Speed...

 

Or: the sensation of speed.

It was another lovely day in the desert.  Murphy got a couple walks in and spent some time with Joan out on the patio.  After lunch at our new (to us) Chinese place, when we got home, Joan worked on stuff in the garage (she moved the e-bikes from the shed to the garage - hoping we will use them again), while I took the Burgman (that's the new scooter) out for a ride.

Yesterday, I pushed the CTX at a pretty good clip on that delightful South Mountain Road.  Even though traffic slowed me down some, the riding was still great.  Today, the traffic was much less.  I didn't put a camera on the bike... but I did stop to get a "scooter in the desert" photo...

 When I got to the top, I saw a couple para-gliders getting really close to the antennas (there are a bunch of antennas there).  By the time I got the bike parked and took my phone of its mount, they had moved away...

You may have to zoom in on that image to see them (left side of the image), as they were a long ways from the parking area.  There are a lot of guy wires holding those antennas in place, and these two gliders seemed really close to those.

Heading back down the mountain, the traffic was very light.  At one point, I looked in my mirror and saw a bicycle behind me... gaining on me... and I may or may not have been exceeding the speed limit.  I was pretty impressed with the speed this guy on that skinny tire bicycle was making.  I pulled into a pull-out parking area, let him go by, then I got behind him... I was curious to see what how fast he was actually going.  The speed limit is 25 mph... he was occasionally topping 40 mph, and not slowing down much through the tight curves.

When we got to the bottom of the mountain, there are speed bumps in the road into/out of the park/preserve.  I slowed down to 10 mph for those, he was still doing at least 25 mph, and he didn't slow at all for the speed bumps.  Good knees, as he'd raise up off the seat going over those bumps.

So, how does the B200 do compared to the CTX?  You probably weren't asking that, but I'm going to tell you anyway... the CTX is bigger, heavier, faster, more power, stronger brakes, bigger wheels/tires; the Burgman 200 is less of all of that.  I really don't pay much attention to the speedometer when I'm pushing either bike through the curves... I'm not reckless, but I do enjoy the sensation of working with the bike.  I can't say which bike blasted through those tight curves faster, but... it feels like I am going faster on the scooter.  That may or may not be the actuality of it.

Many riders will tell you it is more fun to ride a slow bike fast than to ride a fast bike slow.  Well, of course it is.  When I had the Vespa, there were times on Iron Mountain Road that that Italian beauty could take those curves faster than many motorcycles.  This new scoot "flicks" through the curves in a very fun way.  It's not a race.  I'm not trying to beat anyone or get a "personal best" recorded time.  I'm just having fun.

I thing the CTX is one of the most fun bikes I've owned.  This new scoot is just as much fun, in a lighter, easier kinda way.  I'm really enjoying both.