As some of you may know, I've been sort of considering another bike for a while now. The idea being, or so I tell myself, of a bigger bike for touring - more room for the two of us, more grunt for carrying the weight.
Had "first dibs" on a friends' Honda CBF1000 recently and he was kind enough to give me the keys to give it a spin. Well, it's a very nice bike, very smooth, clean fuelling from the FI and there's certainly no lack of shove when you twist the throttle in whatever gear you happen to be in - tootling around town in top gear was a novel experience. The seating position seems fine and I found I had lots of room to move around (not that I needed it) and the narrower handlebars didn't feel odd after a few miles. But, it didn't grab me as being the bike I really "needed to have" parked alongside the Transalp. Which, incidentally, will mean me building a bigger shed (but that's going to be another thread).
Maybe it's because I've really rather limited experience of riding other bikes - only my Transalp 650 for the last 10 years and the Deauville 700 (Blood Bikes) for the last year or so. Not really interested in a Deauville either - which I think is down to the built in panniers (they'd be too small, so I'd have to get the bigger lids) and maybe not as much grunt as I tell myself I'd like.
The Transalp's staying - it's almost the perfect tool for the bike marshaling I've got involved in (it's got more lights fitted to it now than anyone would deem sensible) - and I don't think I could let it go. Sentimental twit that I am.
Not really sure where I'm going with this. I might come back to it later.
Had "first dibs" on a friends' Honda CBF1000 recently and he was kind enough to give me the keys to give it a spin. Well, it's a very nice bike, very smooth, clean fuelling from the FI and there's certainly no lack of shove when you twist the throttle in whatever gear you happen to be in - tootling around town in top gear was a novel experience. The seating position seems fine and I found I had lots of room to move around (not that I needed it) and the narrower handlebars didn't feel odd after a few miles. But, it didn't grab me as being the bike I really "needed to have" parked alongside the Transalp. Which, incidentally, will mean me building a bigger shed (but that's going to be another thread).
Maybe it's because I've really rather limited experience of riding other bikes - only my Transalp 650 for the last 10 years and the Deauville 700 (Blood Bikes) for the last year or so. Not really interested in a Deauville either - which I think is down to the built in panniers (they'd be too small, so I'd have to get the bigger lids) and maybe not as much grunt as I tell myself I'd like.
The Transalp's staying - it's almost the perfect tool for the bike marshaling I've got involved in (it's got more lights fitted to it now than anyone would deem sensible) - and I don't think I could let it go. Sentimental twit that I am.
Not really sure where I'm going with this. I might come back to it later.
