So good, so good, so good...

 

If you said, "What the crowd sings during the Neil Diamond song Sweet Caroline: 'Good times never seemed so good...' " you get 15 bonus points.  If you said, "Taco John's Potato Ole's with nacho cheese sauce," you are correct, but no bonus points.

I am talking about riding.  Specifically: riding the CTX.  I got out for the maiden cruise through the best curves in the Black Hills today...

 That map shows a lot of good riding.  It does not highlight "our loop" which takes us from Hart Ranch, through some great twisties that aren't highlighted on the map, Playhouse Road to Iron Mountain Road, through Keystone, then back on the fun twisties.  Our loop is highlighted in a faded yellow below...

That's all I have for images today, since I didn't take a camera along.  But, here's what the ride was like...

I have had the CTX for just over 3 months; this is the first opportunity to take it on some really good twisty roads.  I intentionally ran over some tar snakes (where tar has been used to fix cracks in the road) - you notice it, but the tires on this bike are much bigger, so it isn't as butt puckering as with the Vespa.

This bike is plenty powerful enough to keep me entertained.  I rode in Sport Mode today, using the paddle shifters as necessary to keep the engine at the RPM I desired - fast, easy, and very sporting.  The bike goes through the curves great.  I had concerns about the size and weight of it (longer and about 150 pounds heavier) - thought it might not be as "flickable" as the scooter.  It isn't, but it handles the curves as well as any bike I've had, including a couple of BMWs that were known for that sporting ride.  You put the bike on the line you want through the curve and it holds it.  No fuss, no drama.  I started out riding it easy, then worked up to pushing it harder.  And harder.  Dare I say: it might even be more fun than the Vespa... and the dual clutch transmission is perfect in Sport Mode with this kind of riding.

Regarding that "flickability": on Playhouse Road, coming around a blind curve, a truck coming at me was over the center line - no problem at all swerving around it.  Shortly after that, a Jeep was delivering mail on that same road - the driver pulled back into the road obviously without looking; countersteering to the left and then snapping the bike back right.  Easy.  Didn't even feel like a "close call."

Very little traffic to that point, so I could ride as hard or as easy as I wanted.  Damn, this bike is good... did I mention that already?  Once onto Iron Mountain Road, I had several miles of nothing in front of me, and then a convertible Sebring with a couple out for a pleasure drive with the top down.  They strictly adhered to the speed limit.  There were several opportunities where they could have pulled the right side of the road and let me around (double yellow line, so I wasn't going to pass), but they didn't.  Finally, as we came to the first of the tunnels, the yellow line goes away, and I was able to zip around them.

More open road in front of me.  For a bit.  Then I got behind 3 Slingshots (3-wheelers, more like a car than a bike) from Minnesota.  Truly, they were enjoying the drive and didn't hold me up much.  In fact, through the pigtail turns, I had to work to stay up with them.  I was behind them the rest of the way into Keystone - it was actually fun watching them drive through the curves.

Taking a right onto Highway 48 after downtown Keystone, I once again had no traffic in front of me.  Once back to the turn onto South Rockerville Road, I have "closed the loop," and am riding the twisty roads I started on.  Every bit as fun, and a new challenge to ride them the other direction.  I passed 3 motorcycles, a car, and a pickup going the other way; nothing in front of or coming up behind me.

I know as the season progresses, there will be more traffic.  But, today was all about the discovery of how this bike really works with the kind of riding I like to do.  Two very enthusiastic thumbs up!  Honda knows how to make good motorcycles, and the Dual Clutch Transmission is a real delight in this kind of riding.

Some reviewers of the DCT have said, "One of the downsides of this transmission is it can't anticipate what's coming up ahead of you..." as in: breaking and downshifting prior to coming into a tight curve.  Well: duh?  No manual transmission can do that, either.  To get the most out of the bike, you use the paddle (trigger) shifters to up and down shift as you would with a manual transmission bike.  The only difference is: no clutch lever for your left hand, and no shift lever for your left food... you do it all with your left index finger and thumb.  The shifts are instantaneous and positive.  If you leave the transmission to its own decisions, it may not shift up or down at the same time you would... but it would probably be very close.  Yes, you could ride this bike through the tight curves in Sport Mode the whole time without touching the paddle shifters and it would still be a good ride.  With the control input the ride has, it makes it a fun, outstanding ride.

Any concerns I had that this bike may not be as much fun as the Vespa in this twisty stuff are gone.  No photos or videos today, just some delightful riding.  And a big smile on my face.