[TennesseeSmith]

When I was in West Virginia on the Trophy last month, I picked up some lottery tickets. I won $2.

So today I rode the CTX to West Virginia and collected my $2.

This was a beautiful day. I was out from 8 until 6. I rode about 350 miles, very little of it on the highway. Almost the whole trip was on curvy two lane roads. The weather was perfect and the traffic was light.

This was one of the most pleasant all day rides I've ever done. This was the first long ride I've done since I got the week of vacation earlier this month. I was under no time constraints and the cell phone was locked in the saddle bag, so the ride was free of stress.

 

[sleepngbear]

I lived in WV for a year, and there were some great places to ride down there. I had a '95 Shadow 1100 at the time -- in fact I bought it down there. I had some of the best solo, solitary, head-clearing rides that season.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[MarkH]

My ride today was only 210 miles, but I also enjoyed low-stress, care-free, highway-minimized, beautiful weather riding. I found it interesting how I mentally settled into the CTX and was comfortable just allowing the ride to happen. The smooth addictive speed of my former Tiger 800 would have demanded, and most likelyreceived, more active participation from me, but on a day like this that's not a good thing. I'll be taking the CTX on a 2-week tour in July, so today's experience bodes well for that.

 

[sleepngbear]

Mark, is it just me, or does the CTX seem to 'demand' such low-stress riding? Especially since adding this windshield -- it's just sit back, point, and enjoy the ride, probably more so than any other bike I've owned. It's not that I didn't enjoy the others ... I'm just enjoying this one more.

 

[MarkH]

Ed, I think some days it's "demands" and other days it's "encouraged". Rider magazine touches on this, too:

"Unlike today’s velvet-hammer sport tourers, whose performance has the uncanny ability to turn epic scenery into a forgettable blur, the CTX1300 encourages a more leisurely pace, one that emphasizes smoothness, fuel efficiency and smelling the proverbial roses. You can do the ton on the CTX, but that misses the point. It has a relaxed, all-day riding position and barely a tingle of engine vibration reaches the rider."

 

[flytrap]

I noticed the same thing yesterday. The tune of the engine encourages that 3k-4k rpm range so you get it there and let the torque move you along. I moved through heavy traffic and just left it in 5th gear pretty much all the time. I think that was plan.