Thursday, June 7, 2012

Nearly Always Act Surprised

Yes, I rode to work today.

Again, I was asked, "How old is that bike?"


People nearly always act surprised when I tell them it is a 2010 model. Of course, I understand the confusion. It has the classic lines of the old Honda Passport. When you set a Passport next to a Symba you can see the differences. The Symba is a bit larger. It isn't simply a clone of what was called in other countries the "Super Cub." It has developed.

Since I ride a Symba most folks assume I'm into classic/retro looking bikes. Ironically, as my list of "next" bikes shortens, classic probably wouldn't describe any of them. What interests me in a bike is what it can do for me, its dependability, and its feel. Looks aren't unimportant, but I find very few bikes ugly. I can think of a number of bikes that don't look practical to me, but few of them started out that way. Of course, this means someone wanted them to look and be just the way they are.

What will my next bike be? I still don't know. I do know I'm planning on keeping the Symba. It does what it does very well. But, it isn't so good for visiting my "kids" on the other side of the Missouri River, or for riding to Michigan, Kansas, Minnesota, or even possibly to some still to be determined place in Wisconsin.
  • 63F/17C and a few clouds for the ride to work.
  • 82F/28C and a few more clouds, but plenty of sunshine for the home ride.

3 comments:

  1. Keith, next-bike-itis, there's a lot of that going around. If touring is in your future, maybe a V-Strom like Bob's. If I were headed in that direction, I'd give that some serious thought. Seems relatively trouble-free. Bob has opinions about Beemers, and I respect Bob's opinions, though I never manage to take his advice as literally as I know I should. I'm curious to know what you're thinking about getting.

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  2. Man... those Turing tests (Capcha's) are getting so tough, I think I may be a machine after all.

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  3. David,
    It took me awhile to figure out your second comment. I understand totally. Sometimes I've had to do the proving I'm not a robot two or three times. Oh well.

    On the topic of next bike/scooter, I fluctuate. Remember, MPG is very important to me. This means most motorcycle don't pass the grade and the ones that do are small cc. On the day I wrote this I was convinced my next bike would be a Honda CBR250R. Now, I'm just not sure I want to shift. Today I'm leaning toward a Kymco People GTI 300 or possible 200. I'm not expecting to move on anything until Autumn, which means my mind will have lots of time to change. I don't like the local Vespa/Piaggio dealer which takes them out of the running. I think the Burgman 400 is a great scoot, but it looks like a whale to me. I love the Honda PCX but fear even at 150cc it wouldn't be enough of an upgrade from my Symba to satisfy me. Stay tuned.

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