Sucks having to park the bike again for another couple of weeks, pending delivery of the tires and inner tubes. The inner tubes had to be ordered from Honda, so they'll take longer to arrive.
I really hate all this downtime, during peak riding season. She already had to sit out the first half of summer, when the dealer kept her for six weeks over that stupid taillight fiasco. Now she's going to miss a good chunk of the best remaining part of fall, when the leaves are turning and the best mountain passes are still open.
More fun for the Yamaha, I suppose. Never would have expected the Yamaha's mileage to exceed that of the CB during my first year with the CB, but that has definitely been the case. I bought the Honda in late January. She now has 6,100 miles. Over those same nine months, I've ridden the Yamaha a little over 8,000 miles. This was not the plan.
On the plus side, I have to say, yesterday's ride with my buddy swung me back to the Yamaha. It was a sport ride up Hwy 49 to Downieville (Kenny Roberts' favorite riding road, btw), and my buddy always chooses my Honda, leaving me with the Yamaha. The XSR just KILLS that road. So much fun. When we finally swapped bikes for the last bit home, I immediately noticed how much narrower the CB's handlebars are, plus the reduced leg room, and the massive increase in weight. The Yamaha was so much more comfortable. For my buddy's part, he immediately discovered that his driver's license could never withstand too much time on the Yamaha. As soon as he took hold of that bike, the light weight, ripping motor, and Akrapovic exhaust made him ride like a maniac. He kept zipping up to and over 100 mph, just for the sheer thrill of it. He couldn't get enough of hearing that motor and exhaust sound.
When we finally talked afterward, that was all he kept saying. "My license would get killed if I rode that bike too often. I would get sooooo many tickets!"
I mentioned the Honda's polished refinement, and he agreed, adding, "The Honda is like, I dunno...a Lexus? It's so smooth, so perfect at everything. It's the best.
"Still, the Yamaha's lack of that same refinement is part of what makes it so cool! It's kind of like a muscle car, except it's not really a muscle car. It's light, and agile, and it's not raw and unrefined. It's like a...ummm...a...."
"An M3," I said, at the exact same time he finished his thought with, "...an M3!"
We laughed, and he said, "Exactly! It's like an M3. It's really fast, but not brutishly fast, plus it handles, it's relatively small, and it's not crude. It's totally addictive. I couldn't handle owning it, though. I'd get into too much trouble. As awesome as it is, I still prefer the Honda. That would always be my first choice. It's special. It's unique. It's so beautiful. It's timeless. It's just perfect."
And you know what? There were stretches of that sport ride during which that guy was fairly well keeping up with me, even tough he was on the Honda. I couldn't believe it, but he was going over 100 mph to close the gaps on me, and when he'd catch back up, he wouldn't fall very far behind once the road tightened up again. He rode the bejeezus out of that Honda.
When I asked him about it later, he was fairly beaming. "Yep, I decided, the hell with it, I'm going to try and keep you in my sights, no matter what. Okay, no, I wasn't going to ride over my head or anything, but I wanted to see what would happen if I really went for it, no excuses. And that's what I did. I was riding it between 5,000 and 8,000 the entire time, almost always in third gear. I did finally discover, hey, this thing is really heavy. I'd lean it over, and I noticed that it's not so easy to bring her back up again, like on the Yamaha. Still, she could it!"
To be honest, I'm more than a bit concerned. I don't want my buddy trying to keep up with me, not if it means riding to (or approaching) his limits. I don't want him exceeding his comfort zone.
Next time, I think I'll commandeer the Honda and ride more slowly. That way, he'll be able to keep up on the Yamaha without pushing too hard. As great as it was to see his growing enthusiasm for riding, I do not want him to crash. That would be an absolute disaster.
