Thanks for the advice on the factory final drive fluid. I'm generally pretty handy and work on a bunch of things, but it seems that everything I do has a bit of tribal knowledge involved. If not for some helpful hints here and there a person could spend an eternity Googling every little thing.
I was able to get out of town again yesterday for what is becoming my standard ride to the mountains. I live northeast of the Denver metro area, so I have to pass through most of Denver to get to the mountains these days. Even then, the only real route to Winter Park from where I'm at takes me on a bunch of interstate or big highway driving. I continue to be amazed at how smooth the NT is. You'd think the thing would be terrible at 5000+ rpm, but it just sings along without a complaint. It's no K1600GTL from a power standpoint, but it's also not a K1600GTL from a reliability and cost of maintenance standpoint!
Yesterday's ride took me a little over 200 miles round trip. I again went I70 to Hwy 40 to Granby through Winter Park, Fraser, Tabernash, etc. and then back. I'm looking for a vacation property and I've taken to scouting the area solo on the motorcycle before I drag my brother, the real estate agent, to the hills for an official showing.
It was pretty cloudy around the Denver area yesterday, but the clouds parted to reveal beautiful blue skies by the time I exited I-70 onto Hwy 40. I used a recently-purchased set of Shure SE215 bluetooth earphones for the first time yesterday. They fit nicely under my helmet and served the dual purpose of blocking a fair bit of road and wind noise as well as providing GPS voice guidance when necessary and some music here and there. The next step in the process will be finding some way to integrate some in-ear earphones with a microphone for 2-way phone conversations. I've got the Sena 10 bluetooth setup in my Bell 3/4 helmet, but the speakers aren't nearly loud enough when I wear earplugs and it's way too noisy to NOT wear earplugs.
The journey continues...