After The Sabre
My Next Bike
Begun on 03.03.2012 Finished 03.20.2012
As is the case with many people, I may somewhat rush into my purchases. I looked fairly extensively for the purchase that became the sabre. The problem is the low seat height and the small gas tank. With a 4.6 gallon tank I’ve been getting about 40-44 miles per gallon. If an estimate of 40mpg and using 4 gallons, that’s a trip of 160 miles. Now my current riding style is to stop fairly often, I’m not 24 any more. That doesn’t mean that a 160 mile trip or roughly 3 hours is any thing to sneer about. The real problem comes when you want to head down that open road...once you get down there you have to get back! I experienced this concern on my first long ride from Sanford FL to Juno Beach. There would have been no problem if I’d taken the route suggested by the GPS, get to the nearest highway and then hop on 95 south. There would have been plenty of gas stations. However, I dislike highways and I had very little highway time. The last thing I wanted to do for two hundred miles is listen to an 18 wheeler on my left shoulder.
I instead opted for a slower more scenic route through the middle of Florida. Once I was past Orlando I hoped a two lane highway known as 441. It was pretty much a 60 mph road down the middle of Florida to Lake Okeechobee. From there I just made a left onto Indian town road, also a 60 mph road. This is my preferred type of road anyhow. But in doing this the question is raised, “what kind of gas mileage will I get if I have to travel on roads where the speed limit is 70 mph and it’s unsafe to go much less than that”? I won’t know the answer to that for some time yet. The bike is still in Florida and I don’t plan to bring it back until April.
The problem with the short seat height I think could be rectified by a couple of things. The first would be to raise the seat with a cushion of some sort. I’ve looked into air and gel seats. Crash or Highway bars with highway pegs would be another way of stretching my legs. However, there’s a logistical or at least storage problem. The bike has to fit in the garage in Florida in front of the car. Without crash bars it does fit on a dolly with very little room to spare. As a matter of fact it’s best to tilt up the right floor board and even then it digs into the wall a little bit. I’m afraid that with highway bars the bike might not fit into the space.
There are two other things that I think would enhance the ride of the bike. The first would be for a taller wind screen. I get quite a bit of breeze on my head and shoulders. The screen is as high as it can go and there is a fair amount of wind under the screen and above the headlight. The other thing would be to bring back the handle bars a little bit. With the foot controls where they are now and the handlebars in their current position I’m kind of in a wishbone shape, it’s not comfortable. Or as I said to the guy I work with over at Crofton Motor sports, “maybe I just didn’t notice the discomfort or care about it 30 years ago”. He responded, not unkindly with “well, you’re not 20 anymore”. So true. That’s why I have this wish list.
On to the next bike. Outside of winning the Lottery or having my stock portfolio zooming to unknown heights, each as remote as the other. I’m making plans for my next bike. With unlimited funds that bike would be a BMW touring bike, a Kawasaki Concours, or a Honda ST1300 or Goldwing 1800. The problem with the new bikes other than price is that like the US and Soviet Union during the cold war there has been an escalation of engine size to near car size. They don’t get good gas mileage. Some of these bike get worse mileage than a midsize sedan! Why hop on a bike and spend half your trip seeing every gas station on the way? Of course there’s the cost of that gas. At this time March 2012 the fear is that the greater part of the country will hit $5 per gallon during the summer. It would make more sense to travel in Kari’s Prius at 50mpg, or even my Camry at near 40mpg.
So in consideration I’m starting to compile a list of bikes that would meet my needs. Many Honda’s are high on the list. Honda makes a good product. They are often water cooled and shaft driven making them long lasting and low maintenance.
Honda Shadow Aero 750 (45 CU/inch) 2005 or later, (due to the single pin double pin engine crank issue. Earlier bikes single pin and vibrate.). A 750 for the plus 50mpg.
However, I just found on line in Baltimore a Shadow Aero 1100 2001 which is when they began the dual pin crankshaft in the 1100 model. With a 4.4 gallon tank slightly smaller than the 4.6 gallon tank I currently have.The listing is for 3500$
Suzuki Boulevard C50 (800 cc) in the 2000’s.
I started this post almost 20 days ago it’s now March 20, 2012. I looked at the shadow 1100 in Baltimore. It’s supposed to have an inch more seat height. Although, I didn’t take it out on the road it didn’t seem all that more comfortable.
I’ve kind of been living on Craigs in the search for bikes. There are a couple of considerations here. First, Kari has expressed interest in learning how to ride and she likes my bike, the Sabre. However, I think it might be a little heavy for her. This leads me to the 750-800 class. From what I’ve been able to find they get around 50 mpg. This would be a lighter bike for her to learn on and it would be a bike I could use for extended range trips.
Of course if I could find a cheap Beemer or Concourse 1000 these would provide me with the “extended legs” I’m looking for.
