Shweeeet!!!!!
Oh, yeah...I was bad today. I went on a test ride spree of various motorcycles today. If it's your thing, follows me impressions of the various bikes.
Normally, I ride a Buell Blast -- nice, small, cheap. Really easy to manuever, great on gas mileage, and an eye catcher.
Ducati Monster 600: oh, so smooth! Incredibly quiet, fast power delivery, very very stable, but has the Ducati wide-as-s**t seat that isn't real comfortable. Still...if I had the six grand in my pocket, I'd have gone home on it.
Ducati 999: incredible performance! Faster than money spent on UN dinners. Really cool agressive torpedo-tube like headlights. Un-friggin'-comfortable seat. You'd think these guys -- who engineer these dream bikes, could put some padding in the bleedin' seat.
BMW 650 GS: A little tall for me, but really stable. Power delivery was a bit quirky after the Ducatis, but better clutch take up (IMO). Took it off-road for a few minutes (never done that before...well, not intentionally). Gripped the ground like an acrophobe, easy to manuever around by hand. Might like it more than my Buell.
Triumph Speed Four: YES! Power, stability. FAST!!! Too damn tall for me; if I'm on my toes at the light, I'm not real comfortable. She was a bit tough to manuever by foot. Best-looking bike out there, IMO.
Buell Lightning XB9S: felt like the center of balance was right under my butt, where it should be, and down around my knee. The Best turning of the lot, hands-down; figure eights in a 5x10 area were no prob. Quirky clutch. Like my Blast, even with 400cc's less engine, better.
Harley Davidson 880 Sportster: good solid cruiser. A bit too loud. Shook more than my single cylinder Buell, but had plenty of power. Turned well., thought the shift/clutch a big quirky in first, didn't want to behave when I was pushing it around the parking lot. Didn't much like it.
H-D V Rod: absolutely beautiful styling, and I don't much like cruisers. Really fast, for a cruiser, with great delivery and a smoother clutch than the sportster. Loud as a nuclear bomb going off. Handles nice, but it's a pain to manuever and move around in a parking lot. I could live in the engine it's that big, and it had more HP than my old Escort. Really liked it.
So there it is...a perfect day in New Mexico. Sun, cool air, and really fun machines.
"War is an ugly thing but not the ugliest of things; the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feelings which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."
John Stuart Mill
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Now there's a big ole' beast. Are you thinking of getting a new bike, or just out for some fun?
