12-18-2014, 06:04 AM
I bought my first bike in 2003. A used Ducati 748. That was a sweet ride. Commuted on it for about a year to college and work. I never rode crazy, just did the speed limit or slightly above. One day a friend mentioned a near by track (Jennings GP) and invited me to go to a track day. Talk about an adrenaline rush! That bike was completely different leaned over, hammering the throttle. It became readily apparent that sport bikes are not designed to be ridden on the road.
I continued to ride on both the track and road for another year until I had an incident on the road. An RV traveling back to New York after winter merged into my lane. The lane to my left was a turn lane full of cars so I had no where to go. I hit the brakes but didn't avoid being hit. I remember waking up with a bunch of people standing over me that acted shocked I was awake. I sat up and took my helmet off which caused many of them to tell me to lay still until the paramedics arrived. I did a quick check and couldn't feel anything broken so I told a guy that I felt fine and didn't understand why everyone was so worried. Turns out when the RV made contact I bounced off a car in the turn lane and then was thrown underneath the RV and was run over by both the RV and the car it was towing. I had all the gear on but I still feel extremely lucky to have walked away with just scrapes and really bad bruises. From that day on I decided to not ride a sport bike on the road again.
I continued to ride on the track. In 2009 I sold my Ducati and purchased a new CBR600RR which is a dedicated track bike. I always wanted to ride on the road again, but didn't want to resort to a cruiser or adventure bike to do it and I certainly wasn't interested in riding my sport bike any where but the track. Then I saw the CB1100 in a magazine. It looked like the perfect bike for me to ride around town. I always had fond memories of my Dad taking me for rides on his CB750 and the bike struck a chord with me. A few weeks later on a beautiful spring day I told my wife it was perfect motorcycle weather and I would love to have one. She replied "Let's get one." The next day I bought a 2013 CB1100 and haven't looked back since. Hopefully that will be the last hiatus I go on for a while!
I continued to ride on both the track and road for another year until I had an incident on the road. An RV traveling back to New York after winter merged into my lane. The lane to my left was a turn lane full of cars so I had no where to go. I hit the brakes but didn't avoid being hit. I remember waking up with a bunch of people standing over me that acted shocked I was awake. I sat up and took my helmet off which caused many of them to tell me to lay still until the paramedics arrived. I did a quick check and couldn't feel anything broken so I told a guy that I felt fine and didn't understand why everyone was so worried. Turns out when the RV made contact I bounced off a car in the turn lane and then was thrown underneath the RV and was run over by both the RV and the car it was towing. I had all the gear on but I still feel extremely lucky to have walked away with just scrapes and really bad bruises. From that day on I decided to not ride a sport bike on the road again.
I continued to ride on the track. In 2009 I sold my Ducati and purchased a new CBR600RR which is a dedicated track bike. I always wanted to ride on the road again, but didn't want to resort to a cruiser or adventure bike to do it and I certainly wasn't interested in riding my sport bike any where but the track. Then I saw the CB1100 in a magazine. It looked like the perfect bike for me to ride around town. I always had fond memories of my Dad taking me for rides on his CB750 and the bike struck a chord with me. A few weeks later on a beautiful spring day I told my wife it was perfect motorcycle weather and I would love to have one. She replied "Let's get one." The next day I bought a 2013 CB1100 and haven't looked back since. Hopefully that will be the last hiatus I go on for a while!