12-24-2016, 08:08 AM
Note: I wrote this back in October and emailed it to a few friends.
"Last week on Monday, I realized that I was on top of things at work and I immediately checked the weather forecast. That looked good too, so I took Thursday and Friday off. Ever since I first drove on the curvy roads in the Ozarks, I have been thinking about riding a motorcycle down there. Thursday morning I left home on my spankin’ new 2014 CB1100 to do just that. I had no itinerary except that I purchased a map with the best Ozark motorcycling roads identified and rated. Between the time I left on Thursday morning and Friday night when I pulled back in our driveway, I had been on my bike for 17 hours, and I was more than ready to be done.
It was a great time and the roads exceeded my expectations. At one point on Friday, I looked down at my instrument cluster and my right turn signal was on. Not unusual, but in this case it had been on for around 16 miles. And that 16 miles of road had been so engaging and demanding that I hadn’t glanced down to look at my speed. On that stretch there were only short segments of straight road, and when I finished each turn I was typically already looking at the next. To make it even cooler, I was generally going East and there was a good breeze from the South, so leaves were falling on and around me."
I was impressed with how truly rideable a CB1100 is. For me, the vibration is no big deal, and I love the torque. Superb brakes. It could use a better seat, but even that wasn't much of an issue. At 59 years, 5'10" and 170 lbs, the ergonomics are good enough. I don't feel any real need to change anything, but that is also my nature. I generally just buy and ride. Apologies for the lack of pictures. Tom
"Last week on Monday, I realized that I was on top of things at work and I immediately checked the weather forecast. That looked good too, so I took Thursday and Friday off. Ever since I first drove on the curvy roads in the Ozarks, I have been thinking about riding a motorcycle down there. Thursday morning I left home on my spankin’ new 2014 CB1100 to do just that. I had no itinerary except that I purchased a map with the best Ozark motorcycling roads identified and rated. Between the time I left on Thursday morning and Friday night when I pulled back in our driveway, I had been on my bike for 17 hours, and I was more than ready to be done.
It was a great time and the roads exceeded my expectations. At one point on Friday, I looked down at my instrument cluster and my right turn signal was on. Not unusual, but in this case it had been on for around 16 miles. And that 16 miles of road had been so engaging and demanding that I hadn’t glanced down to look at my speed. On that stretch there were only short segments of straight road, and when I finished each turn I was typically already looking at the next. To make it even cooler, I was generally going East and there was a good breeze from the South, so leaves were falling on and around me."
I was impressed with how truly rideable a CB1100 is. For me, the vibration is no big deal, and I love the torque. Superb brakes. It could use a better seat, but even that wasn't much of an issue. At 59 years, 5'10" and 170 lbs, the ergonomics are good enough. I don't feel any real need to change anything, but that is also my nature. I generally just buy and ride. Apologies for the lack of pictures. Tom