Events of 2023 limited my riding time, therefore not a lot to post here. It started off with the usual enthusiasm to get back out on the road. I was hoping to expand my riding circle in the H-D world and see a bit more of New England on the bike. Didn't happen.
I think I took maybe 6 rides all season. A few were with my long, long-time ridding buddy of 40+ years, but they were local runs after meeting at his house; perhaps an hour in length from there. If I'm getting picky, I rode my bike about 20 miles each way to and from my dealership to have a set of Pirelli Night Dragons installed.
Right as the summer was becoming official, things turned. I did not ride the rest of 2023. By late summer I wasn't even waxing weekly anymore. By the end of summer, moving into Autumn, every time I looked at the Road King sitting in my garage, I started to think there's a pile of money sitting there I could be doing something else with...
As I shuffled my garage for Winter, I was pretty sure I would sell the Harley in Spring '24. But, I still wasn't ready to hang up my helmets. I was just deciding that maybe it was time to move in another direction. Maybe, another new bike.
I spent the entire winter researching various motorcycles, listed below in order of discovery:
The leading number is the number of times that I’ve reviewed it, sometimes for weeks, then looked at another bike, gone back to it and then moved on, again…
01 Moto Guzzi V100 Mandello S01 H-D Pan American05 Triumph Tiger 1200 GT Pro01 BMW GS 125008 Kawasaki Ninja 1000sx05 Kawasaki Versys 1000 SE LT02 Suzuki GSX-S1000 GT05 Honda CB1000R Black Edition01 Kawasaki Z900RS Cafe
At this point I prioritize the more upright, relaxed rider's triangle. My back and shoulders are all done with the clipon, rearset, race crouch. But I want some amount of ground clearance for cornering. I spent a lot of time trying to talk myself into various ADV bikes but just wasn't feeling it. I really wanted to want the GSX-S1000 GT but all the road tests I watched said it was a bit more aggressive riding posture than would be good for me, and I've already lived years with the 1000sx which gets better sport touring reviews.
I am not a huge fan of the current styling trend in both cars (especially E-cars) and bikes moving everything towards something George Jetson (look it up youngsters) would admire. Ultra tech and angles and beaks, Oh My.
I was liking the CB1000R Black a lot. Sorta retro vibe, but angrier. Then I saw one in a showroom and it did not have the fit and finish I wanted at all. An old pic of a Z1000 popped up on my wallpaper rotation, so I was looking at a review of the Kawasaki Z900 one day and they mentioned the Z900RS, which I was not familiar with, so I looked at it. That review led me to the Z900RS Cafe ....
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