This is a little wordy, so if you don't want to hear the whole story, you can jump down to the Second Post where it's all about the bike.

I left work a little early at 3:00pm in the South Silicon Valley, jumped in my smart car and got on Highway 5, headed to Southern California, specifically Huntington Beach, to meet up with a gentleman who was renting out his 2013 Honda F6B. $129 a day, and as little as $59 a day for longer terms. I found him on Craigslist while searching for information on the F6B. I currently ride a 2003 Honda ST1100P. It’s an ex-police bike from Pasadena that I came across on auction and couldn’t pass it up. But you see, there is a 2016 Honda F6B sitting at my local Honda Dealer, and every time I walk past, it calls out to me. New, these bikes list for $21K, but there are deals to be had in the $16K to $17K ranges on new inventory, if you’re willing to travel a bit. Either way, I am not going to base a $20K decision on a 10-minute dealer demo ride. So when I found this bike was available for rental by the day… I was in.

I went to the Rental Website (www.Riders-Share.com), looked up that particular bike (there were about 20 bikes of differing types available), clicked on the button to schedule a rental, and was instructed to log-in using my Facebook account. No other options… just my Facebook account. Problem one. I don’t have a Facebook account, I don’t want a Facebook account, and I shouldn’t need a Facebook account. I contacted the bikes owner, through the Craigslist ad, and was told that Riders-Share was a startup internet company and they use Facebook as part of their authentication process, it was currently the only option. I explained that this was of no interest to me, and many other people in my demographic, but that I was happy to provide any information needed to get this ride underway. To make a long story short, over the next two nights I went through a process of background checks, information gathering, and probably even credit check. I worked with the owner of the Riders-Share website on some “confirmation” issues and eventually secured my ride date. Friday, September 23rd, 2016. I would leave the night before, stay in a local hotel, wake up fresh and meet up with the bike and its owner Friday morning.

We (the bikes owner and I) talked by email back and forth, I spent the night at the Super 8 Motel just down the road a mile or so, and showed up at his place, 7:00am, bright and early. He was a nice guy, old enough to own and respect such a bike, and this was “his” bike… not just some bar-coded rental machine parked in space E47 out in a sea of similarly equipped fleet purchases. He went over a checklist, not so much about vehicle condition, as it was about all the factory functions and added features that he had bestowed the bike with. I admitted to him that I had downloaded the Honda F6B Owner’s Manual and familiarized myself with most of the features and functions a few days before.

I brought all my own gear, Jacket, Gloves, Helmet, Shoes, etc. And his right-side saddlebag had much of the necessary roadside emergency needs, Glass Cleaner, First Aid Kit, Tire Repair and Compressor, etc. I pushed the bike back out of his garage and headed West on Beach Street toward the coast, made a Left turn on Highway 1 (PCH, The Pacific Coast Highway), and began to familiarize myself with the ride. My intent was to stop for breakfast somewhere and then head down toward San Diego where I had lived for about 7 years in my youth.

I couldn’t stop. I was so enthralled with this machine, that for the next 4-1/2 hours, I only stopped a few times to take pictures and message them back to my wife and family. In fact it was so comfortable that the first three times I stopped… I never even got off the bike to stretch my legs... I just sat there taking pictures.

So you probably don’t want a recap of all of my “vacation slides,” you just want to hear about my experience with the bike…
Due to limitations in the forum software, I’ll cut to the chase in the next post...