Welcome to the Family - Motorcycle 2.0
Back in January, "New Year, New Motorcycle" described my desire to replace my 2013 Honda CBR250R that I've owned for three years. Back then, like everyone in the world, I had no idea what was coming at us. Social distancing, masks, corona, lockdowns,.....what was that? All those terms would have meant nothing if mentioned to me back in January. Zoom school, working from home, closed parks and beaches, roadblocks, 1 km (.6 mile) from home restrictions....who would have thought or even IMAGINED any of this? Now it's October and here in Israel, we're coming out of a second lockdown with the restrictions slowly being lifted in an (possibly futile?) effort to control this pandemic and prevent another lockdown. In Europe and many other countries, a second wave of lockdowns and restrictions is already in the works. The U.S......well, it's a disaster.
I put my 250cc bike up for sale in February but with a pandemic, skyrocketing unemployment, and corona restrictions it didn't sell until early October. My attempts to purchase a CBR650F back in August - described in "Hunting for a Honda CBR650F" - wasn't meant to be. Coincidentally, soon after the October sale, I found exactly what I wanted - an unrestricted black 2018 Honda CBR650F - from the shop I used to service my CBR250R for the last three years. It was karma, definitely meant to be.
Now I'm learning what it's like to ride a machine with over 3X the power of my last bike, 85 horsepower compared to 27 on my 250, 0 to 100km/hr (or 0 - 60mph) in 3.3 seconds rather than 8 on the 250. It's a beautiful bike and rides oh so smoothly. I won't mention the top speed since it will make my family and friends too nervous. Self control is the key and I promise to keep to the speed limits.