Whilst waiting for dinner to cook,

I had a request for a shot of the new bike:
Honda VFR800; few years old, low miles. Being used, along with a couple of factors I won't go into right now, made it affordable.

Not the style I'd have really looked at, but son checked it out and said "You ought to try it out", so I did. MUCH more upright and comfortable riding position than his sport bike, very nice handling, flat flies when you twist the go-handle. And the factory pipes are very quiet, which was one of the things that took getting used to: you can hear every engine sound*, you can hear the chain hiss. Disc brakes front and back and ABS. The engine is a 'de-tuned version of the 800cc racing engine', and if this is de-tuned the original must be a flat bastard.

It'd be real easy to get in trouble on this thing, as it delivers so smoothly you don't realize quite how fast you're going; it gives you that urge to yell "SCREW THE SPEED LIMIT!" and grab a handful of throttle. About a week after I bought it I took the curve from I40 to I44 northbound about twenty mph faster than every before and it didn't feel like that was pushing it at all, Deity knows what a really good rider could do on it.

So that's the new machine. Found a Givi trunk for it which'll be very handy(on a very BIG sale, or wouldn't have been able to), and need to find some bags later on. Won't be factory, have you ever seen the PRICES they want on those? They're bleepin' fiberglass boxes with a bracket, dammit! So some soft bags I think it'll be. When weather and the job allow, I need to take a trip.


* I flat effing HATE bikes with ear-piercing pipes that make it sound like an asthmatic chainsaw with an amp.