My E1 should be here within a couple days, arriving at Scuderia West. I finally reached the revelation that, with an 8-month old baby, I will not be doing rides longer than a few hours anytime soon. It's not that I absolutely positively can't, it's more that on the quality of time continuum, it just doesn't make sense for me. Rather than become just another motorcycling statistic
, I decided I would do make a move to put more quality into those shorter rides, so I sold the Moto Guzzi and ordered an Empulse.
After two long test rides on the R, I feel pretty certain I will be ok with an E1. Taking the R out on the superb twisties around where I live in Southern Marin, I felt it had quite a bit more power than I needed to get my thrill. To me, in that context, and with my riding style, the Empulse was more about the handling and smooth power delivery than it was about reaching any torque limits. And the suspension felt quite good without adjustment.
Once I have the bike I'll of course report back with some E1 v. R observations, and maybe I can get together with ShinySide for a closer comparison test.
Brammo will be happy to hear that the trade in program did factor into my thinking. One of my hesitations about buying at this time was the fear of a forhead-slapping moment if a new, improved Empulse was announced 6 months down the road. If the point of the trade in program was to remove that psychological barrier, in my case it worked.
I didn't initially plan on having both an Enertia Plus and an Empulse, and in the long run I may end up selling the Plus. But I'll try living with them both, first. Might turn out that they are very complementary, and between commuting and weekend rides I could easily put 6-7K annually on each. The financially prudent thing to do would be to sell the Plus, but I like it so much. The Plus is far from thrilling, but its such a functional and easy way to get around.
