Motorcycles: Love On Two Wheels

It seems just like yesterday when I purchased my first motorcycle. A cool purple and orange 1994 Yamaha YZF 600. The motorcycle was a beautiful machine that seemed to be born from the pavement it was to ride on. I thought the world of motorcycles could not get any better. I was wrong.

I always pushed the limits of everything I experienced, from playing basketball to sky diving. Even when I was in the military, I lived every day like it was the last. Motorcycles were no different. Pushing the limit of what the modern two wheeled horse could do is a passion that will never be quenched. I will be 90 years old still riding the infamous crouch rockets. The love started young at 5 or 6. I would go absolutely nuts when I would see Evil Knievel doing an extreme jump. Whether the jump was successful or not made no difference; I was officially a motorcycle fanatic.

The love of motorcycles was not just of the so called crotch rocket, but of every two wheeled beast with an engine. OK, not every two wheeled beast because mopeds and scooters hardly qualify as beasts. This placed them on my "things not to do" list promptly. I loved my first Yamaha so much that I brought the exact bike twice. You may be wondering why I did a silly thing like that. Well, let's just say a friend of mine wrecked my first one so I bought an exact copy.

The sport bike world was changing rapidly. Lighter frames, better brakes and better tires made bikes faster, as well as able to stop on a dime. To me at the time the world had only three words, GSXR, Ninja, and R1. On base you would see these running around left and right. Don't get me wrong the CBR's were there, just not what I preferred, but we will get to that later.

My first brand new bike was a 1999 Yamaha R1. After the upgrade from my old YZF 600 I realized that I must have died and went to heaven. This bike was incredible! Acceleration was so fast that I literally had to hang on for dear life. The Michelin Pilot Tires that came stock on my bike were like sticky putty. I would take a corner on the back roads of Georgia and the tires felt like they were gloves hugging the turn. The bike made me feel like I was a part of the machine and we were one cohesive unit. I would twist the throttle, feel the bike respond and effortlessly accelerate in a blur. Parked side by side my R1 looked smaller than my YZF 600. The R1 was my dream on two wheels. She was lighter, faster, sleeker and more responsive: the cream of the crop! The double headlights stared at you and said "Let's eat up some road together." It was a dominating motorcycle that all bike makers tried to top. The liter bike was born. The age of the super sport bike had arrived. Why would you want anything better than that 1000 in the R1?

Out of all the craziness a brute beast summed up with one four syllable word. The Hayabusa exploded on the biker scene. The first one I ever saw was orange and silver with a cowling on the back. I had to taste that bike. I wanted to be that motorcycle. I am not condoning reckless behavior and I start out saying that because I have been reckless at times. 180 mph is very reckless, but at the age of 19 I felt invincible. My mentality was that I could never die. The bike gods would not let that happen. The Suzuki 1300cc bike was in of a league of its own.

Even the most advanced ground breaking bikes become old technology eventually. So what could possibly be more advanced as the first generation R1 and the Hayabusa? An electronic steering dampener-that is what! The 2005 Honda CBR 1000RR came with the Honda Electronic Steering Dampener system better known as the HESD. For those of you that don't know what a steering dampener is, it is a component placed on the handle bars that limit movement of the handle bars at higher speeds. This decreases your chances of the deadly and dreaded tank slap. I walked into a Honda dealership and saw her. She was black and silver with the pipe under the tail and on the aft fairing two red double RR's. I didn't need to see anymore bikes I drove off on that monster.

The new Hayabusas and R1s still push the limits of technology to the edge. However, Honda surprised me with the innovations it has delivered. Duh! Honda and superior technology are synonymous with each other. Honda and styling did not mesh for a long time. It kinda said boring. That has changed tremendously. Just take a look at the new bike lineup for 2010. Yes, Honda has finally put their ear to the streets and found out what the new rider wants. They have put a bike called the Fury in the lineup. The Fury looks like a high end custom chopper with the nice colors to boot.

I know this sounds like I am pro Honda, but the truth is, I love all bikes! Anytime a maker listens to riders good things usually happen. Honda did just that-they listened. With the sport of riding picking up, many brand new riders are flocking to dealerships to buy a part of the rebel civilization. So Honda made an entirely new motorcycle in a class by itself. The Honda DN-01 puts the speed and look of a super sport with the look, ease and comfort of a cruiser. "How does that look?" you ask. Take a look for yourself on Honda's website. The bike is almost 700cc and it is an automatic. Yep, a fully functional, hands off automatic for those of us tired of gear changing or just getting into the sport.

I am currently bike-less, and it is driving me up the wall. I am thinking of my next purchase being a Hayabusa or another R1 or CBR or Ninja or you get the picture. I could go on and on about bikes. For now I will stop and look for new innovations before I decide. Keep it on two! Stay safe riders.