It's my day off and I had made plans to meet my mate Pointy for BWEKFUST™ in Buxton.
For the past few days, the iOS weather app has told me there would be no rain in Sheffield or Buxton, until this morning when it told me that there would be.
I pondered about taking the Multistrada as the roads have been sodden and I know that there are a few places where the road would be flooded, I only got the KTM 890 Duke GP on Saturday and I was yet to ride it so I decided to just bite the bullet and take the KTM.
The iOS weather app said that there was drizzle in Buxton and it wasn't raining when I set off, after insuring and taxing the bike that is. The roads were wet so I had the Duke in "Rain" mode, once I got to some decent stretches of road I realised that "Rain" mode was boring so I changed it to "Street", not quite ready for "Sport" mode just yet.
There was loads of crap on the roads and quite a lot of standing water, the first spot that I thought would be flooded thankfully wasn't but I did meet plenty of places where the road was flooded. Not terrifically bad but flooded. The KTM was no trouble wading through and my confidence grew.
Once I was up to the top of Winnats Pass, the rain really started to come down - this was no drizzle!
Visibility was awful and there was loads of standing water and flooding along this route, really not the best so I just took it nice and easy. The rain was pouring down all the way to The Wye Bridge House in Buxton where we were meeting for BWEKFUST™.
It's not a proper biker meetup spot but you do often see a biker or two in there enjoying a cheap Wetherspoons breakfast and it's one of our regular haunts as it's right in between where I live and where Pointy lives in Staffordshire.
Pointy was on his BMW R1200 RT as usual, we don't often get to see his bobber out this far; Pointy was already there by the time I arrived and had got me a brew ready.
I got myself sorted out, took off my RST Pro Series Paragon 6 jacket which was wet and covered in dirt on the back, from the roads, and ordered two big breakfasts with black pudding too.
We sat and enjoyed our breakfasts, and had a good chat and a good few brews before we parted company and headed off. I needed fuel so stopped by the petrol station just by Sainsbury's in Buxton before heading back towards Dove Holes and on to Castleton, Ladybower and then home to Sheffield.
The rain had stopped now so I was able to have some fun on the Duke, the Quickshifter+ is really good, I haven't had the pleasure of a quick-shifter before and I'm hooked. The super smooth change-up and auto-blipping downshift are intoxicating when you're winding it on a bit in the twisties. Really impressed.
The sound from the engine and Akrapovic exhaust is nice and full of bass, giving a decent roar when you give it some right wrist and has plenty of power, which I wasn't able to make full use of in the wet but it was still really good.
Just as I got almost back to Sheffield, the rain started to pour again and that was pretty much the end of my fun. I was easily able to filter past the horrendous traffic I experienced on the way back to base, the bike is so small, feels light and is very nimble.
So, for the first test of a new bike, it wasn't ideal but I was able to have some good fun nonetheless. I'm looking forward to next summer when it's lovely and dry and I can make full use of the "Sport" mode and also try out the Launch Control. Until then, if it's dry enough I'll have more fun on the KTM, if it's this wet again I'll be on the Multistrada I think.