High perfromance bikes

[Lannis]

One of my all time favorite bikes, and maybe the best sport touring rig I've ever owned (rode it 27,000 miles in a year) was my ZX-14.

Smoother than anything else I'd ridden, made my PGM-FI Blackbird feel like a cammy small block.... had reserves of power that you virtually never tapped into.....and was just a fun bike to ride.

A bike that is built to handle 186mph and 180hp will go down the freeway at 80 feeling so relaxed and unstressed, that you feel like you could hop off and jog alongside. Really hides the sensation of speed.

And when you do want to see what it can do....on a deserted two lane in southern New Mexico for example 
It makes everything you've ever ridden feel hopelessly slow.

Sounds like a great bike, almost ideal!

There must be another side of the story, though, because (not to put too fine a point on it) I notice that you're not riding it any more .... ?

Lannis

[blakebird]

Sounds like a great bike, almost ideal!

There must be another side of the story, though, because (not to put too fine a point on it) I notice that you're not riding it any more .... ?

Lannis

nope...no other side to the story.

I am on my 71st motorcycle since 1968, have owned at least one every year since I was 12.
Half of those are probably dirtbikes, some plated, some not. There's a link to them in my sig line.

I tend to keep a bike a year, maybe two - and put tons of miles on them, then move on.
I like all brands, am not a slave to 'character' vs. 'appliance' arguments - every bike has it's good and weak points.

I have no favorite brand - it's pretty tough to buy a bad motorcycle these days. Some are truly stupendous, some are a little boring, but they all had "something" that got my interest long enough for me to purchase it and ride it a while.

[Lannis]

nope...no other side to the story.

I am on my 71st motorcycle since 1968, have owned at least one every year since I was 12.
Half of those are probably dirtbikes, some plated, some not. There's a link to them in my sig line.

I tend to keep a bike a year, maybe two - and put tons of miles on them, then move on.
I like all brands, am not a slave to 'character' vs. 'appliance' arguments - every bike has it's good and weak points.

I have no favorite brand - it's pretty tough to buy a bad motorcycle these days. Some are truly stupendous, some are a little boring, but they all had "something" that got my interest long enough for me to purchase it and ride it a while.

Got it!

I'm about as half as bad as you, I think I'm on bike #34 since 1970.

I keep SAYING that the best thing to do is to hook onto a great bike and then keep it and bond with it and stick with it for as long as you can ....

.... but I'm extremely unfaithful and I never do it .....

Lannis

[lucydad]

Hmm, I am taking Mary Anne out tomorrow to the coast....Little Goose got all the miles last weekend, but she will get out on Sunday to church and a bit more.

Think I will install the side and big top bag on the V7R:  test fit for the OK and fall camping.  All my camp gear got stored, pissed me off when I found out, should have it back in a couple weeks though. 

Not sure if side bags on V7R will swing too much...rub or not...need to find out though...could be a little engineering could fix problems.  I want a test loaded up run, and chance to pack my kit, and set up tent before pondering the OK Rally...

Grandpa Larry today:  1)  locked himself out of house, 2) found out he is out of toilet paper, did not tell us...so no idea how long it has been since he used any, 3) threw a fit at dinner for more wine, 4)  ate his salad with his hands at restaurant, 5) wiped his mouth on table cloth, I reminded him nicely he has a napkin, apologized, then did it again 5 seconds later...

We cry and laugh at the same time.  Alzheimer's is horrible, and wow I will leave it at that.  Good part is he did not ramble down stairs to disrupt our key financial planning meeting this morning:  critical to the October 5 retirement. 

Come on life...lighten up.

[skromfols]

In the late 80's at around 2:00 am on I-5 between Sacramento and Lodi I found out that my Honda V65 Magna would show 130 on the speedometer (I believe that there was some alcohol involved in this decision).  As I was making this discovery a set of headlights appeared behind me, very rapidly decreasing the distance between us.  I just knew I would be having breakfast behind bars while wearing an orange suit, however as I began to slow down the twin headlights came up next to me and the driver of the Cobra waved and quickly accelerated past and soon disappeared. 

[mjptexas]

...I am on my 71st motorcycle since 1968, have owned at least one every year since I was 12.
Half of those are probably dirtbikes, some plated, some not. There's a link to them in my sig line...

WOW! Thanks for pointing out the link to your bike history.  What a blast reading through it.

[Lannis]

This. Modern 'High Performance' bikes are so barkingly mad in front of almost any riders ability curve that these 'Anti-Wanker' devices, (As they were described to us by a Piaggio factory rep! ) are pretty much 'De Riguere'.

Like it or not the bikes are a lot better than we ever were or will be.

Pete

This is probably the best "Pro-Luddite" argument I've heard.

Modern bikes are having huge amounts of money spent on them by the developers, at the urging of the marketeers, and having huge amounts of fragile complexity added, so that they can reach levels of torque and horsepower that NOBODY can use on the street.   Completely worthless for anything except extending the riders' imaginary wedding tackle and having something to brag about.       

So, to counter all this unusable complexity and horsepower, they have EXTRA levels of complexity added to them to "tone them down" so that they don't kill people more than they do.   Limiters, milder maps, lean sensors, ABS, etc etc.   

It's just marketing, like giant V-twin Cubic Centimeter Comparisons ("Mine's 50cc bigger than YOURS, Nyaaaah!").    So what if it will go 186 MPH?    So what if it will scrape the pegs at 100 MPH on a blind mountain turn?     Nobody except a few maniacs is actually DOING that.   

It's be simpler and cheaper if they'd just SAY it would do all this .... most riders wouldn't know the difference ....

Lannis

[Kentktk]

This is probably the best "Pro-Luddite" argument I've heard.

Modern bikes are having huge amounts of money spent on them by the developers, at the urging of the marketeers, and having huge amounts of fragile complexity added, so that they can reach levels of torque and horsepower that NOBODY can use on the street.   Completely worthless for anything except extending the riders' imaginary wedding tackle and having something to brag about.       

So, to counter all this unusable complexity and horsepower, they have EXTRA levels of complexity added to them to "tone them down" so that they don't kill people more than they do.   Limiters, milder maps, lean sensors, ABS, etc etc.   

It's just marketing, like giant V-twin Cubic Centimeter Comparisons ("Mine's 50cc bigger than YOURS, Nyaaaah!").    So what if it will go 186 MPH?    So what if it will scrape the pegs at 100 MPH on a blind mountain turn?     Nobody except a few maniacs is actually DOING that.   

It's be simpler and cheaper if they'd just SAY it would do all this .... most riders wouldn't know the difference ....

Lannis

If the world was a boring as you would like it to be, then all we need are 40hp VW bugs with airbags.

[bib]

How are your reactions? Believe the first decision you make in less than a second will be the right one?
This is the distance covered in one second at speed.

mph   kmph   metres psec   feet psec
60--   96.6   ---------27-------------   88
70--   112.7--------31-------------103
80--   128.8--------36-------------117
90--   144.9--------40-------------132
100-   161----------45-------------147
110-   177.1--------49-------------161
120-   193.2--------54-------------176
130-   209.3--------58-------------191
140-   225.4--------63-------------205
150-   241.5--------67-------------220

Now have someone fire a tennis ball at you from 88 feet away at 60mph and try avoiding it  PLEASE!
Ride to LIVE I say.

[AH Fan]

This is probably the best "Pro-Luddite" argument I've heard.

Modern bikes are having huge amounts of money spent on them by the developers, at the urging of the marketeers, and having huge amounts of fragile complexity added, so that they can reach levels of torque and horsepower that NOBODY can use on the street.   Completely worthless for anything except extending the riders' imaginary wedding tackle and having something to brag about.       

So, to counter all this unusable complexity and horsepower, they have EXTRA levels of complexity added to them to "tone them down" so that they don't kill people more than they do.   Limiters, milder maps, lean sensors, ABS, etc etc.   

It's just marketing, like giant V-twin Cubic Centimeter Comparisons ("Mine's 50cc bigger than YOURS, Nyaaaah!").    So what if it will go 186 MPH?    So what if it will scrape the pegs at 100 MPH on a blind mountain turn?     Nobody except a few maniacs is actually DOING that.   

It's be simpler and cheaper if they'd just SAY it would do all this .... most riders wouldn't know the difference ....

Lannis

Your awesome Lannis           your probably almost right.

Ciao.

[Kev m]

A bike that is built to handle 186mph and 180hp will go down the freeway at 80 feeling so relaxed and unstressed, that you feel like you could hop off and jog alongside. Really hides the sensation of speed.

That, especially the last line, is a precise explanation of what I don't like about them or, conversely, why I prefer less sophisticated/less powerful bikes.

[Lannis]

Your awesome Lannis           your probably almost right.

Ciao.

"Probably almost" is as good as it gets some days ... 

[Rough Edge racing]

That, especially the last line, is a precise explanation of what I don't like about them or, conversely, why I prefer less sophisticated/less powerful bikes.

 Yes.....My minimalist Buell can cruise at 80 mph with nearly zero engine vibration as well as many of the big bore Guzzi's. In fact most any modern Harley can cruise at 80 mph or faster without strain..

[vstevens]

Must of have been 25 or so years ago I had a BMW K100.  I remember it was a tall bike that sounded like a sewing machine.  On a whim, I ran it up to 130+... I managed a peak down at the instrument gauge just to see the number... it scared me and I've never ridden any faster than surrounding traffic since.  The  BMW was solid as a rock at high speed... I wasn't. 

[lucydad]

My STRX triple gets smoother the faster we go....the choice for me though is maturity and throttle control.

Had my V7R up to 90 this morning on the freeway, she just purrs along.

Something that often comes with the modern high performance bikes:  superb braking systems and handling and tires:  all contribute to safety...

[Rough Edge racing]

  Yeah the good old days when 100 mph or the Ton was a big deal. Ducked down onto the tank of a British 650 twin. Left hand down on the fork tube like a flat tracker, throttle twisted to max, intense vibration,blurred vision, gauge needles oscillating wildly, must be at least a 110 mph....Then back off the throttle, take a deep breath as you sit up into the wind and it was a test of rider and machine...
 We have come a long way since then...or maybe we have lost something...