2013 vs 2017

[pdedse]

Just got back. COLD!

A steaming mug of hot chocolate doing its thing now...

So, yep, the CB's new LED headlight is absolutely killer. Not only does it look great, it also throws out a super-white beam. Its low beam smokes the XSR's. (I rode the same loop on both bikes just now, to compare the lights and everything else.) Its high beam is phenomenal, but the XSR's high beam isn't bad either.

A couple of things jumped out at me during this first semi-normal ride for the CB, since the other two rides were rain rides on the freeway. First off, yep, this thing has really quick steering! I was actually over-steering here and there, she steers so easily. A few times I had to make corrections to bring her back in line. I like it. It made me laugh. The other thing is the motor is unusual in that the buzz I mentioned yesterday is actually confined to a narrow RPM range, and it's not where I would have expected it. She's super-smooth below 3K, obviously. Everyone knows this. She gets a bit buzzy as the tach approaches 4K, on up to 5K. This worried me, because I was afraid it would only get worse above 5K.

Nope. She smooths out like a champ at 5K and stays smooth the rest of the way up the tach. Very cool. I've never had another bike that did that.

Two other cool things...

The tranny on this one is actually smoother and slicker than the Yamaha's, and the ride quality is plusher. These are both marked role-reversals, compared to what I experienced with Eric's '14 Standard vs the XSR. There, the XSR was much plusher, and shifted much better.

Not this time. Now the XSR feels a bit raw, by comparison. I might even say the same about the motors now, too. Other than that one narrow RPM range, the CB is smoother than the XSR, which is buzzier than the CB anywhere down low. The XSR is smoother in the midrange, and they're about equal in their respective top ends. The XSR is bit coarse down low, right where the CB is smooth as glass. At freeway cruising speeds, it's about even. The CB is smoother up to about 75 mph, and the XSR is smoother above 75 mph. They're both plenty smooth up there, regardless.

All in all, I think I can rest easy now, regarding my worry yesterday that the CB might prove too buzzy for me. It's fine. It's more than fine, really. It's fantastic.

Comparing power and acceleration, now there was an eye-opener. I rode the CB first. Just leaving stoplights, I thought the CB was kind of soft. Once up to speed, it scoots along nicely, and it was getting to the point that I was starting to question whether the CB will really slow me down at all? The motor vibration isn't an issue, the handling is so much better than I was expecting, and the acceleration is pretty solid. Not sure yet about the brakes. They felt a little slow to respond, once I picked up the pace. Overall, however, the bike felt reasonably sporty, all things considered.

Then I rode the XSR. Wow, is it ever tall. It's really light. It makes hellacious sounds. The suspension isn't as plush as the CB's. The brakes are sharper, but...hmmm...maybe not as sharp as they used to be? Oh, and I can induce more drive lash with the XSR than I can with the CB, which is another major turnaround, compared to the '14 Standard vs the XSR. In nearly every respect, the CB is smoother and more refined than the XSR.

There's just one thing, though...



When you pull the trigger on the XSR in A-mode, MAN, but does she accelerate like a maniac! Get her up to about 9K and wooooh, she compresses time and space. That is just some awesome fun. Here I was, thinking the CB was plenty fast, and it is, really. It's fairly strong. It works. It's a real motorcycle, offering real fun...but the XSR just annihilates it anywhere on the throttle. When the tach and speedo swing towards the big numbers, there's the night-and-day difference. The CB builds steam. The XSR leaps forward like a Tesla.

The thing is, though, that the CB basically does everything else better. The XSR accelerates much harder, and it's a lot lighter. That's it, in terms of things the XSR really does better than the CB. Comfort-wise, the seating positions are about equal (due to the bar risers I added to the XSR), but the CB is the more comfortable bike overall. It seems to brake just about as well as the XSR, while doing everything else more smoothly and slickly.

By the time I arrived back home and parked the XSR alongside the CB, I'd decided that the XSR is like an older M3: raw, Spartan, full of character, a bit rough around the edges, and blisteringly fast. The CB is like a new 7-Series. It's a whole lot heavier and not as sporty as an old M3, but still sporty enough to be entertaining, and probably the one you'd rather drive most of the time.

Now I'm really looking forward to tomorrow's first sunny-day ride for the CB. I still don't expect her to match the XSR for pure sporting prowess, but I'm going to take her on the identical run I took Eric on a couple of weeks ago, including Mosquito Ridge, and I bet she will surprise me even more tomorrow than she already has so far. I'm guessing that by this time tomorrow night I will have discovered that my gorgeous red work of art is much more of an all-around capable motorcycle than I ever imagined.

The important thing is that nearly all the trepidations ( love that word!) you had before buying have not panned out.