That's similar to what my brother has, he got his about a month ago.
About a week after he got it, he was hit from behind by a guy in a truck not paying attention even though my brother was turning to the right into a driveway, had his signal on and everything. The guy simply ran up on him and clipped the handlebars with the truck's mirror when he finally realized what was up and tried to miss him by going right - The same place my brother was going and that's how he got clipped. Didn't do alot of damage to the bike and although my brother was bruised and scraped up somewhat, nothing was broken or really serious at least.
I'm currently riding a 03 Honda Shadow 750 ACE and it's actually been a very reliable ride. I haven't had to do much of anything to it since I got it about 4 yrs ago except for tires and oil changes but right now it's due for the valves to be adjusted and an overall check-it-over inspection. Still runs great and has plenty of power for cruising but obviously it's not a rice-rocket so no high revving here.
An older guy (Vietnam vet) I know that's rode bikes for years told me that the Hondas have the best ride overall, the HD's will by their nature "Beat you to death" in comparison.
He said he's owned a great many over the years and in his experience with most anything you can name related to cruisers the Hondas simply ride better.
I do want my next bike to be an HD but for now the Shadow will do and looks like with proper care it will be around for the next several years at least. I have seen where guys have rode these over 100,000 miles with no major problems and they say those bikes still run well but proper care is key to it all and that goes for anything you know. That's the plan here since anyhting you get isn't free and it just makes sense to take proper care of your ride anyway.
As for knee problems, in my case I wasn't sure how the knee problems I was having would affect my riding but after the operation was done and riding season came back around, I've noted no difference in my ability to ride at all when I took it out for a ride earlier.
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