01-22-2018, 03:42 AM
Went to take the CB out for a 150 mile ride with a good buddy of mine. Instead, a 2 year old battery decided to give up the ghost that morning. Our frigid FL winter (<30F!) finally took it's toll, and that meant I'd have to raid his stable. He's got an BMW S1000R, Ducati Scrambler, Triumph Thunderbird, and a Honda Grom. I've ridden all of the bikes before, and he's ridden my CB on several occasions.
With me on the Scrambler and him on the Beamer, we headed out west of Orlando. The Duc is a hooligan bike. Short gearing, punchy V-twin, loads of torque for a lightweight bike. And that's all well and good, but not something I want to ride for hours on end, which came evident with the wide, uncomfortably angled bars, sloped seat that puts years on your man parts, constant shifting, mediocre brakes, and odd stance for cornering (foot down like a tracker feels better than knee out). Lots of Italian personality on this whip, and not all of it is the pasta loving, wine drinking, friendly type.
After a couple hours, we switched mounts and I got to play with S1000R. This thing is German engineering and precision to a fault. In a word, light speed. Nothing beats it under 100mph in dynamic mapping. Electronics out the wazoo, you name it, it has it. Brakes as fast as it gases. We're taking yellow 15mph twisties at +45mph and I'm not phased. But the stance, you lean on those wrists. You feel like you're riding ON the bike and not IN it. Ticking years off of your prostate with every ripple and bump. Speeding tickets are like sunshine, everywhere you look, you get burned. And for a liquid cooled bike, that thing is hot, even on a 60F day. This Bavarian motor on wheels is a full frontal assault on tarmac and it will blitzkrieg without notice.
So I had my affair, with two bikes this weekend. One was silly, spontaneous, and cute, the other, exacting, daring, and tempting.
And then, after replacing the battery (is anyone else paying +$80 for theirs?) and trickling charging overnight, I commuted my 9 mile boring ride to work on the CB.
And I fell in love all over, because the the Honda has something those bikes will never exude: poise. The CB assumes nothing more than it is, and true homage to the purity of motorcycling cannot be beaten.
With me on the Scrambler and him on the Beamer, we headed out west of Orlando. The Duc is a hooligan bike. Short gearing, punchy V-twin, loads of torque for a lightweight bike. And that's all well and good, but not something I want to ride for hours on end, which came evident with the wide, uncomfortably angled bars, sloped seat that puts years on your man parts, constant shifting, mediocre brakes, and odd stance for cornering (foot down like a tracker feels better than knee out). Lots of Italian personality on this whip, and not all of it is the pasta loving, wine drinking, friendly type.
After a couple hours, we switched mounts and I got to play with S1000R. This thing is German engineering and precision to a fault. In a word, light speed. Nothing beats it under 100mph in dynamic mapping. Electronics out the wazoo, you name it, it has it. Brakes as fast as it gases. We're taking yellow 15mph twisties at +45mph and I'm not phased. But the stance, you lean on those wrists. You feel like you're riding ON the bike and not IN it. Ticking years off of your prostate with every ripple and bump. Speeding tickets are like sunshine, everywhere you look, you get burned. And for a liquid cooled bike, that thing is hot, even on a 60F day. This Bavarian motor on wheels is a full frontal assault on tarmac and it will blitzkrieg without notice.
So I had my affair, with two bikes this weekend. One was silly, spontaneous, and cute, the other, exacting, daring, and tempting.
And then, after replacing the battery (is anyone else paying +$80 for theirs?) and trickling charging overnight, I commuted my 9 mile boring ride to work on the CB.
And I fell in love all over, because the the Honda has something those bikes will never exude: poise. The CB assumes nothing more than it is, and true homage to the purity of motorcycling cannot be beaten.