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May 26, 2005
Small Bikes
I must confess: I am partial to small bikes.
Big bikes make sense for long distances. Riding from Milan to Rome on a Morini Settebello GTi would be a bummer, unless you wanted to take several days to do it. But it turns out I do not do a lot of long distance riding. At the peak of my riding days, I would ride up into the Marin Headlands or along Skyline Drive between SF and Woodside. For these rides, a 250 or so has enough power to go up the hills, but is not too heavy to push through the turns.
But most riding is done in urban areas. While I do not discount the value of showing off a Ducati MHR or F1 at Duono's Pizza or Alice's Restaurant, small bikes are much more fun to ride in town. This morning, I passed a whole phalanx of cars who were waiting to turn right by using the left-turn lane. I do not think I would have done that on the Morini.
I think 500cc is a nice compromise size: Big enough to take on the occasional long trip, but nimble enough in town. Perhaps a nice Gilera Saturno? Or perhaps its smaller the sibling the Nettuno?
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