Go Run You Guzzi up to 90mph, you’ll live longer

[Gliderjohn]

Way back in the late 70s on an interstate (55mph days) I got caught behind two original VW bugs for several miles with one trying to pass the other. Like a slow motion drag race.
GliderJohn

[M0T0Geezer]

Many insist that the "safest" speed is to match whatever velocity your fellow travelers are running. 

The worst thing is to get rammed from behind (no sexual innuendo intended).

Travelers on I-17 between Phoenix and Flagstaff typically run 85 mph (135 kph) through the steep and curvy blacktop..

I was out on I-17 yesterday on my sweet Norgy. so I made sure to go 85 mph on the GPS (93 on the speedo).  Yes, I was sober as a judge  and the experience was at once calming and exciting.  The bike loved it too.

I forgive her all her trespasses...

[wirespokes]

From what I've read - running a little faster than the flow is safest. However, that would make me the target, so go with the average and try to keep space around me with an escape path.

When I go to eastern OR I'll usually wick it up for a bit, get it out of my system, then settle into a comfortable pace. There's so much wide open space it can get boring putting along. Even the locals fly along ignoring the limits. I think the cops don't bother you unless you're being stupid - no one has the time for dawdling with the great distances between towns.

I think those of us in the midwest and the west might have different riding habits than those back east. When I'm on the twisty back roads I'm like you slow guys - forty and fifty can seem pretty fast at times. Speed depends on the territory and visibility.

[LowRyter]

.....you gotta be going faster than the stream to navigate.

Someone told me that.

[John A]

I got out today, didn’t make it much past 65.  4K rpm is 60 mph by gps in 5th the way it’s geared with the sidecar. About right but could use a granny gear.

[Gliderjohn]

For those that think the speed thing is not good. Okay, overall not as safe as not going faster but geez...a motorcycle is for fun and adding spice to life for most of us. Careful and judicious speeding with a well maintained bike has minimal risks in the scheme of life. It makes me feel alive. One of the joys of life. You either just exist or you live, ones own choice.
GliderJohn

[SmithSwede]

For those that think the speed thing is not good. Okay, overall not as safe as not going faster but geez...a motorcycle is for fun and adding spice to life for most of us. Careful and judicious speeding with a well maintained bike has minimal risks in the scheme of life. It makes me feel alive. One of the joys of life. You either just exist or you live, ones own choice.
GliderJohn

Well said.   

There is a reason I don’t commute in a Prius. 

These two wheeled contraptions may well kill me one day, but I’m going to enjoy life with the d*mn things in the meantime.   

One of the most profound things I ever heard about motorcycles was the response to the claim that they are dangerous and could kill you.   The response was: “No, you don’t understand.  They have saved my life many times.”

[Gliderjohn]

From SmithSwede:

“No, you don’t understand.  They have saved my life many times.”

Where is that "like" button?
GliderJohn

[wirespokes]

“No, you don’t understand.  They have saved my life many times.”
[/quote
A smarter person than I once said that you really need to do things like drive fast cars, fly airplanes or ride fast motorcycles - dangerous stuff like that. You need to do dangerous stuff to stay alive as a being. It wakes you up.

Doing everything safe for the body, you, as a being, will fall asleep and not live at all. ]

[Gliderjohn]

I will add after my first wife's sudden and untimely death, riding was a two edged sword. It really did help to keep my sanity along with riding friends but the solitude of riding without other distractions (pretty much straight KS roads) let my mind go where I just as soon would not have like to let it go. Overall though it was therapeutic. Life without it would not be nearly as rich.
GliderJohn

[Moto]

I agree with all the speed freaks.

I also wonder why people buy fast motorcycles if they are not willing to go fast on them!

For what it's worth, I also have, and very much enjoy riding, a slow (72 mph) motorcycle. (As I know Nick is doing, too.)

Ça plane pour moi!

Moto

[pete roper]

Going fast is fun! Just as much if not more fun is acceleration. Be it from 0-60 or 80-120 or above, (In mph for the primitives.).

[MarkMk]

Back a few years, I had a cherry LM1,  , I pulled up at a fruit fly check station behind a Porsche, he didn't notice the bike behind him,,well, we took off together, me riding in his blind spot, with help of his slipstream, I managed to stick to him until my speedo nudged 220  , by then I had to be , more of less, directly behind him, He saw me in his mirror, stabbed his throttle, blew 2 small whisps of blue smoke at me, before pulling away rapidly, Lol, I felt REAL good 

[Rough Edge racing]

 What a bunch of hooligans  What happend to slow bikes can be fun?...If your bike can't run the 1/4 mile in less than 12 seconds it's a slug...

[brider]

Going fast is fun! Just as much if not more fun is acceleration. Be it from 0-60 or 80-120 or above, (In mph for the primitives.).

Yes, I discovered this last summer when I had a LM IV to ride all summer. After riding a Cal 2 Automatic exclusively for like 10 yrs, the LM was orgasmic when I found an open stretch and could let the tach spin up from 5.5k to 7k and beyond. Static 80-90 mph destroyed my ears with the wind howl and got boring, but the acceleration getting there was worth it.

[SmithSwede]

Going fast is fun! Just as much if not more fun is acceleration. Be it from 0-60 or 80-120 or above, (In mph for the primitives.).

There are two kinds of countries.  Those that use the metric system, and then those that put a man on the Moon. 

[wirespokes]

There are two kinds of countries.  Those that use the metric system, and then those that put a man on the Moon.

I firmly believe it's more fun riding a slow bike fast. Your definition of a slow bike may not be the same as mine...

[Lannis]

For those that think the speed thing is not good....
GliderJohn

I don't think anyone said that "the speed thing" is not good, good, not bad, whatever.

All we've/they've said is that "I don't like to do it."

On-line, that instantly gets translated into "I don't think it's 'good'" therefore "If you do it, YOU'RE not good!" therefore "You're judging me!"

It's like someone posting a picture of a bike and saying "Isn't this nice?".   And the first 10 posts are "That's beautiful!".

But the first guy who disagrees, the responses are "Why are you peeing in our Wheaties?"   "Do you think you're better than we are?"   "Why don't you go away?".    It can be a virtual pain when you don't go along with the virtual group .....

Lannis

[Rough Edge racing]

There are two kinds of countries.  Those that use the metric system, and then those that put a man on the Moon.

  Good one...

[John A]

I don’t want the fastest bike.  I want a bike that is among the fastest of its type.  I have a Bassa with Mike Rich porting and throttle bodies from a Sport.  Cam is the old Norris S grind. Ten spring clutch and 7/37 sidecar gears. It’s been reliable for over 150K miles and has had a sidecar on it for the last 40K.  The sidecar slowed it down some but it still goes good enough to be hard to keep up with or to get me in trouble on a radar patrolled Wisconsin back road.
I don’t beat it much anymore as I don’t want to break it but certainly do flog it when it seems like a good idea.  Fun is the idea !

[bad Chad]

There are two kinds of countries.  Those that use the metric system, and then those that put a man on the Moon.

Wow!  I didn’t know, when did Liberia and Myanmar do it?