01-14-2026, 01:30 PM
Did my first official commute with Superbird today. My pattern is going 60 miles to the office on Wednesday, then 30 miles to my Mom's house for the night to spend time with her, then 30 miles back to the office on Thursday, then 60 back home Thursday evening. For the whole trip, I'm traveling on two major freeways that flow at 70-80 mph, and can spend much of it on dedicated toll lanes that are separated from the main freeway and are free for motorcycles. The toll lanes are great, as they separate you from large truck traffic, many of which are gravel haulers. Where those lanes end and you're riding in regular freeway traffic, there are areas where traffic slows to a crawl, so lane splitting is a definite advantage.
In the mornings, there can be wide temperature swings, and in the evenings major head and cross winds. I've done the trip several times on the Bonneville and the Interceptor 650, but they lack frontal mass and wind protection. I don't subject my CB1100 to this commute slog. They don't struggle at higher speeds, and I've gone up a tooth on the front sprocket on the Enfield, but they are definitely working to maintain the speeds you need to go to flow with traffic, and I tend to keep those bikes in the regular traffic lanes where I can move in more of the 65-70 mph range.
I chose the NC to make this commute easier, and this morning's ride showed that it was a good choice. Loading was easy - my Givi V47 swallowed all of my work stuff including food for two days, and I put my change of clothes in the frunk. Sailed along in the toll lanes and split lanes as needed in the slow areas. I put wind guards on the handlebars which are a good help, but I might spring for some grip warmers. I added the accessory harness and ran two sets of wires up to the front and zip-tied them near the head tube, so they are waiting to power a pair of driving lights and grip warmers. Those will be the next projects. Pdedse, I might add those USB velcro-on warmers you referenced a while back as a test. For driving lights, most riders on this commute corridor run yellow lights, which stand out very well, particularly as you're going into the sun both ways depending on the season.
The dash says I'm averaging 60mpg, not bad for these speeds I suppose. So far, very happy I made the choice to add this bike to my fleet.
In the mornings, there can be wide temperature swings, and in the evenings major head and cross winds. I've done the trip several times on the Bonneville and the Interceptor 650, but they lack frontal mass and wind protection. I don't subject my CB1100 to this commute slog. They don't struggle at higher speeds, and I've gone up a tooth on the front sprocket on the Enfield, but they are definitely working to maintain the speeds you need to go to flow with traffic, and I tend to keep those bikes in the regular traffic lanes where I can move in more of the 65-70 mph range.
I chose the NC to make this commute easier, and this morning's ride showed that it was a good choice. Loading was easy - my Givi V47 swallowed all of my work stuff including food for two days, and I put my change of clothes in the frunk. Sailed along in the toll lanes and split lanes as needed in the slow areas. I put wind guards on the handlebars which are a good help, but I might spring for some grip warmers. I added the accessory harness and ran two sets of wires up to the front and zip-tied them near the head tube, so they are waiting to power a pair of driving lights and grip warmers. Those will be the next projects. Pdedse, I might add those USB velcro-on warmers you referenced a while back as a test. For driving lights, most riders on this commute corridor run yellow lights, which stand out very well, particularly as you're going into the sun both ways depending on the season.
The dash says I'm averaging 60mpg, not bad for these speeds I suppose. So far, very happy I made the choice to add this bike to my fleet.
You know what? I actually would like a pickle.