hanging down behind the motor, the carbon
canister, that we understand catches the fuel
vapours from the tank (heck, emissions regs
are getting super-tight, eh?).
CAN IT SATISFY?
Can it satisfy? Hell yeah! We’ve not stopped
thinking about it, talking about it, since we
tested the bike 72 hours ago. Co-tester July
is on the point of buying one (see his second
opinion). It really is ridiculously handsome;
personally I’m no café racer or bobber or
scrambler fan, but this bike looks so damn
on the money. I like the simple clock, I like
the fact the switch blocks have probably no
more than two or three functions each – it is
as stripped down as a modern bike can be.
I have reservations – I wish the forks could
have offered 140mm of travel, like the shock
– it might offer some extra ground clearance
at that, too. A fuel tank of 20-litres might
have been better than 17-litres, but I can ride
slower to go further if that’s what it takes.
And it needs the tall seat option at the least
to be properly comfortable, that stitched tan
seat might look great but it’s no touring
perch. The ergos will need adapting to offer
a proper standing position (for burning gravel
roads), which possibly means bar risers,
maybe even footrest lowering – it depends