I'm tempted by a pair of Sunwise (Freefall/Rush/Windrush) shades with grey Chromafusion lenses - their rimless design looks good for peripheral vision, and polarised photochromatic lenses sound ideal...

...but not if I can't see the speedo

It shouldn't be a problem. I've been riding for many years with polarised reactolite lenses in my specs, never had trouble with the instruments. Never had a K7 Gixxer, I must admit, but I owned a K1 1000 and a K6 600 and they were both fine for reading the LCDs. Same goes for Honda and Yamaha consoles, so I reckon you'll be alright.

>> ex silens nox noctis <<

However, tipped off by someone else I tried looking through my visor (with said polariser).  It's a Shark RSR-2 visor, 3mm thick with anti-scratch and anti-fog coatings.  Great visor, but a polariser creates all sorts of weird colour tints depending where you look, so I guess it's going to be non-polarised shades for me

Depending on how much you like the shades, it might be an alternative to replace the visor - I always use plain clear with a Hyperoptiks anti-fog/glare guard fitted, which - again - works fine with my prescription reactolites. Not a particularly cheap option, though.

There again, I've only ever owned one Shark and from memory the visor was quite heavily curved in both planes: it's possible that's enough to throw up some weird albedo effects. In which case, definitely unlucky! But I reckon it'd be worth trying a pair - in my experience most reputable shops will let you try them with your helmet on.

>> ex silens nox noctis <<

Got to say, I'd never really considered the subject before - perhaps I've been lucky never to have run into any problems. Especially since I spent ages sorting out frames that were comfortable under a lid but never gave it a thought whether the lens spec might be an issue...

Off-topic's not a problem (- we have been known to indulge in that from time to time!). There's an "introduce yourself" thread lurking somewhere around if you fancy...well, introducing yourself.

What do you reckon to the K7/8 by the way? I was quite tempted by Powerbronze's ex-demo one recently but had to resist in the end. Should I be regretting that?

>> ex silens nox noctis <<

What do I think about the K7/K8?  The best gixxer thou is the one you own.

My K8's white and silver, with white reflective wheel stripes.  I like that -  it gets seen, so I can hide away in boring / grown-up / old fart black leather or Gortex.  Faster than a K5/6, better road manners, the dogs *******s really.  I've toyed with unleashing the beast within, de-cat, pipes, gearing, TRE (total misnomer that one, but anyway you know - fooling it into opening those secondary butterflies a bit wider in the first three gears, while fuelling for an absent 4th/5th gear ram effect hmm..), tail tidy, all that stuff.  In the end I just ride it and smile - quite a lot - 8500 smiles so far.  The number plate doesn't blow off at 170mph, so who needs a tail tidy, or more power  (a longer straight might be nice though)?  Those great big black titanium cans keep the pillion's feet well away from the back wheel, so why mess?

I fancy I'll try out a K9 properly soon, but I doubt I'll buy one.  A better track bike probably, but I don't do so much of that.  Nasty silver paint on those pastic under-tank filler strips will be gone in a couple of months, cable clutch feels lumpy and grumpy.  Nah, I love my K8.

For more on how I felt 5000 miles ago, and a by way of an introduction, maybe you already saw these:

http://www.ukbike.com/UserReviews.aspx?ID=-1666882

http://ukbikecom.blogspot.com/2008/11/almeria-circuit-trackday-report-part.html

http://ukbikecom.blogspot.com/2008/11/almeria-circuit-trackday-report-part_19.html

Cheers, BB.

Loved my K1, I have to say - probably the best all-round bike I've ever owned. It was only a long drawn-out period of absence while the exup servo was being fixed that had me convinced I should swap it for the newer 600. Mistake, in hindsight - the 6 was a lot of fun, but really just too small and cramped for comfort. Big engines and spacious bikes, that's really what I like.

Have to agree: even on the earlier models, there wasn't much wrong with them. Certainly on the road, I'd've been hard-pushed to use more performance than came as stock.

I had read your blog entries previously (- just hadn't made the connection!) - and found them entirely entertaining. Unfortunately, like so much else on this site, there doesn't appear to be much will from the owner's to promote or encourage any new material...

Cheers.

>> ex silens nox noctis <<