2 test rides in one weekend!

so ive been looking at bikes lately as a possible replacement for the SD.
i was going to try a monster 1100 yesterday but it was supposed to rain so i just got in the truck to visit a bunch of diff dealers. never made it to the ducati place.

stopped in at a BMW dealer and the first thing i see is a really clean 03 RC51, 4600miles, grey, perfect condition, yosh exauhst.
while im talking to the dealer i look across the shop and there are 3 S1000RRs!
and they were demoing them. it never did rain and i was pissed that i didnt throw my gear in the truck anyway. thing is the dealer has like all different size Arai he;mets assorted gloves and one of the guys there, not even a salesman, lent me his areostich jacket.

so he sets me up with the green one, it had all kinds of bolt on stuff, rearsets Akro slipon, CF fenders, i must say its a fine looking bike in person (cant see the headlights of the gills from the seat!). he says we like to keep it on the "Rain" mode for demo rides. so he gives me a route and off i go. i dont mind saying im a bit intimidated, i havent been on a big bore inline in about 20 years. but the thing is very docile and every thing feels placed just right. the first thing that had to go though was the Rain mode. so i pull over place it into sport and this really quickens the throttle/acceleration. brakes are great.

way too much traffic where the dude sent me. so i eventually find a nice stretch of road and now im in the race mode (there is a false limiter on them untill they are broken in, 9k, so i couldnt really find out how it was on top though i did bounce it off of that once) and let her rip. very nice over all but i wasnt blown away. the thing does move out no doubt but i cant explain it i really, wasnt moved. it did nothing to make me want it. granted im not much of a inline fan but i have been wanting to try a late model version since the big Honda CBRR came out. dont get me wrong, its a great bike, i slipped it back into the rain mode (pointless really...) and took it back to the dealer after a good 40 minute blast. id say if thts your kind of bike you would probably love the thing but with that ride ive pretty much crossed inline 4s off my list.

the whole experience did make me recall why i bought my SD though. it really is the perfect bike, now if i can just get it running right!
ill just keep it till KTM comes up with a replacement for it.

...the other machine i test road was a John Deere X304 with 4wheel steering. ill be damned if the thing didnt turn in faster than the BMW and with a 13" turn radius to boot! internal disc brakes and a 17hp Vtwin (always a Vtwin for this guy!)

This is the reason you weren't blown away:





As you can see, it's absolutely nothing special UNTIL you hit 10,000rpm.

IMO, there's nothing all that impressive about this bike for street duty. When I had inline litre bikes (GSXR, ZX10R) I could probably count on one hand the number of times I ventured past 10k revs when riding on the street. If you look at those graphs, you'll see the Honda is probably the best street bike of the bunch. Look at that fat midrange from 5 to 10k! That's where it'll spend most of its time..

that would absolutely make sense!
it also explains why there wasnt much low end. just for kicks i also rode it the way i would the SD for a while, down low and it just didnt have the torque i would have thought. the SD (when its running strong) just pulls hard right up to its little redline. its such a blast that i find myself redlining it in 2-3rd just to hear it and feel it. also on the highway you just open the throttle and pass without a downshift, i really like that! also i am so over the racer rider position, i like the visibility of an upright bike these days.

that said it was a fantastic bike if you are into that type, im glad i rode it, would certainly have been more entertaining if the redline was where it should be though.