Honda Hurricane

This bike was very well-engineered. It immediately made the old 1983 Suzuki GS1100E seem crude and slow. I rode them back-to-back and was able to compare them for a few weeks until I sold the 1100E in the spring of 1989. The Hurricane was very smooth, quiet and strong. But the small front wheel (16 inches) and overly responsive steering made it less suitable for the kind of riding I enjoyed when not persuing a performance experience. The bike just wanted to accelerate all the time. There was a bit of carburetor unevenness on trailing throttle.

It also had a wide turning radius because of the low bars which made slow speed maneuvers awkward. Not only that, it rolled off the sidestand on me twice while stopping to get gas. No damage, but that was a constant risk. The only mechanical blip was leaking coolant from a missing water pump cover screw. Trivial.

I never fell in love this bike and realized that I ride to have a feeling of passion and not mere practicality. So I decided to try something else. I sold it in June of the first season of riding for $175 more than I had paid for it the previous Sept. I went bikeless from then until November while searching out another bike until finding the 1988 Katana 1100. This was the first time I was bikeless in 18 years of motorcycling.