Fast or Slow

'Most accidents are caused by too much speed' - Thanks for that, I've always wondered why I've ended up skidding down the bitumen on my bum.

I gave up riding on public roads when I was 29 years old and went road racing for about 15 years. I had a road bike when I first moved to this town however I found that to get to a decent twisty bit of road, I had to ride 80Km on long boring straight roads at 100 KPH. Five races at race meeting is more fun than ten years of dawdling down long roads with blind motorists trying to get at you. Whenever I think of racing I get a really good feeling, except for the cost factor. The race classes ever seem to justify the expense these days.
My 2.4 litre Mazda car has a manual 6 speed CR gearbox, suspension control and on a tight twisty road is almost as good as a bike to drive. It also has air conditioning and an MP3 player - the most important things in life. It also has a tow bar and pulls a bike trailer easily.

One thing that roadracing did was make me slow down a bit on the highway. No matter how you ride on the highway you will never get the thrill of riding on the track -not and live that is. Jim

i don't like going too fast on a straight...not more than 80 or 90 mph but i do kind ride the Norton hard in the twisties.

i can't ride slow, if i do i usually loose my concentration. :mrgreen:

Towner wrote;

Hi, it is amazing how many of you guys have been to Germany.

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I visited Germany last year and this year as well as several other times before......but the last two years were on my T160. Last year Bavaria and the Rhine valley....beautiful, and this year we stayed In the north, very nice but (in general terms) not as pretty.

I'm intending to go again next year as well.

I was at a charity bike event in the summer run by a retired bike cop. One of the guys there was a retired traffic cop who had got a job in one of the mobile speed camera vans that pop up round Shropshire now and again (and again). He told us of a biker who was approaching the van quickly but managed to stop and pulled in before he got to the van. He got off his bike, knocked on the van door and asked if he had been clocked. "what do you think" came the reply. The biker then went to the rear of his bike got out a Leatherman and unscrewed his licence plate, tucked it inside his jacket and sped off down the road!!!! the traffic cop thought that was cheating.

Dont k.now why he stopped, bikes approaching vans dont get read, the plates only on the rear.

Edited.

Reggie,
glad you up-dated me...BUT a camera van stops ofton on my front [busy main road] and i dont see anything point out of the front
Next time i will ask!

Reggie said:

jrb wrote;

Dont k.now why he stopped, bikes approaching vans dont get read, the plates only on the rear.

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Ermmm I don't think that's correct. Two of my sons riding together a month ago on the A59 near Harrogate (Fewston) near the American golf balls, both got done on their motorcycles of oriental origin. One clocked at 71mph, the other at 75mph. I think the mobile speed vans have covered that "problem" of only looking one way. You have been warned. The income generating slimy b*****ds, and the penalty has now gone up to £100 unless you are eligible for the speed awareness course, then it's about £95 IIRC and a morning of your time.

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john robert bould wrote;

Reggie,
glad you up-dated me...BUT a camera van stops ofton on my front [busy main road] and i dont see anything point out of the front
Next time i will ask!

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As you may have seen, I tried to delete that before it was read. From what my sons told me, that was the impression I got, but thinking about it, I'm not absolutely sure, so thought I would double check rather than post misleading info. Possible much egg on face

Just spoke to my son, it would seem I was talking bollocks (again :lol: ), the number plates were shown to the rear of the van. I will never contradict you again john. My humble apologies.

I like to push myself and my bike towards their (limited) design parameters. It's all about testing yourself and the feeling of being alive..

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Ancient Accepted traditional motive since long before the wheel or even fire invented. Never ride into scare states just great thrills as much as can take. Tight roads are scary to do with much spirit but by golly THE Gravel when groomed is like GP over powered thrills.

I'm ringing yet on Duncan's out of the blue heart stopper shocker. Been there and almost didn't make it, going 35ish when deer going 35-ish leaped into head light snatching bike sideway out from under as I slammed into deer rump bend into me so nothing but white lightening pain and no breath and only heart spams between waves of it just quivering. Only hard drugs+meditation+will to live kept me from passing out and freezing on the spot. Worse than 120 mph hi side bike dump on my head/neck fracturing. Got right up after that and got bike ride back to base. Deer twitched and guggled exactly like me in waves for 15 min then still, mine lasted another handful before I expected to live.

Fast or slow sex, just depends on time place and mood and your ride of course. i don't duck down nor feel much wind buffet bother till 120, as helmet buffets and body sail bothers handling as well as drag factor before i feel best to tuck down to go faster. When I go fast its at my choosing so just thrilling not risky any more than normal puttering around on a cycle.

Cozmos, I shocked the shit out of head instructor sent out to show me why he put X's where he did in a turn that maxed out bike tires on lean with some decreasing radii to it, yet that is not what I reflect on as going around fast harshly accelerating breath taking G's Ms Peel pulled in most narrow binded dangerous public cliff face tights called The Jasper Disaster world wide. On other bikes I get scared d/t pressing to surprise skips outs of either end + upsetting frame/fork snaps mid turns, not on Peel No Sir Ree Bob, even making those places fast decrese'rs on purpose, only unseen hazards held me back any. Ms Peel is more rush than injected Cocaine and dive overs in sail planes or stunt aircraft, blends with the beginnings of Psilocybin or LSD trips. I'm acceleration addicted more than pure speed which is just icing on the cake. So basically when solo on Peel and could see clear path you bet I pulled her trigger and hunged far paint line to keep head out of on comming and held on till the wind tried to suck me up off seat so sqeezed the tank harder ...

We all know speed kills so does parking lot - gymkuna stunts count as fast or slow thrills?

Matt Spencer said:

" I've not had my JPN above 60 MPH just yet due mainly to the irratic bouncy bouncy speedo, just replaced the cable with a new Venhill one and it appears to have cured the fault so we'll see how we go next time I'm out! "

Youll have to Shift UP ; its got FOUR Gears . :twisted:

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Really! I must remember that the next time i'm out on it :shock:

Reggie said:

Towner wrote;

Hi, it is amazing how many of you guys have been to Germany.

Click to expand...

I visited Germany last year and this year as well as several other times before......but the last two years were on my T160. Last year Bavaria and the Rhine valley....beautiful, and this year we stayed In the north, very nice but (in general terms) not as pretty.

I'm intending to go again next year as well.

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The North can be a bit boring sometimes. There are much more beautiful areas - Black Forest is to be recommended as well.

Its the Intersections that are the most dangerous . If we took all the intersections off the roads theyd be a lot safer . :twisted:

Reggie, No sweat! if a biker gets a ticket it's because the police had a hand held "gun" then they pull you up ,there and then.... dont bother with the humble pie, it's clobbering time!

Reggie said:

john robert bould wrote;

Reggie,
glad you up-dated me...BUT a camera van stops ofton on my front [busy main road] and i dont see anything point out of the front
Next time i will ask!

Click to expand...

As you may have seen, I tried to delete that before it was read. From what my sons told me, that was the impression I got, but thinking about it, I'm not absolutely sure, so thought I would double check rather than post misleading info. Possible much egg on face

Just spoke to my son, it would seem I was talking bollocks (again :lol: ), the number plates were shown to the rear of the van. I will never contradict you again john. My humble apologies.

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Matt Spencer said:

Its the Intersections that are the most dangerous . If we took all the intersections off the roads theyd be a lot safer . :twisted:

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There is no excuse for speeding on public roads . These days the vehicle auction rooms have plenty of cheap crashed bikes that can easily be reworked for track days, and a bike trailer is not very expensive. Most of you already have appropriate riding gear. At our local track, on a Moto Ride Day, you can speed all day for $210 - cheaper than most speeding fines and you keep your licence. The Alfred hospital in Melbourne has ward especially for injured motorcyclists. My mate raced for many years and ended up in that ward as the result of the silliest and most simple road crash - a woman changed lane in front of him just as he gave the bike the business. I must admit that he has a sense of humour and at age 71 still does the idiot things - he has a Suzuki Bandit and the other day had it well up over 200 KPH as he flew down his local country road past all the farm gates, most of which have trees hiding them. It is an 80 KPH zone. (No intersections, Matt - but still very dangerous.)
If you are serious about improving your riding and technical skills and want to have fun, get onto the race track.

For example :

http://www.manheim.com.au/recreation/se ... rds=yamaha

Just the ticket ! :

http://www.manheim.com.au/recreation/38 ... rchResults

Anywhereanytime is risking injury or arrest on a motorcycle and too much public record evidence makes this an incontestable uncontroversial firm fact of life. If you ain't come to grips with this then in blissful ignorant denial. All the good advice is as helpful as saying try not to mess your self going to the toilet after being given some laxative candy no one suspected any side effect as it tastes so so good till liquid cramping farts hit. The real sensible cycles are the 49cc -about no jurisdiction in the world bothers to look twice at or even require a license or tag. If ya get above 250 cc scooters then all logic of economy over a cage goes down the drain too besides difference risking a mild fender bender.

It took me days to make it to pavement in '99 w/o crashing so bad had to turn around or not so bad the missing bent items didn't matter that much. If I had a choice [besides not riding as I wisely did for most my life prior] I would not take my pain full path of learning curves of last decade. Once I made it to pavement mostly every time I got to working up on pavement to run into isolastic limits mid sweeper 80'smph no hint prior of anything lurking. Saw what fun sport bikers having out here so put the leaking worn out Combat away for a SV650, which sucked on THE Gravel but excelled on pavement. Worked up just short of what I thought was traction limits by the similar behavior as learned on THE Grit, but didn't know for sure, so took corner school and made me over do traction limits till got it down, on balloon tire Ninja. Then when Peel got tri-linked and I got worn out on the deep woods ravines and wooptiedoo's got on tarmac in worse rough pavement cliff face wagon road and took her beyond G's of the safe track to get down phase 3 & 4 handling antics a mistake would of been horrific. I know I'm a [calculated] risk taking nut case with some lasting hi's that linger 24/7 rest of me life.

If Commando's weren't so cute and Fast they would mostly be scrapped out by now.
Thank goodness they are nice to short shift and 'lug' about like a Harley so some would still appeal to the correct and proper law abiding older women avoiding major routes.

You simply can not protect bike or you when using it, only reduce some the risks with good behavior. Tronto- I could not get past 1/2 page of the cycler carnage but know full well I could be next out the blue behaving with best of intentions. So honor all those racers that held back to mid pack to finish races intact and law abiding gals and guys just stopped at a light till dump truck got em all from behind.

acotrel said:

There is no excuse for speeding on public roads . These days the vehicle auction rooms have plenty of cheap crashed bikes that can easily be reworked for track days.......

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Hi Acotrel,

problem with track riding is you don't go anywhere, just round and round. Your missing the excitement of travel on the road. Different countries, cultures, languages, beer...It's true travel broadens the mind. I can't think of anything better to do on the bike. Ref. "no excuse for speeding on public roads" what if one day the speed limit through some nice bends is 60mph, no police as it's out in the country side, so you take this as advisory and add on 20mph. Next week/month you're down the same stretch of road and the speed limit is now 50mph. Nothing else has changed - this is happening on my local roads. Do you reduce your speed by 10mph because it is no longer considered safe by the authorities to travel at the old limit? How would you ride on the Isle of Man public roads where there is no speed limit in many places? Still plan to do one or two track days next year as long as they don't clash with trips away.

acotrel said:

There is no excuse for speeding on public roads . These days the vehicle auction rooms have plenty of cheap crashed bikes that can easily be reworked for track days, and a bike trailer is not very expensive. Most of you already have appropriate riding gear.

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Sometimes racers are heard to say, "I gave up riding on the street, it's too dangerous" or they just give you the impression that they'd be bored if the throttle wasn't always on the stop. I race but I still appreciate road riding. There's an element of adventure in riding an interesting road at a "brisk" pace that you won't find on a race track that you've lapped hundreds of times. So the excuse for speeding on public roads is that you're just riding at a pace that does the road some justice. My riding buddies convinced ourselves we weren't totally irresponsible: we might not ride at pace that would allow us to stop safely in the distance we could see ahead, but at least the resulting crash would be survivable.

hobot said:

You simply can not protect bike or you when using it, only reduce some the risks with good behavior.

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That's the point. It is not about exceeding the speed limit. Old grandma crossing the road with her Toyota sees only a little point at the horizon when you're shooting along with 200 kph.
Sometimes I visit the area around the Nürburg Ring (German race track). It is not far from my home. You meet a lot of bikers there. Most of them are wearing the complete equipement of protective clothing - all you can get in those motorcycle shops. But many of them believe that proper riding behavior is not neccessary with this clothing anymore. That helps, no doubt. When you hit the truck with 100 kph, it helps you looking better when you're dead.
Reducing the risk is the topic. Protective wear is only a little part of it.