Motorcycles!

[dagibbs]

As the gorgeous spring weather appears to have finally arrived (again), I rode the bike in to work today. Yay. Weather reports look good for riding the rest of the week, two.

Last time I was out riding was two weekends ago in Michigan. elizilla was incredibly nice and lent me her new-to-her VFR 750 for the weekend, to commute from Ypsilanti to Troy and back for Penguicon. She is a fine and generous friend -- after bringing the bike back to her, she tells me that I've now put more miles on her new (to her) sport bike than she has. Wow.


Compared to my Concours, the VFR is a lot lighter, a lot quicker on taking steering input and takes less oomph on the steering, breaks more aggressively, and of course, accelerates a lot better. Though, it also seems to both start making power, and settle/cruise more comfortably quite a bit higher up the RPM spectrum. On the flip side, my bike has a more comfortable riding posture -- especially for longer trips, more wind protection, and a lot better rear-view mirrors. Oddly, the mirrors are one of the things I noticed most -- on the Concours, I get really good coverage from my mirrors: either mirror gives me the lane on that side, most of the lane behind me, and even the lane on the wrong side, back a little bit. So, one quick glance in one mirror gives me a good overall idea of what is going on behind me. While with the VFR (and several other bikes I've borrowed) the mirror on any particular side gives that side's lane and about half the lane behind me without confident coverage of the lane behind me. For freeway driving this makes a real difference in my confidence levels. I would have liked to take the VFR through some twisties, but that wasn't really on the agenda.

The Concours is really a compromise bike -- it sits between the full-dress touring bike (e.g. Honda Goldwing) and the sport bike (e.g. Honda VFR, Honda CBR, Kawasaki ZX, etc). As such, it isn't quite as good at either more specialized bike in either field -- though it does work well as a general purpose bike. And, in many ways, it is nearly a perfect commuter bike for moderate length commutes. It has the hard luggage so I can just toss my work stuff in the luggage and go. I can stop, and do grocery shopping and bring stuff home. Yet, not as heavy and unwieldy as a touring bike. I sometimes think for my next bike, maybe I should get two -- a sport bike for fun, and a touring bike for the long-distance trips. But, then what would I use for daily use, for going to/from work? The touring bike would have the luggage space for the laptop bag, and the climbing gear bag, etc. But I don't want to be dealing with turning it around in the driveway each day, to get it out of the garage, etc. At least I don't have to decide yet. :)

Comments

[mikepictor.livejournal.com]

Oh great, you're resurrecting my temptations to get motorcycle lessons.

[dagibbs.livejournal.com]

Motorcycles are great fun. And, buttongirl likes them, too -- at least as a passenger.

[mikepictor.livejournal.com]

I imagine they are fun.

There is not a prayer that I could justify the cost of buying one, especially as I wonder how much longer it will be before I need a new car.

I've always kind of wanted one though.