Motorcycles

[CB4ME_imp]

I have ridden many...many motorcycles. Worked in the industry from 1972 to 1989 and rode about everything produced during that time period from Japan, England and Italy. I test ride a lot of bikes even now since I live near a shop that lets me test drive anything on the lot or in the building, any time I want. A new model comes out, I go test ride it (Honda or Yamaha). They get something in used I haven't ridden, where's my helmet? be back shortly. I go to Demo days and ride everything they have, from R-1s to Strykers, from Piaggio 3 wheeled scooters to Can Am Spyders. I will ride anything.

Additionally we have 13 members in our family who ride. I get to ride all their bikes as well. My sons Ducati 696, my nephews NC 700X, my daughter in laws Ninja 300, another nephews SV 650, and another nephews KTM 690 duke, my brothers Triumph 790 (which used to be mine)

If a friend offers me a ride on his bike, chances are I will be back in 15 minutes. I've ridden Versys, and Vstroms, and R1150 and R1200R Beemers, and and Guzzi Brevas

I like ALL motorcycles!

But....the bike I find MOST satisfying to ride is a big torquey inline 4 cylinder liter plus bike. I like bikes that pull like a train, in any gear, at any time, that have a little bit of size to them, and a little bit of weight. When I roll the throttle on, I want the scenery to go blurring by..now. Don't want to wait for the revs to pick up. I don't want the power band of a 2 stroke in a 4 stroke. I want the power to be linear, building like a long low slope. When I'm rolling down the road at 55 in high gear and hit a little Burg with a 35 mph speed limit I just want to slow down to 35 cruise thru and then roll it back up to 55 when coming out the other side, without downshifting. Liter bike torque baby!

There used to be lots of them..GS Suzukis, XS Yamahas, KZ Kawasakis and CB Hondas. I was afraid the manufacturers would quit making them. Instead there seems to be a resurgence of this type of bike. Yamaha and Suzuki have both announce big " road burners" and of course thank goodness we have the CB 1100. Figure Kaw will be bringing their big Zrex back soon too. Great bike. They won't want to be left out of the market.

Thank goodness they are making a comeback!

Ferret - where does the 2014 CB1100 DLX rank among the many, many bikes you've had the remarkable opportunity to ride?

And to your last point, this is what Kawasaki is bringing to Europe in 2015, a 1300cc inline 4:



Rip off that ugly oval side plate and it looks pretty darn good. And I bet there's no speed limiter or purposeful detuning on that one. (

Ferret - where does the 2014 CB1100 DLX rank among the many, many bikes you've had the remarkable opportunity to ride?

And to your last point, this is what Kawasaki is bringing to Europe in 2015, a 1300cc inline 4:



Rip off that ugly oval side plate and it looks pretty darn good. And I bet there's no speed limiter or purposeful detuning on that one. (

OK so I'm going to state the obvious here.....

That is a Yamaha.

Randy, I was just checking to see if you were paying attention.