New Vaquero first impressions

[Woodsy]

As I said in my "choosing a new bike" post, I bought a Candy Imperial Blue 2020 Vaquero in Los Angeles, 400 miles from home in the SF Bay Area.

I got a ride to LA on Thursday, 6/25/20 with a friend going to visit her mother in Pomona. She dropped me off at Wheels In Motion, a huge dealer at 1:45. There were hundreds of bikes from many brands, but mine was hiding somewhere. Met the salesman, handed over $, etc. and waited and waited and waited.

I was milling about and heard from somewhere in the building, rrrr rrrr VROOM burble burble burble VROOM. That was my bike breathing its first breath. They prep the bikes for display cosmetically, but they don't charge the battery and start them until sold. I followed the sound and busted in past the employees only sign and there it was. WOW! That blue. That shape. I don't know what possessed me, or where it came from, but I blurted out, "Behold the majesty that is Vaquero!" I pronounced it in Espanol, which I don't really speak; Bah KAY rro. The salesman and the Tech stared at me like I was crazy for a moment and went back to their work.

At 4:45 they sent me on my way. I had 200 miles to go to a cheap room I had reserved in Morro Bay. I set out west and rolled through Oxnard, where I saw a taco trailer called, "Vaquero Loco". Stopped there for dinner of course. The bike is so beautiful and impressive looking people are drawn to it. I was holding forth on what it is and how it rides and more to three guys and an old grandma while we waited for our dinners.

So, other than the positive neutral finder, which is annoying, I love the bike! It handles great and has plenty of cornering clearance. I rode some of Highway One like I was trying to set the lap record at Laguna Seca and nothing dragged or scraped. It's a perfect fit for me- bars, seat height, etc. I was instantly confident and smooth on it. I never felt that way on my previous bike, a 2006 Goldwing ABS. It was tall and top heavy.

I knew that this bike (and many others these days) is tuned to meet EPA and CARB standards. I am still surprised at how poorly it runs. Stumbling, surging, lugging and popping. All that when trying to ride smoothly. As the miles added up I explored higher RPM and it's quite powerful when you get up there. I'll pull the ECU Sunday night and send it off to Ivan. I had him flash my old V Star 1300 and it was night and day. I'm confident the Vaquero will run just fine.

I just did the 600 mile check over and oil change with Kawi filter and full synthetic just now. Garry's fork brace is on the way along with a vented Clearview windshield.

Thanks for reading all this.