The beginning of the end for me and my 'rauder
I feel kind of sad. Tonight I took my Marauder out for a spin. I haven't really ridden it since I got my BMW in December. I wanted to make sure it was going to run OK after sitting for so long. My little buddy fired up on the second try and only took a minute to warm up to the point I could push the choke in despite the cool temperature outside.
I didn't plan on riding further than around the block, but I went much further. Full face helmet, my summer gloves on a winter night, a non-motorcycle leather jacket, jeans and my usual riding boots felt like nothing compared to my usual three quarter length BMW jacket with its kevlar skin, armor with back protector and my usual armored overpants. As I shifted up through the gears I felt a bit of that cruiser mystique kicking in. The wind pushing against my chest as I accelerated, the low center of gravity, that feeling of rushing forward on a bike with no windshield, no dash, no fairings, just you and the road. For a moment I began to wonder if I'd missed something in the year plus I rode the Marauder everyday. By putting on a windshield, saddlebags, a trunk, had I taken away the bike's true identity? Had I shortchanged myself and missed the true American riding experience?
Then I realized how cold I was.
The wind pushing against my body was a great ab workout but was becoming tiresome pretty quickly. I reversed direction. As I came back into my neighborhood I also realized how much I'd already forgotten about the bike. My turns, my lane positioning, my poise, once perfected on the bike was now sloppy at best. I fumbled with the turn signal, spoiled by the BMW's big turn signal paddles, accidentally hit the horn and tried to use the starter button to signal a right turn twice. I began to notice how huge that front tire is and how much you have to countersteer it and how much more work it was to corner than the RT. I kept trying to tuck my feet up under me onto the pegs same as on the RT but the Marauder pegs are way forward so I kept finding myself flailing my feet around looking for the peg, then stepping on the rear brake accidentally as I found it. Fortunately the rear drum isn't very powerful. As I pulled the bike into the garage I realized that there really isn't enough room in my head for mastery of two very different bikes. I sadly acknowleged that while the cruiser and me had had our moments I would never go back for real and if I kept the bike I'd just be kidding myself.
Looking back I understand riding the Marauder was an excellent learning experience for me. The cruiser ergos and huge front tire ensured that I mastered countersteering because there was no way the bike would turn without serious concious effort. The Marauder could give me that oh-no-I'm-going-too-fast-in-this-corner-I'm-going-to-hit-the-guardrail feeling that the RT makes go away with a tiny steering input. The bike demanded you understand what a delayed apex was if you wanted to take a corner quickly. The 800cc engine delivers power in a smooth and linear fashion, it never really got away from me even when I got stupid. The low cg and seat height gave me confidence in nearly every situation. For me it was the perfect learning bike. Powerful enough to commute with ease on the freeway everyday but not powerful enough to allow me to kill myself, despite my best efforts.
So now the time comes to part ways with my baby, my first bike. In some ways I wish I could keep it, but the reality is I can't imagine ever taking it out over the RT and with its retail value still hovering around $3000 its just too much money (and garage space) to have wasting away. Over the holidays I pulled the windshield and the trunk off it. I've cleaned it twice, even polished the chrome and it hasn't seen rain since I quit riding it to work. Tomorrow I'm going to take it to an empty parking lot and meet up with a buddy of mine from work who is thinking about getting into riding and is considering buying the Marauder. I'm going to give him a little mini MSF so he can see if riding in general, and this bike specifically, might be for him. Normally I wouldn't do this but this is someone I've worked with for five years and I trust.
I like to think that if I could go back to that night in October when I bought my Marauder that even knowing everything I know about motorcycles now (which is 1000x than I knew then) I would still buy the Marauder. After all, who can resist a Harley that is made in Japan, costs $10k less, doesn't make your ears bleed or you body parts vibrate off and is probably faster to boot!
I didn't plan on riding further than around the block, but I went much further. Full face helmet, my summer gloves on a winter night, a non-motorcycle leather jacket, jeans and my usual riding boots felt like nothing compared to my usual three quarter length BMW jacket with its kevlar skin, armor with back protector and my usual armored overpants. As I shifted up through the gears I felt a bit of that cruiser mystique kicking in. The wind pushing against my chest as I accelerated, the low center of gravity, that feeling of rushing forward on a bike with no windshield, no dash, no fairings, just you and the road. For a moment I began to wonder if I'd missed something in the year plus I rode the Marauder everyday. By putting on a windshield, saddlebags, a trunk, had I taken away the bike's true identity? Had I shortchanged myself and missed the true American riding experience?
Then I realized how cold I was.
The wind pushing against my body was a great ab workout but was becoming tiresome pretty quickly. I reversed direction. As I came back into my neighborhood I also realized how much I'd already forgotten about the bike. My turns, my lane positioning, my poise, once perfected on the bike was now sloppy at best. I fumbled with the turn signal, spoiled by the BMW's big turn signal paddles, accidentally hit the horn and tried to use the starter button to signal a right turn twice. I began to notice how huge that front tire is and how much you have to countersteer it and how much more work it was to corner than the RT. I kept trying to tuck my feet up under me onto the pegs same as on the RT but the Marauder pegs are way forward so I kept finding myself flailing my feet around looking for the peg, then stepping on the rear brake accidentally as I found it. Fortunately the rear drum isn't very powerful. As I pulled the bike into the garage I realized that there really isn't enough room in my head for mastery of two very different bikes. I sadly acknowleged that while the cruiser and me had had our moments I would never go back for real and if I kept the bike I'd just be kidding myself.
Looking back I understand riding the Marauder was an excellent learning experience for me. The cruiser ergos and huge front tire ensured that I mastered countersteering because there was no way the bike would turn without serious concious effort. The Marauder could give me that oh-no-I'm-going-too-fast-in-this-corner-I'm-going-to-hit-the-guardrail feeling that the RT makes go away with a tiny steering input. The bike demanded you understand what a delayed apex was if you wanted to take a corner quickly. The 800cc engine delivers power in a smooth and linear fashion, it never really got away from me even when I got stupid. The low cg and seat height gave me confidence in nearly every situation. For me it was the perfect learning bike. Powerful enough to commute with ease on the freeway everyday but not powerful enough to allow me to kill myself, despite my best efforts.
So now the time comes to part ways with my baby, my first bike. In some ways I wish I could keep it, but the reality is I can't imagine ever taking it out over the RT and with its retail value still hovering around $3000 its just too much money (and garage space) to have wasting away. Over the holidays I pulled the windshield and the trunk off it. I've cleaned it twice, even polished the chrome and it hasn't seen rain since I quit riding it to work. Tomorrow I'm going to take it to an empty parking lot and meet up with a buddy of mine from work who is thinking about getting into riding and is considering buying the Marauder. I'm going to give him a little mini MSF so he can see if riding in general, and this bike specifically, might be for him. Normally I wouldn't do this but this is someone I've worked with for five years and I trust.
I like to think that if I could go back to that night in October when I bought my Marauder that even knowing everything I know about motorcycles now (which is 1000x than I knew then) I would still buy the Marauder. After all, who can resist a Harley that is made in Japan, costs $10k less, doesn't make your ears bleed or you body parts vibrate off and is probably faster to boot!
posted by David at
7:50 AM
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