The true beauty of this motorcycle. (another LONG read)

[LongRanger_imp]

Not sure I agree with Ferret's assessment pertaining to acceleration and passing. I routinely make quick passes while commuting on the freeway. A lot of people around here camp in the left lane doing 60-65 mph. I like to keep a pace around 80 mph if I can. If I'm in 6th, a quick drop to 5th and easy twist of the throttle jumps me to around 85-95 before I'm even past them.

6th is not a passing gear. I don't even touch 6th under 70 mph. 60-100 sounds like a job for 4th gear if you really want to scoot, but even in 5th gear the word "molasses" doesn't come to mind. If you're in 6th @ 60 mph the bike is nowhere near it's power band.

I don't know either of them, but based on what I've read on this forum I suspect that VLJ and I have more spirited riding styles than Ferret and find ourselves in the higher RPM range more often.

That's more how I expect it to be. I just can't believe that any modern Honda 1100cc I-4 could ever struggle to shoot quickly up to Vaporize Any And All Traffic speed on a freeway.

It does sound rather disappointing, though, that people keep talking about needing to downshift in order to make quick passes. That's normally the whole point of a large, torquey motor: massive, effortless acceleration at any RPM. It's the little motors that normally require downshifts for instant acceleration, not the liter bikes.

On a different note, I visited "my" '17 EX again at the local Honda shop. Yep, same vin number. It's still there.

Gawd, that thing is just stupidly gorgeous.

Yep. I'd wager that's the main reason most of us love our bikes.