Life Goes On...

Well, it's been a week since my slide on the Bandit. I am leaving her parked until I have time to read up on diagnosing blinking "FI" (Fuel Injector) lights and riding Burt, my 2003 Honda Shadow Spirit VT750dc, instead.

Anyway, it's very cold and wet outside, but riding in mid-November weather around here seems to bring quite a few smiles and waves from the folks around. Funny stuff.

Having been riding the Suzuki Bandit 1250s for so much of this summer/fall, putting on nearly 5000 miles in just a few months, has made me really clutch and throttle "shy". I got so used to her super-sensitive chip-boosted EFI throttle response and her hydraulic clutch, that I kind of forget what a basic 2003-era carbureted bike with a manual clutch and 500 fewer cc's is like.

In a word: FUN!

With Burt the Shadow, I don't have to worry so much about cranking the throttle open and then holding tight with both knees as the bike tries to throw me off. I also don't have that weird "clutch-hop-thing" as I do with the Bandit, when her hydraulic clutch pulsates and surges repeatedly after she's been sitting in warm neutral for a while.

In brief, it's a lot less work to ride this bike. Obviously Burt's just not as powerful and is also a bit heavier than the Bandit, but that also kinda makes him a bit more fun. Because I just don't have to be as thoughtful about throttle and clutch response, riding becomes a lot more about what's going on with the road and the environment and traffic. I can just crank on the throttle and he zoom's up to a respectable 70 or 80 mph pretty quickly, but it's not like the Bandit, where anything near full throttle opens her up and simultaneously lighten's up the front tire and puts me into triple digit speeds in the blink of an eye.

Given the slippery roads and crosswalks and tar snakes all around right now, and the piles of leftover salt and such from the last snowfall that I'm trying to avoid while riding, moving around with the Shadow is probably the "smart choice" anyway.

[ For what it's worth, I now find myself posting my inside leg subconsciously whenever I take a sharper turn or see any kind of questionable road surface, even with this much-tamer Honda... I guess one low-side (ever) is enough for me, thank you very much...  :-]