Friday, September 18, 2009

Big Bike, Little Bike

I spent much of the day riding my new bike. I started off the day by running to Leola to visit my doctor due to some odd health symptoms I have been experiencing. I took my son with me since he was home sick from school and I wanted him to get checked out too.

We passed my buddy as he was taking my scooter back to my house on the back of his truck. He dropped it off and went his merry way, forgetting to drop off the key (important piece of the day's story).

We arrived in Leola, and waited a while for the doctor. We had our appointments, and the Dr. diagnosed me with possible vertigo and ordered bloodwork to check for sugar issues. I found the Vertigo diagnosis a little odd, since I get nauseous, then dizzy, not the other way around, but I think he may have just been shooting for a temporary answer. Funny thing is, when I went to the pharmacy later to get my medication, I received the following pill bottle, with the following warnings:


Pay closest attention to the bottom sticker. Isn't that just a little counter-productive?

In any event, I took my son home, and was going to take my scooter to the store to pick up the aforementioned prescription. I noted that my key was nowhere to be found, so I called my best friend to ask him where he put it...to which he responded, "guess what I found in my pocket?"

So, I rode to Terre Hill to get the scooter's key, and wandered around a bit on my way home.


Later this evening, I finally had an opportunity to ride the scoot again. I needed to fill it up with gas so it would have enough to make it through the day's events tomorrow, should my plans go through.

Upon starting out on the scoot, I was amazed at the fact that I felt as if I were floating on air. The scooter is so nimble and light, it hardly felt like it was beneath me. The acceleration on the scooter is seamless and smooth, and it seems to jump right out onto the road.

The motorbike, on the other hand, feels very much alive and present beneath me when I ride it. Rather than flying, I feel a true connection to the road. Due to the manual transmission, acceleration, is not seamless and smooth, but rather visceral and aggressive.


The difference between the two vehicles is drastic, and I am glad I chose to keep the scooter instead of replacing it with a big bike.

The Kymco is perfectly suited to suburban and urban commuting and errand running, while the Honda seems most at home eating up the miles on long rides. I find myself feeling relieved that I chose to go with both a motorbike and a scooter rather than one or the other. Having both gives me the versatility to handle all sorts of different riding situations. It's really quite nice actually.

If you were to ask me which of the two machines is my favorite, I'd have to say that it's too soon to tell. I still feel more at home on the scooter, but the motorcycle is growing on me at a rapid pace. 80 horsepower certainly has an alure all its own.

1 comment:

kz1000st said...

Welcome to the club. I find that if I'm pressed for time I use the bike. It's my Rapid Transit System. Otherwise I use the scooter. The scooter is my adventure vehicle and let's me check out things at a much slower pace. I can't say which is my favorite either, but my motorcycle side is deeper so I still lean more that way. I guess it's the shifting thing.