One of the porters at work got a Hayabusa 1300, looks like a huge Ninja to me, but supposedly it'll go 180, if you believe what the boys at work say. That begs the question of why one would want to go 180 on a 2-wheeled conveyance.

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2002 Ford ZX2
2 x 2013 Honda Civics

These are designed after race bikes. On a track, with other very accomplished riders, these are probably a lot of work, but very rewarding work.

On the street, there is no safe place to go that fast. A few years ago, I read about a wreck where a Ducati t-boned a car and killed one of the occupants. The rider (and his passenger!) will also killed, of course. The bike was traveling at an excessive speed, and I imagine that the pilot thought he was riding safely.

I've heard a few Harley guys call the crotch-rocket drivers "Organ Donors" 'cause of the stupid crap they do, making the rest of the bike riders look as stupid 'cause of their antics.

Personally, I have no want, nor wish, to even sit on one of those things...they look like they were designed to keep you into/part of the bike in case it should go down...that's OK, I guess, if you're on a race course, but in the real NASTY world of cars, trucks and dumb*ucks, if that bike does go down, you're in the wrong position to separate yourself from that bike. Your body is almost a form of the bike itself, and that bike is now a skid-plate for the dumbass' car/truck that just hit you...you're riding until numbnuts finally figures out how he can stop his ride. Nope, I want a really easy out when I see trouble coming down the street...

And, even if nothing does happen, the ride doesn't look too comfortable for long trips.

I'll stick with the my old Yamaha 650. At least with that beast, I'm in a more upright position and I can see, and hear, my surroundings a little bit better.

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M. G. Burg
'10 - Dakota SXT - Daily Ride / ≈ 172.5K
.'76 - 450SLC - 107.024.12 / < .89.20 K
..'77 - 280E - 123.033.12 / > 128.20 K
...'67 - El Camino - 283ci / > 207.00 K
....'75 - Yamaha - 650XS / < 21.00 K
.....'87 - G20 Sportvan / > 206.00 K
......'85 - 4WINNS 160 I.O. / 140hp
.......'74 - Honda CT70 / Real 125
.
“I didn’t really say everything I said.”
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~ Yogi Berra ~

I got my MC license when I was 18, after having a moped at 15, drivers license at 17 and did a lot of driving compared to most other people in my class.
I also had a job delivering for a pharmacy, so had extra time on the road compared to others my age.

My first bike was a CL360, then later on up to a CB500, now I've got the (roughly1000cc) K100.
There was only one stretch of 3 years when I didn't ride often in over 20 years.

In order to be as safe as possible, you have to really be "one" with whatever motorcycle it is. That takes a lot of time both on roads with no one around and also in parking lots.
My dad has a K1200LT. I use it once in a while, but when I get off it and go to my K100, there's a serious adjustment period that just isn't the case compared to switching to a different car. It doesn't last long, but the adjustment period is there.

Pilots here understand the same thing, where there could be two nearly identical airplanes, but they're each just a little different. Unless you know that airplane you're in, you're not quite as comfortable.

Add to all of that experience and comfort the requirement to deal with being on the road with people on cell phones in gigantic SUVs drifting into your lane, running red lights, and for whatever reason, not recognizing you as a legitimate vehicle.
Often, that lack of recognition is not intentional, just that they're only looking for car-sized things on the road. That's important to understand.

Whenever you ride, assume you're invisible. Always know what's around you and also what's moving around you.

Whenever and wherever you are, always, always, have in your mind where you are going to put this bike and you to get you safe.

If not you and the bike, where will you dump the bike and where will you go?

Sometimes that may mean a quick acceleration and to the side of the road, or into a nearby driveway, or even right on the center line area of the road, places where you would never think to put a car, but where a properly controlled motorcycle could go in a pinch and be out of harms way.

Ride with someone with at least 3 or 4 years of accident free riding experience while you learn. You may have a MC licence, but that's just a license to learn.

Make use of extra lights. Buy a louder horn. Occasionally weave a little to make sure people see you front and back, and also that they hopefully back away. People tailgate way too much.

At least one car length for every 10mph you're traveling is how far you should
be back from anyone in front of you and the same for the folks behind you.

I'll occassionally slow down a little and wave my hand to signal to folks too close to back off. It usually works. If not, I let the jerk pass. Life's too short as it is.

A lot of people don't understand the laws of physics. Funny how those laws are so important, never change, yet people will travel behind you at a car length or less and at any speed.


Look at other drivers. Do they see you? Do your best to make sure, even if you have to 'play around' a little on the road to do it.


It takes a lot more concentration, knowledge of what your machine can do, the ability to make it do what you want it to do instantly, and a certain knowledge in the back of your mind that you could die very easily at the neglect of someone else, compared to being in a steel cage.

Know how to ride in the rain before you are surprised one day.

Understand that roads are slickest, much more than you might think, especially on a bike, at the start of a rain when mixed with the oil from the cars when the road was dry.
In the rain, stay off those painted road lines. Jeepers.

In the winter, I wait until a nice rain washes away the salt they insist on coating the roads with here.

If you haven't ridden in a while, don't just jump on a bike and go.
Have you ever been on a long trip where you didn't drive for a week or more and then you get back and driving is a little weird, just even for a couple of minutes?

Same thing with a bike, but the odds are further against you being safe until you are back to being one with the bike.

All that being said, I love riding my motorcycle, and aside from some really cold weeks in the winter, I make great use of it.

Unfortunately, my bike does use premium fuel. I guess there has to be a downside.

__________________
85' 300D No inspection, No registration fees, Cheap insurance
"If my calculations are correct, when this baby hits 88 miles per hour, you're going to see some serious %$&^."

Those Cafe racer bikes are pretty neat. If I ever chose to get a bike I would of course take all the classes possible and get a cafe racer. I kinda prefer the european bikes, from the british touring bikes to the italian racers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RdbSYKFJ1s&mode=related&search=

If I ever got a bike it would be one of these, they sound so cool! Much deeper then a lot of sport bikes.

Here is a nice slow starter bike!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwieel03c-w&mode=related&search=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3GZBH78BUE&mode=related&search=

So at 500hp thats about 1 per pound?

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2016 Corvette Stingray 2LT
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

When I was a kid in New Mexico, the law was you could get a scooter license at 13 (?!?). Law said 5 hp or less which was about what a Honda 50 had. But they never checked on it. I managed to talk my dad into buying me a Suzuki 150 (16 hp), twin cylinder, at age 14, which made me the big man at Jr. High, where everything else was single cylinder.

A few months later, an older lady didn't see me and blew through a yield sign, breaking my leg and scratching me up pretty good. I'm lucky as hell I didn't suffer worse. I used to do some crazy stuff on it. Like lying down on the seat to see how fast I could go. I got it up to 70 once, with semis roaring by, me lying down on the seat with my face up by the handlebars.

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Te futueo et caballum tuum

1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

Well, I just rode my motorcycle from Connecticut, down to Key West Florida, and back up to Connecticut with a few stops for a few days each along the way. That's what I've been doing for the past three weeks, and why you guys haven't heard much from me. Anyways, It was all uneventful, and the only thing that hurt was the hail storms I drove through, in the Carolinas last week along the way. I wear no helmet, (even in the states that require it) and nothing more than regular clothes. I had a bunch of hot days I wore sandals, shorts, and a short-sleeve shirt while riding and even a few shirtless days. Lotta fun, but defensive driving is the key. Just expect the unexpected, be very aware of all of your surroundings, all of time, and have fun. I've been riding for some years now, and have had a few mishaps, but basically been un-scathed. I used my 1998 Kawasaki Vulcan 1500 Classic, for the trip. I have two Harleys as well, but one is a chopper, and not made for long trips, and the other is a brand new 2007 Screamin' Eagle Fat-Boy. It's still reading all zeros acroos the odometer, and it hasn't shown me it can be reliable yet. New Harleys come with lots of factory installed "Bugs". I just didn't want to get stranded, or cooked in the sun, on the air cooled bike in traffic. I went ona huge bike run down in Charleston, South Carolina two weeks ago, called the "Eight Bridges run" Lotta bikes, people, and police escorts. There were around 3000 bikes in the run, and it was almost 60 miles around the area of Charleston. Police did a great job with blocking streets, and clearing paths for us..

^ nut

cmac2012 & truckinik reminded me of one REALLY DUMB run I did with my first bike - a '72 Honda 175XL. I had it "geared" for highway running, four teeth extra on the gear-box sprocket and 10 extra teeth on the rear...it kept up with traffic (75-80 mph with no problems) but back then (1977) the law was 55 and no more...

Anyways, 4th of July, left Oshkosh to head down to Milwaukee and Summerfest...75° at 0930, only to get warmer...(Or so I thought...). Biking wear that day...sandals, shorts, t-shirt and helmet.

Got to Milwaukee, no problem, parking was a breeze and the air was heavy with ethnic food and the music was great.

Along came 7PM and a cold front...temps shot down to 62° but no rain or wind...I thought "Hmmm, I think I can handle this..."

WRONG!

Got on the bike...wind chill, with 5hit for clothing, had to be about 45° at highway speed. So, I laid out flat on the bike, chin resting on the cross-over bar on the handlebar, face-shield right over the speedometer (under my nose), my chest resting on the gas tank, and my legs draped over the rear turn signals. I had my arms on the same plane with my hands on the handle-bars and tried to make myself as "small as possible" for wind-resistance.

All was going fine until I looked over to my left and I saw a WI. ST. Trooper car and driver. At THAT TIME, I looked down and saw that I was just dropping below 70 MPH on the meter.

I'm dead, frozen, meat...

I reduce speed, sit up in the proper stance, pull over and onto the stones.

The trooper gets out of his car, then orders me into the passenger side of his.

GOD! Was I happy to be in something warm.

He takes my license then procedes to tell me that it took him 4-5 miles to catch up to me. He also said something about "...NO ONE WAS ON THE DAMN BIKE..." or something to that effect...I couldn't tell...my teeth were chattering too much. He wanted to know what size engine is REALLY on the bike 'cause he says he's never chased anyone for that long with such a little displacement.

I told him what I did with the gearing. He actually went out and counted the teeth on the rear sprocket. He also checked the VIN and displacement castings on the motor itself.

He came back, chastised me for laying out on the bike, but admitted that he'd have been doing the same thing (I think he was giving me that "nudge-nudge-wink-wink thing), then he wrote me up for only 9 over (64 in a 55).

If I remember correctly, that fine was about $61.00...talk about the good ol' days!

Anyways, I put the ticket in that tiny little pocket of my shorts, put my blue @$$ back on the bike, then when his lights turned off the highway, I laid back flat and this time, paid a bit more attention to the damn speed.

I kept that bike 'til '83, then I sold it for about $400.00, $100.00 more than I paid for it originally.

With the price of gas right now, I'd pay $1,200.00 to have it back!

__________________

M. G. Burg
'10 - Dakota SXT - Daily Ride / ≈ 172.5K
.'76 - 450SLC - 107.024.12 / < .89.20 K
..'77 - 280E - 123.033.12 / > 128.20 K
...'67 - El Camino - 283ci / > 207.00 K
....'75 - Yamaha - 650XS / < 21.00 K
.....'87 - G20 Sportvan / > 206.00 K
......'85 - 4WINNS 160 I.O. / 140hp
.......'74 - Honda CT70 / Real 125
.
“I didn’t really say everything I said.”
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~ Yogi Berra ~

I can see how from a bit of a distance behind, it might look like there was no rider.

That's the exact pose I used to do. I knew a guy late 20s probably in our church who had one of the old Suzuki X-6s. This was around '66 or '67. The X-6 was quite the item of the day. Only a 250 but amazingly fast with a 6 speed gearbox. We used to do the speed layout posture on the highway outside of Roswell, NM. He'd let me drive his now and then. Hell, it might as well have been a rocket in my experience.

One time, a friend of mine and I went to a dance on the other side of town - 5 to 10 miles, on my Suzuki. Coming home, it had to be around freezing -- I had some good gloves but my hands were almost useless by the time we got home. God it's a miracle I survived it all.

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Te futueo et caballum tuum

1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

Dude, I hope you never have serious cause to regret your protective gear choices. Once on a BSA 441 Victor (single cylinder) I had in the early 70s, I was going around a corner and hit a patch of sand or something that was hardly visible. I was wearing boots and slamming my foot onto the road was all that kept me from wiping out. I'd a hate to have been wearing sandals at that point in time. I could see them and some of the soles of one's feet getting ripped off in a hurry.

Too many zoned out, clueless drivers out there. Look what happened to Roethlisberger. Lady just did not see him and turned right into him. Some stuff happens so fast there's nothing you can do.

__________________
Te futueo et caballum tuum

1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K