I asked about this a while ago, and have got a variety of responses, so I thought I would throw mine into the ring. My commute is 55 miles each way, from North Hampshire up to Central London (Tower Bridge). It takes in everything from flowing country dual carriageway (A31) to quasi-motorway (A3), from congested out of town bottle necks (like Farnham, and Guildford over the hog's back) to suburban London (decent width roads, traffic mainly in one direction) to Zone 1 - standstill, not a lot of room to manoeuvre. My verdict? Its rubbish. There, that got your attention, didn't it. I will qualify that, in that its rubbish in standard trim. The exhaust is too quiet for one, and as any fule know, quiet exhausts in London means that no-one hears you as well as not seeing you. I swapped that out for an obscenely loud Mivv Ghibli, which I'm pretty sure can be heard five miles away. Sadly, the result on this is that the low rev baked in fuelling 'modifications', which I can only presume are there to aid on the noise testing, are shown up centre stage. This happens to correspond with town riding speeds (there's the noise clue) which means that you get very jerky throttle response right at the speeds where you need most control. So as well as changing the can, I'm going to have to look at a Power Commander too. Looking at the graphs available with a PC and my exhaust, I'm sure that this will cure my throttle issues completely. Next up, the screen. I found that pressing on at motorway speeds whilst you have a tankbag on, even a small one, resulted in you being blown off the back of the bike, or nearly. Its a good workout for the legs, arms and neck muscles, but not great for comfort. So I now have a Zero G double bubble screen on order, £65 courtesy of my £5 voucher for Sportsbikeshop.co.uk. Now the gear shift. I don't wear clown does, but then again I'm no Dani Pedrosa. I take a 44 A* boot, and I find that the gear shift is too close for comfort. It makes shifts difficult, especially in a racing crouch. SW Motech do a replacement adjustable gear shift for about £100 (technically for a 1000R, but I am told it fits the blade), but that is further down on the shopping list for me - fuelling is more of an issue than how close the gear shift is. And now I'm struggling to find issues. The seat is a bit hard, but its a sportsbike. The fuel economy is good, its great for filtering (better than my VFR I have found), the power delivery on a rising throttle is insane and good luck anyone else that fancies a go at the traffic light GP (set the clutch, hold the front brake, release and give it a handful when the light goes yellow, and you shoot off). The arm position isn't painful for me (but I adapt my riding position and style very easily) and the pegs are not a problem. Right turns are a bit interesting for me, simply because of the lack of gap between the right wrist and the tank, so limited throttle control, but I'm sure I'll get used to that and compensate - I've only done 215 miles on it in commuting mode. So yes, in standard trim its rubbish for commuting, about £1k maximum (if you go brand new on your PCV, and buy a more expensive exhaust) on a few upgrades will see it as a very nice option for commuting.
Shoulda bought a Gixxer 1000! Far superior Road Bike! Comfy as Loud Yoshi Exhaust as standard Double Bubble Screen as standard Two position Rear Sets Two Position Gear Shift Sweet Gearbox (miles better than a Blade) Ace to the Gallon Good Steering Lock ABS that works!
