07-18-2018, 12:38 AM
I was riding my 2016 CB1100 in a remote forest area on a narrow road where the pavement was cracked, broken and pothole strewn with no shoulders to speak of except bush and ditches. You know that feeling you get when the growing realization that you are lost starts to surface and dominate your consciousness. Coming to an intersecting road I turned unto it in second gear and applied a little throttle short shifting into third then forth before the pavement abruptly ended and I was on gravel, the loose kind. The bike began weeving under me and even I knew that touching the breaks or cutting the throttle was going to put me down. Without thinking I stood up on the pegs which is what I would have done on my mountain bike in the past and immediately felt more balanced and in control to the point where I began to breath again as I gradually guided the bike to the tracks left by other vehicles where the gravel was not so dense or loose.
I discovered that the "Jack of all Trades" CB1100 could be a bit of an adventure bike when standing on the pegs. I followed that road for 25 Kilometers standing on the pegs getting the hang of it and actually enjoying it. I found a place to turn around and was able to traverse back in half the time. For a bit there though, I thought I was going down.
Getting home (after some loggers helped me find my way out), I googled "standing on the pegs" only to discover that this is a core Adventure/Enduro/ Trail riding skill which the CB1100 lends itself to quite well when things get dicy underneath you such as road construction etc.
I will never be jealous of forward controls again. I find myself wondering what a set of aggressive rubber might open up for me.
Hope you are all keeping the shiny side up and enjoying the summer...Cheers.
I discovered that the "Jack of all Trades" CB1100 could be a bit of an adventure bike when standing on the pegs. I followed that road for 25 Kilometers standing on the pegs getting the hang of it and actually enjoying it. I found a place to turn around and was able to traverse back in half the time. For a bit there though, I thought I was going down.
Getting home (after some loggers helped me find my way out), I googled "standing on the pegs" only to discover that this is a core Adventure/Enduro/ Trail riding skill which the CB1100 lends itself to quite well when things get dicy underneath you such as road construction etc.
I will never be jealous of forward controls again. I find myself wondering what a set of aggressive rubber might open up for me.
Hope you are all keeping the shiny side up and enjoying the summer...Cheers.