before i got my own bike i used to rent bikes. the local harley dealer will rent you a new harley for about 120 a day. then i decided to get my own bike. in 5 years i drove it less than 2000 miles. it mostly gathered dust in my garage. sold it 2 weeks ago.
Probably a better decision, the rush dies quickly, and you are looking for more and more speed, which is inevitably a deathtrap at some point. There are only two things which have shaken me in life, one was my bike, the other was white water rafting, where our boat went under, and i lost the boat cause i drifted to far, by the time i hit land i had to crawl on to shore cause i damn near drown, and i was completely out of energy. If you are looking for a rush, and live in calgary(which you have said you do, i think) and are somewhat of an able skiier try heli skiing, it is an unreal rush going down fresh powder which is untouched by anyone, they took me to a spot where i could drop in and it was all powder, no cliffs, just mountain, it was unreal. Proably the best experience of my life, it took me and my buddies close to 5 hours just to get down the mountain, and i never felt like i was on the verge of dying the entire way down, lol. We stopped many times down the slope to just enjoy the scenery. They didnt drop us in on double blackdiamond type stuff just nice powder, you just need to be somewhat of an able skiier, if you can do green diamond you could do this stuff.
get the new ducati monster, or ducati streetfighter, both absolutely fantastic, they're comfortable (reasonably) and they're great for cruising or for real fun.
A shovel? I keep one in the basement. On a more serious note I had a cruiser until last summer. Really enjoyed riding out in the countryside. Hated riding in traffic amongst shit for brains blind morons always trying to run me over. Bought an imported Mazda 20B engine with the proceeds. I figure a spectacular plane crash will at least make the local news. Yet another motorcycle crash, pfffft who cares?
Lucrum has the right idea, put that motor in something that will send you places...that you can't go on tarmac. Once you have flown, it's something you cannot replicate on the ground. Who needs a crotch rocket, I survived a couple of near-fatal travesties of road rules on a KLR 250, numerous others in an actual car. I'm still here, but I don't much like the idea pro-actively placing my body in the direct path of newtonian physics.