Trip to Poděbrady
Мотопутешествия
In July 2023, I finally extended my driver's license to category A. An attempt the previous year was unsuccessful due to a poor choice of motorcycle school. But this year I managed to find a good motorcycle school with an excellent teacher. As a result, they explained to me where my mistakes were, I was able to ride motorcycles of various powers and successfully passed the exam, not without errors, but I passed.
In this post I will tell you more about the motorcycle and why it was chosen than about the town of Poděbrady itself. Because the town is a completely ordinary Czech town. But I will also write a few words about the town and why I went there.
My first motorcycle - Honda CBF 1000
And now to the motorcycle. As a result, a month and a half after receiving my license, I purchased a Honda CBF 1000 motorcycle. Look at this handsome metallic blue one.
Motorcycle selection
I was originally looking to buy a new motorcycle and was thinking about getting either a Kawasaki Vulcan S650 or a Kawasaki Versys 650. Essentially one of the bikes is a road cruiser and the other is a burly touring bike. And the cost of new ones is not particularly high compared to other motorcycles. Of course, ideally I would like to buy a Harley Davidson, but what can you do, the new ones are too expensive, and the old ones are too old. Also, after a discussion with friends, I decided that at the beginning I could buy some old motorcycle, just to get used to motorcycle travel, in fact, it was for this that I wanted to buy a motorcycle.
After some searching for a motorcycle on a Czech motorcycle site, I settled on just a few motorcycles.
In general, the choice of motorcycles in itself was not very large, because sometimes it is enough to set sufficiently accurate search parameters and there are only a few models and brands to choose from. However, this can be said in general about any choice of any product. When you know what you want approximately, and you know your possible budget, then there is nothing special to choose from.
It happened here as well, I had 5-6 motorcycles to choose from, of varying degrees of deterioration and with a run of 60-100 percent of the estimated budget. As a result, the first viewing of the motorcycle and the signed contract of sale.
The motorcycle turned out to be quite successful, and contained all the equipment I needed: panniers, heated handlebars, ABS, phone holder, USB connectors. It is clear that the motorcycle was taken for long journeys. However, he has a solid driving record since 2006 - 92,000 km. But they say that the Honda CBF engine, with proper care, runs for a very long time. So I'm not worried about that. Maybe I'll just replace the phone holder with one that supports wireless charging. It will definitely be more convenient than what we have now. I don't want to mess with the cable on the steering wheel.
Impressions from the motorcycle
Many people have already told me to be careful on this liter sports tourer. Obviously, this is due to the fact that when you learn and ride some crazy minibike with an engine capacity of 50 cubic centimeters, you get used to pressing the throttle all the way at the start, otherwise it simply won’t go. And when you switch to a powerful motorcycle, such a habit can become fatal. Fortunately, I haven’t developed such a habit. Therefore, the motorcycle suited my riding style. It's nice when you just put your hand on the gas handle and the motorcycle is already moving.
This is my initial impression of the Honda CBF 1000.
Trip to Podebrady
Why did I choose this city for my trip? It’s just convenient if you leave my house, almost immediately get on the highway and drive strictly east, and then back to the west. And the distance of 50 km one way is good for the first ride on the first motorcycle.
The town of Poděbrady itself is often the home of students who come to study in the Czech Republic and take Czech language courses there before entering universities. Otherwise, it’s quite an ordinary Czech city. To be honest, I did not stop there and see the sights, I just ate ice cream in the main square, looked at the bikes of other motorcyclists who paused on the road, and drove back home.
