Right now I'm spending my last day here in Nashville, TN visiting some friends at Vanderbilt. One of my friends just bought a 1991 Honda CBR600 F2 and asked if I'd like to get a feel for the bike (in preparation for the hopeful purchase of a bike in the future).

I rode the bike around the parking lot for about 10 minutes in first gear, just to feel the bike--learn how sensitive the throttle is, feel the clutch, brakes, how the bike turns, etc. After I felt comfortable, I drove the bike down a road adjacent to the parking lot that was for all intents and purposes, empty.

I gave it what seemed like almost no throttle, felt like the bike was going to fly forward leaving me on my ass, but I held on for dear life, upshifted and got up to 70. This all felt like 2 seconds. I couldn't believe how amazingly fast this thing was. It made the M coupe feel like a 1982 Dodge Aries. After that initial scare and my heart rate doubling, I just cruised around to get the feel of a sport bike on the road and called it quits for the day.

It is definitely a good idea to take this whole thing (getting a motorcycle, etc.) very, very slowly.

-Ben FR