Featured Speed Twin Limitations

Hi again, just thought it was worth sharing my recent issues to help others avoid same problems. First of all can I say I am not knocking the Speed Twin and I do love the feel and looks of the bike etc, however it does have its limitations, certainly as far as my riding style is concerned anyway.
For me, cornering is what it is all about, but with this bike it is giving me a few headaches, firstly the bike itself is more than capable of fast, full lean angle cornering and holds the road well but it is the after effects that are proving to be the problem! The first problem I had was the paint chipping on my exhausts, at first I was mystified as to the cause (thought initially it was a manufacturing problem) but I have become enlightened after fitting a set of brushed steel Thruxton pipes which ended up marked first run out (not too badly with them being steel), obviously the end cans on the bike are fairly low so with me scraping the hero blobs the debris created from this is hitting the exhausts and causing pitting and chipping, this same thing has also caused some similar damage to the swing arm although its not too drastic, yesterday after a run out I was cleaning the bike and noticed the rear brake lever was bent out of shape, and gear lever ground down slightly!! the blobs are worn down a fair bit on the bike (2nd set) and as a result at some point this has allowed the levers to touch down which has resulted in the brake getting bent out of shape (photo attached), I ride on the more flowing roads with just my toes on the pegs and rarely if ever use the rear brake so never even noticed this had happened til I got home.
Anyway hopefully this info helps other avoid my problems.
The lesson I need to take from this is that I need to start riding like the 60 year old I am and not the 20 year old I still think I am in my head, can I though???

 

I know but I have ridden normal road bikes like this for years (XJR's, CB's etc) and had no problems whatsoever!!

 

Sadly I can't ride bikes with clipons/race style bars anymore due to arthritis problems

 

keeps the adrenaline flowing though, good for the arthritis

 

"But a braver man than I" perhaps "But a stupider (is that even a word) man than I" would be more appropriate

 

Bravo!!!! Your obviously an absolutely fantastic rider and I'm shit

 

This only happened because the blobs had worn down too much and I had forgot to change them, so if you keep an eye on them and remember to change as required then the brake lever and gear change will be fine. Hope this helps.

 

Ain't slowing down and already got an Aprilia Tuono V4RR which is EFFING AAAAAAMAZING. I am being more sensible though and adapting my style with the Speed Twin (NOT THE TUONO THOUGH!!), would be silly to carry on like I was and continually damage my beautiful wee bike