Yes, a Speedmaster.
And before anyone goes off on me, you can go back and read all those posts where I swore everlasting devotion to my Speedmaster.
Anyway, after putting almost 300 miles on the new Victory Kingpin, I noticed my Speedmaster hadn't seen the light of day in about a week. So after work today I decided to take the bike out on some of my favorite county roads.
OK, so it didn't start on the first try like the Kingpin, and took longer to warm up.
Pulling out of the driveway, I started wondering if I had left a phone book on the seat or something. What was with this weird riding position all of a sudden?
Set the idle back down after a mile and turned north. Oh yeah, I have to shut the turn signal off, don't forget that.
Hey, am I running on one cylinder or something? Well, compared to the KP I am.
Coming to a stop, I can feel the higher center of gravity. Not as stable at low speeds as the KP.
I took the Speedy up one of my favorite twisty country roads and had to wrestle it through the turns. Really got to crack the throttle to get enough power to pull through the turns. Just yesterday we were out 2-up & I had the KP leaned over so far I dragged the footboard through one turn.
Whoa, watch those cagers. Somehow, they don't seem to see the Speedy as quickly as they do the KP.
Finally got home and put the Speedmaster back next to the KP.
So what does this all mean? How could a bike I so thoroughly loved suddenly seem so alien? The KP out-performs the Speedmaster on every level. Yet somehow, the Speedy is still fun to ride.
I guess I'm just really lucky to have two very cool but very different cruisers. Both are unique bikes that turn a lot of heads and get lots of compliments. The Speedy will now be my mid-sized solo cruiser, and the Kingpin will be mostly for 2-up cranking.
Note to Hinckley. When you make the rumored 1500 cruiser, be sure to keep the center of gravity low.
