Bringing Home Baby

[Gone in 60]

From an earlier thread, I bought a used '21 CB300R the week before Christmas, to replace the CB1100 as a daily commute mule, reserve the 1100 for occasional pleasure riding, and to have something small and light for Mrs. Gone's first bike when she decides she's ready to start riding. The original owner was close to my Mom's house in north San Diego, so I tucked the bike in her garage, and would bring it home after the holiday hustle was over.

We spent the weekend with Mom, and I brought the little bike home yesterday. I did receive the requisite guilt line from Mom... "Maybe I should keep putting motorcycles in my garage so you'll visit more..." Yes, Mom...

Since the original owner tucked the bike in the back of his garage after putting 500 miles on it, it is coated in a year of dust, and I assumed no maintenance had been done to it. So, first order of business was to put the tires at the correct pressures and change the oil before hitting the highway. Everything about this bike is cute and tiny... even the oil capacity, 1.5 qt. The first stop was the gas station, as only one blip was showing on the gas gauge. 1.7 gallons to fill. Neat! Guys on other forums are reporting 200 miles of range on a tank.

I didn't want to flog the little bugger on an 80 mile freeway run, especially on a late Sunday morning when flow of traffic would be at maximum speed. I was able to enjoy a relaxed coastal ride up through the city of Oceanside to get used to the bike, but north of that lies Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, with the only option to traverse being the I5 freeway, which flows at 80 mph. On the freeway we went, and I was surprised that she brapped up to 70 mph very eagerly, with more on tap. It was a bit disorienting to look down at the tach, showing a number much higher than I'm used to, but I'm also not used to a small single cylinder engine spinning under me. I parked in the right lane and cruised, leapfrogging motorhomes and semi trucks. She's amazingly stable at freeway speed, even going around large semis. No wind blast, which I found unusual, as this bike has literally no front end. It's like there's nothing there in front of the handlebars. I don't even think I'll bother with a windscreen.

North of Camp Pendleton, I got off of the freeway and enjoyed the coast up through Laguna Beach, then turning north and heading up through Santiago Canyon to home. She's a fun little ride in the twisty stuff.

Mrs. Gone had driven straight home, so she got there about an hour before me, and was happy to see that we got home safe, and nervously asked how the bike did on the freeway. With such a small engine, her concern was that it won't have the beans to make my daily commutes, and that I won't want to ride it much, thereby putting more pressure on her to take her lessons and start riding. "Does it have enough power?" Yes dear. "Oh good, I don't feel so much pressure now." No dear, it will be ready whenever you are.

I took it to work for the first time today, expecting to enjoy its narrow frame through tight traffic. But, for whatever reason, freeway traffic on my daily route was weekend-light. Is today a holiday I don't know about?

It's a really neat little bike. At low speeds, it reminds me of the scooter I run around events with for work, but it can hang at reasonable highway speeds with no problem. I won't be taking it on weekend trips, but for the daily slog, it will do the job. The ergonomics for such a small bike are very good for my 5' 9" ish size, and it's light enough that Mrs. Gone can push it around in the garage if she needs to without fear.

 

[the Ferret]

Cool beans Gone. My daughter in law had a Ninja 300 for awhile. I rode it once. Im not used to those numbers on a tach either lol

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

Excellent Gin60. ~200 miles on a thumper's tank and sustained freeway behaviour: That sounds quite practical.

Don't worry about sustained high RPMs. The Honda thumper was engineered to handle it.

 

[Gone in 60]

That's good to know, GO! Apparently on the '19 models, there was a flaw in a crank retainer that caused catastrophic failure, which was recalled, and the '21 models have a revised part that isn't a problem. She certainly isn't complaining at 70 mph, and there's more to go if I blip the throttle a bit. That's a relief, especially hauling my butt around. Still, I don't feel like getting much closer to the redline until it's got a few more miles on the clock.

The other advantage to a little bike is no problem parking it next to Big Brother in the warehouse!

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

That's good to know, GO! Apparently on the '19 models, there was a flaw in a crank retainer that caused catastrophic failure, which was recalled, and the '21 models have a revised part that isn't a problem. She certainly isn't complaining at 70 mph, and there's more to go if I blip the throttle a bit. That's a relief, especially hauling my butt around. Still, I don't feel like getting much closer to the redline until it's got a few more miles on the clock.

The other advantage to a little bike is no problem parking it next to Big Brother in the warehouse!

lol - Gin60: I was unaware of that. (yikes!)

Glad to read it shouldn't be a problem.

"flaw in a crank retainer"? Covid Quality?

 

[Gone in 60]

One thing that the original owner added to the bike were two Lidlox brand helmet locks, which replace the bar end weights.

These cool little doodads let you put the helmet d-ring into the slot, and push a pin through to lock it. It can be unlocked with a little barrel key. He put one on both sides of the handlebars. I'll probably remove the left one and put it on the CB1100, since it's a universal 7/8" bar fitting.

 

[Cormanus]

Good report, Mr Gone. Neat helmet lock too.

Enjoy the new bike.

 

[emptysea]

I like this bike. I'm in a constant debate with myself about whether my second bike would be a small, 300cc "fun bike" or a bigger, sport-touring or adventure bike. My wife is the moderator/judge of this debate and usually votes "Neither".

Enjoy the new ride

 

[Gone in 60]

Ack!!

I was fiddling with it in the warehouse, and checked the coolant, which was a little low. I just went to the closest Honda dealer, who was thankfully open on a Monday, to pick up a bottle. They had a new CB300R on the showroom floor. With markups, their final price was $6300. Wow...

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

I like this bike. I'm in a constant debate with myself about whether my second bike would be a small, 300cc "fun bike" or a bigger, sport-touring or adventure bike. My wife is the moderator/judge of this debate and usually votes "Neither".

Enjoy the new ride

lol - well keep trying - especially on the smaller cc offerings. They are much more fun to ride than one would think, lower cost of ownership, and arguably safer to ride ... to a limit.

 

[LongRanger_imp]

Cool beans! Sounds like a very fun bike. Here’s its maternal grandfather on the way to Ouray, CO. Plenty of performance, even at 12,000’ (with a 110 lb. rider).

 

[suhawk305]

Nice Gone. I still enjoy riding my 305cc “powerhouse” Super Hawk. It’s so light and fun to run through the twisties despite its antiquated suspension. I have done some freeway riding with the tachometer well above 6k. But I doubt the tachometer or speedometer is very accurate. These little Hondas are bulletproof. My bike has about 40k miles on the original engine and clutch.

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

Nice Gone. I still enjoy riding my 305cc “powerhouse” Super Hawk. It’s so light and fun to run through the twisties despite its antiquated suspension. I have done some freeway riding with the tachometer well above 6k. But I doubt the tachometer or speedometer is very accurate. These little Hondas are bulletproof. My bike has about 40k miles on the original engine and clutch.

Really great snap suhawk.

I believe I walked to that exact same spot (possibly twice) and took a long swig of water and thought, " ... crazy". (it was hot)

 

[Gone in 60]

Long Ranger, your 250 reminds me of my old commute at my last job. It was into a foothill region of Orange County, and if I was running on time, I would take a twisty two-lane road through the hills, but if I was running late, I'd take a wide, straight toll road. On the toll road, I'd always see a guy on a red CBR250R coming the other way, in a full tuck with the bike wound out.

Suhawk, love the 305! I was toying with the idea of getting a 60's Honda. Mrs. Gone saw the picture here of Ann Margaret, and said "Is that a Honda she's sitting on?" I said yes, and her reply was "Well, then I want my first bike to be a Honda." But, I had the mental, space and financial budget to add a small bike to the fleet, but not necessarily restore one as well.

Rode the Bonneville to work this morning and almost dropped it in the garage, forgetting how heavy a "real" bike is.

 

[emptysea]

Cool beans! Sounds like a very fun bike. Here’s its maternal grandfather on the way to Ouray, CO. Plenty of performance, even at 12,000’ (with a 110 lb. rider).

We had "his & hers" CBR250Rs back in 2010 or so. I really loved that bike and regret not keeping one of the two as a third bike.

 

[rboe]

There is a very well done video on YouTube of this fellow that did well over 1000 miles in a day on his CRF300L. Very similar motor. He had it pegged at 84mph+ in some long stretches.

Robust little power house!

 

[Gone in 60]

Wow, somehow I can’t think of flogging that little motor at that speed for so long, but I’m still getting used to the dynamic of a little single that is probably ok with high rpms. I have learned that pushing it over 70 kills the gas mileage. There’s a live mpg meter on the dash that hovers in the 60/70 range, but drops below 40 when you really push it.

Got my Givi rack on it yesterday so it can haul lunch to work.

 

[Gone in 60]

Wow, somehow I can’t think of flogging that little motor at that speed for so long, but I’m still getting used to the dynamic of a little single that is probably ok with high rpms. I have learned that pushing it over 70 kills the gas mileage. There’s a live mpg meter on the dash that hovers in the 60/70 range, but drops below 40 when you really push it.

Got my Givi rack on it yesterday so it can haul lunch to work.

Rboe, just watched that CRF300L video. Very well made indeed, and yeah, he’s keeping that bike in the upper rev range for a lot of his highway riding. Something I found interesting… he does a lot of walk-around and drone footage featuring beauty shots of the bike, with nothing on it but a tank bag. Is he carrying everything for the trip in a backpack? The dude travels light!