05-24-2017, 11:48 PM
There's the what and then there's the how. There are many more powerful bikes, but how is the power delivered? How is the ride? I had an opportunity to buy a very good low mileage FZ-09 that had a corbin seat, upgraded suspension and bars, etc etc... The story went an older gentleman tried to turn it into a sport tourer to no avail. This bike was much cheaper than my CB cost me and they offered me very good money for my trade in. However 20 mins on the bike I was exhausted and couldn't picture myself ever being relaxed while riding that bike. My first ride on the CB everything felt right, smooth power that didn't frighten me, great riding position, easy handling and braking. It's also a beautiful thing to have good torque nearly everywhere, who wants to ride a bike where you have to scream the rev's to get anywhere?
I bumped into a 25 year old kid I did the MSF course with and because of insurance costs he's on a 300 Ninja. We went for a spirited ride in the country and found a few nice twisties and he said that he had to wind the bike out to keep up with me, I was just taking it easy because it was getting dark. He had to work his gearbox like mad, and I could just leave it in third or second and let the engine do the work. When we stopped for a chat and coffee he complained that his power band was too high in the rev's and he's looking to get either a CB or a Bonneville when he his 2 years and Full M licence. With less than 2 years of riding and an M2 licence his insurance on an 1100 is just too much. So here's a kid who's only been in the sport a year who's already seeing the value of a bike like ours vs an FZ-09 or something the like.
I bumped into a 25 year old kid I did the MSF course with and because of insurance costs he's on a 300 Ninja. We went for a spirited ride in the country and found a few nice twisties and he said that he had to wind the bike out to keep up with me, I was just taking it easy because it was getting dark. He had to work his gearbox like mad, and I could just leave it in third or second and let the engine do the work. When we stopped for a chat and coffee he complained that his power band was too high in the rev's and he's looking to get either a CB or a Bonneville when he his 2 years and Full M licence. With less than 2 years of riding and an M2 licence his insurance on an 1100 is just too much. So here's a kid who's only been in the sport a year who's already seeing the value of a bike like ours vs an FZ-09 or something the like.