CARL HONDA CB500
THIS MONTH I HAVE MOSTLY BEEN… “Stupid and saying goodbye.”
By the time you guys are reading this, my first ‘proper’ road bike will be just a distant memory, as my Honda CB500F will be making the way for a brand spanking new KTM Duke 390. This is all thanks to being capped at A2 insurance-wise, which as a mammoth pain in the ass. It’s not the end of the world though, and although I’m excited beyond all belief to get the little orange weapon and pimp it up; it’s going to bring a tear to my eye when I see the Honda go!
It may not look like the sort of bike you can have a tonne of fun on, but it has been a surprisingly awesome machine. This month she has taught me how to wheelie (not quite stand ups yet though!) which was really confidence boosting as it shows if you try hard enough you can pretty much wheelie anything – and it feels epic. If that wasn’t enough it was also the girlfriend’s very first pillion ride; something which I’m pretty sure she won’t be forgetting for a while. It was the first time I’d ever taken a pillion properly as well, so I thought it was best giving an easy introduction to jumping on a bike before I can strap her in on the back of a thousand!
As you can tell from the bright orange paintwork the little CB’s managed to grab a nice tan from all the sunny days riding; from Box Hill to Horncastle it’s made me realise how great biking really is and made me neglect the car massively, covering as many miles as possible on two wheels. It’s been special for me as it really has ignited my love for road riding, and being so easy has definitely made me a better rider.
If I was going to keep it any longer I definitely would’ve liked to stick some new rubber on and try and squeeze some more power out of the motor, but as that’s not possible I’ll have to leave it up to you guys to try and snazz one up – I’ll make up for it on the Duke!
The future’s bright, the future’s orange. I can’t wait to jump on the KTM and hone all the skills I learnt from the CB, but until then I’ll be giving the Honda a bit more stick before it goes back. If anyone’s got any suggestions for the Duke then throw ‘em my way, but in the meantime it’s all about getting in more mileage under the sunshine.
Oh yeah, BIKES RULE.