NOW I can vouch for the Kats touring capability.....

[mx916]

This past weekend I took the wife on a ride organized by some riders at her workplace. She has not been on my current Kat (2000 750) and this was to be her first ride. I have a Corbin seat and backrest (thanks CYBER for the deal on the backrest). We packed a tankbag for the day with hats, camera, water, etc. Well the day totaled about 230 miles. The wife was not complaining about comfort at all. The Kat dealt with some real bumper to bumper traffic as well as cruising at 75 m.p.h. for an hour at a clip. The main thing I noticed was that I had to start all my braking alot sooner, and the handling was noticably slower in the twisties, but I guess those things would apply to any bike. The bike definitely has enough power for two-up touring. I weigh 190 lbs at 6'-1" and my wife is about 160 lbs at 5'-8" so the above info applies to full size rider and passenger. This one day really gave me an even greater respect for the Kat as a do-it-all machine. Sorry about not posting pics.

[TheKlic]

coolness
but you should have written that she was 130, just in case she was watching

[JaxKat]

Yeah... she's going to kill ya for that one...
My wife loves our corbin also... I can hardly tell shes there half the time...

[gpggnnn]

coolness
but you should have written that she was 130, just in case she was watching

+100

[gpggnnn]

Does anyone have a pic on the corbin seat. I'm interested in one.

[WildKat]

Crunchie never has any complaints after some fairly long rides on the Kat. Other than wanting a backrest like the corbin has but overall passengers can be pretty comfortable on a Kat as well as the rider.

[The CyberPoet]

Does anyone have a pic on the corbin seat. I'm interested in one.

Here's my custom red one on the red Kat:


Here's the custom blue one on the blue Kat:


Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

[JaxKat]

Heres mine in Black N Gold...

[The CyberPoet]

Re: NOW I can vouch for the Kats touring capability.....

The main thing I noticed was that I had to start all my braking alot sooner, and the handling was noticably slower in the twisties, but I guess those things would apply to any bike.

Given your weights, when you are planning on touring two-up, you should:

(A) Set the fork damping up a notch from standard;
(B) Set the rear preload up 2 notches from standard;
(C) Set the air in the tires 1 psi higher in the front and 2 psi higher in the rear.

Other tips:
When it's time for new brakes (or earlier if you want more grab), upgrade the brakes to EBC HH pads in the front, and put SS-shealthed, teflon-lined brake lines all around (front and rear).
When it's time for new tires (or earlier if you want better handling, more traction and better wet-weather control), swap to a set of Z6's and PM me for the appropriate pressures for your set-up.
Givi bags like those shown in the pic above do not encroach on the passenger space or leg placement at all, and effectively add grab handles to the left-and-right of the passenger to hold onto (the rear grab bar disappears).
If you keep hitting stop-n-go traffic, seriously consider upgrading your set-up to include the oil temp gauge I sell.

Cheers
=-= The CyberPoet

[KansasKat]

I've put 15,000 miles on my Kat750 since July 2005. It has been a great long distance bike. I laugh at the other guys i ride with when they hop off of their ZX9, GSXR750 and CBR1000 and start rubbing their wrists and walking off their leg cramps and I sit there on my comfy corbin seat waiting to get going again. These bikes really are a great buy for someone looking for a comfortable sport tourer.