The weather has been wet over the past two months, so I haven’t been taking my bike out that much. However, when the weather is good, I have taken the time to get out of the city, and ride the SDR. Whenever I get the chance, and the weather permits, I take my bike on the Beiyi Road to Yilan. It’s one of the more challenging roads that near the city.
I went to Miaoli on a group ride on a weekend that I was free. The riding was good, and to make things different, I stayed with the group the whole time. I was back home by 3PM. I also went to Sanmin on the 7 a few times, past Sanxia. It’s not that far, and the mountain road is interesting. I have some time off for CNY, and I’ll probably end up riding south for a few days. Kenting and the east coast of Taiwan are very nice, even at this time of year. I’m hoping that by the end of January it’ll really be nice and warm.
I meant to spend some time in Dulan, near Taidong, and Kenting. I also want to swing back around to Taichung and visit Sun Moon Lake properly. The last time I went, I was only there for 30 minutes or so, when night was falling, so I didn’t really get to explore the area.
The dashboard display on my bike has been a bit finicky. They are replacing it, since it’s on warranty. My neighbor got the Rotobox carbon fiber wheels I want to get as well. He overpaid for them though, as I have seen them for a lot cheaper. He also got them painted and stickered ($400US). I guess I’m more focused on my second bike. It’s down to a Yamaha Tmax or a Honda NC750 DCT. It’ll probably be the Honda. I can ride that anywhere and it’ll replace my scooter. There are many reasons that make the Honda a better bike than the Tmax. It’s got gears, a chain, and is basically an automatic motorcycle. The Tmax is still a scooter, so it’ll have the same problems than smaller scooters. We’ll see. I want to test ride both before making up my mind.
I recently saw that the Ducati Panigale 1200S costs $24,000 US more than a BMW S1000RR. That’s crazy! Those prices are in Taiwan. The S1000RR costs $30,000 US here, so if I am getting a super sport, it’ll be a BMW. That’s $7,000 US less than the R1200GSA. I think the GSA is a really nice bike, but it’s very expensive, big, and I’m not sure if I would want to ride it everywhere. I mean to replace my daily scooter with the Honda. It would also be great to go with a passenger, since the SDR is uncomfortable after an hour or so.
The Super Duke is a great bike. It’s well balanced, it’s got lots of power, it’s nimble, and easy to ride. There’s lots of room for riders like me to improve on a bike like this. Again, the vibrations on the handlebars get painful after a few hours. Other than wanting a full titanium exhaust, there are no problems with this bike. Also, the lack of fairings keeps you from going at stupid speeds for a long time. It gets very uncomfortable because of the wind close to 200kph. In order to go higher than that, you need to be on a road with no wind.
memoirs on a rainy day 
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