RIP Freewind, Hello NC700XA

Bad news for the Freewind, time of death: March 30 2017. Died at age 19.
Cause of death: Broken gearbox.

I was on my way home, everything was good, till disaster struck. I departed from a traffic light (that was green) and my gearbox rattled in 5th gear.
A few moments later, I lost 5th gear and it sounded like grinding gears. 1-4 still worked.
I stopped to check my chain tension and it was fairly loose, luckely I have some tools with me, and adjusted the chain.

It then continued going home and a few kilometres from home, the first gear began to rattle too and it won’t shift into 2nd gear without putting it in neutral first.

10 metres in my street, the neutral began to rattle like hell. I lost the 1st and 5th gear, and it grinds gears.

Not having time and not wanting to repair the gearbox, I started disassembling the bike for parts. I sold the exhaust to a forum member Solis 560 as a part of a donation to my new bike.
Removal of all the expensive parts I bought for the bike was fairly easy. I recovered the crash bars, pannier rack, lights, handguards, centerstand, and some other pieces that I can use on my new bike or sell.

I then put the Freewind up for sale, but only got fake bidders. Then a man called from a motorcycle salvage yard who wanted to see the bike, I said yes, but didn’t want to let it go under 400€. He kept his word and I kept mine, so I still got 400€ from a bike that is worth 1000€ when it still worked. I think it is a fair price since parts for these bikes are difficult to get, and also expensive.

Saying farewell to the Freewind that is gone with the wind 😥

The new bike!

Looking for a new bike took 1 day. I searched for motorcycle dealerships and came out at Motorcycle center Caset in Lichtervelde.
They had an enormous assortment of new and second hand bikes. I’m still bound to the A2 35kW regulation, so I went on and looked at the second hand bikes that were 35kW. The only one were the CB500 from 2013 and the NC700 from 2013.

With sub 10k kilometres, the bike was in pristine condition, only 1 scratch on the topcase. I was directly sold, and for that price I couldn’t let it sit. (it was sub 6k). I got a touring windscreen, gel seat, ABS, topcase and carrier, new tires and a new chain. Just like new!

The salesman (and CEO) Johan Caset is also a very friendly, but hard seller. I didn’t mind, because I wanted the bike. After test driving, I was totally sold. It has low mileage, looks new, high MPG and lots of options. The ABS spoke to me the most since I rode 3 years without it.

Now its just waiting till Monday, calling my insurance to fix the papers, and getting the bike on the road to eat up some kilometres!