Thanks everybody! Yep, it really sucks, and I miss the bike every day -- but yeah I am extremely glad that my gear did its job. I had a sore ankle for a few days and that was about the extent of it.
So, what are you riding until the ABS Empulse makes its debut?
A gelato-flavored terrible decision:
MV Agusta Dragster 800.It was kind of interesting process of finding a bike, actually. ABS is NOT that prevalent, yet -- the vast majority of manufacturers seem to put the fancy stuff (ABS, traction control, nice suspension, etc) only on their top-end range of bikes. And because consumers are dumb, that usually means large displacement. It's fascinating how the market is dramatically skewed in two directions: A.) low displacements, made to be as cheap as possible, and B.) high displacements, with all the tech and wizardry. I actually spent a ton of time at Scuderia looking at bikes trying to give them another sale, but they don't really have anything (KTMs/Aprilias) that I'd want for a commuter. Nearly everything they have that has ABS is 1000cc+ and big and heavy. Only exception is really the Duke 690, and the vibration on that thing put my butt to sleep within two miles of riding it.
I was thinking about a Street Triple R -- Triumph is one of the only companies I can think of that puts all the fancy stuff on a middleweight engine bike. Because, I think, they don't have a liter sportbike, so they make the Daytona 675 their flagship. So that and the Street Triple both have ABS and nice suspension and stuff, but it doesn't really push my buttons a ton. I also looked at F800Rs, maybe handlebarring a VFR, and a couple other random ideas, but then I found the MV.
Because MV is weird and/or doesn't seem to care about race classes or something, they put all the fancy stuff on an 800 triple. It's got ABS, traction control, a quickshifter, and it's the only bike that comes close to the Brammo for me in terms of looks and making me feel naughty in my pants. It's a pain in the ass and I hate having to deal with buying gas and heat in traffic and all the other stuff the Empulse spoiled me on, but boy howdy it is pretty damn fun. It is super light and the engine is incredible. Feels like a Street Triple on goddamned PCP. Haha hopefully it should manage to tide me over for a year or two! Also the seating position and ergos are remarkably similar to the Empulse, so it feels somewhat like home. A hotter, shoutier version of home.
Maybe I can bribe Bosch with some schwarzwälder kirschtorte or something to hurry up and throw some ABS over to Oregon.
