My new TVS 961 arrived at the week end, and today the weather was good enough to take it for its first spin. After having a test ride on one a couple of months back -which left me very impressed- i was nervously excited wondering if all would be as good. Please remember that i had owned a donington 961 for 8 years... and i DO realise this IS the first ride on my new bike ... Started first time, just as easy as any other bike. Warming up, the engine was VERY quiet-no evidence of the famous clatter, or of the 'whine' the test bike had. Into first gear with only a slight clunk and off we go with a beautifully smooth clutch and throttle. Through the gears and every one ultra smooth... perfect fuelling ... and the bike is still relatively cold... Through the 30 limit and the bike runs beautiful ... no snatchy throttle.. no problems at all. We are now out on open roads... i can rev it to 3 n half which is 60 in top gear...engine feels great !.. very little vibration, no mirror blurr... just a fabulous rumble and the exhaust sounds brilliant ! Very much like an air cooled ducati monster with termi's. We approach a set of lights... down the gears, no crunching, and pull to a stop... no surging and the bike idles steadily at 1200 RPM. Setting off and there's no clutch screech and again it pulls smoothly through all the gears. Round a few corners and the bike handles perfectly for me, suspension smoothing out potholes...obviously only going up to 60...but still giving great feedback. For the 45 mile ride, the bike ran/felt 100% start to finish... nothing stopped working or dropped off... YES I KNOW its only the first 45 miles, but this has given me total confidence in the bike- which i never had with my previous 961... and with a growing dealer network and 2 year warranty. Just to say, this is MY personal impressions of the 2 TVS 961's i have ridden-both fabulous- so i am not taking sides with anyone (LOL) Hope this helps anyone who has interest in a new 961... Regards, AL.