Use it or Loose it

Pondering the hot rod endeavors and expense vs risking the use of it. I am firm in logic that there is no sense in mc but the pure thrill or desperation nothing else to use. So anything goes ya can get away with makes as much sense as anything, ok.

I'm pretty scared for my factory Trixie and me to really wrap her out but every now and then my emotional side get the better of me and hehe the cycle, car or truck that thinks just picking up pace into merely illegal is nearly enough to tease a Combat or any good Commando with, up over the ton some. I've got to come to grips with a real hot rod in the works, so wonder if anyone else is having flings to limits of performance every now and then?

I am firm in logic that there is no sense in mc but the pure thrill or desperation nothing else to use. So anything goes ya can get away with makes as much sense as anything, ok.

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Well Steve, I am not in your camp on this.

I just got back from a very nice 50 mile round trip ride on my Commando in which the top speed was about 75mph on two lane blacktop. I felt no desire to take it up to say 100 or to accelerate even close to red line.

And I guess compared to you I don't feel that I missed out on the "pure thrill or desperation" you obviously crave.

If I want to accelerate hard or really rip then I will select my Ducati or new Triumph, but honestly my 40 year old Norton just does not have a strong enough motor to thrill me enough to stress it hard enough to try.

I also really like the idea of keeping my Commando as it is for many more years without the need for expensive and time consuming future rebuilds because I need to shall we say "beat" it for thrills.

It is what it is and I don't have any fantasies or desire to look for opportunities to show off or speed challenge anything else on the road as I did some 40 years ago.

So no I don't feel I am missing any "pure thrill" as you put it on my Norton.

Also, unlike you, I have no desire to lay my beautiful 850 on the asphalt on its side spinning in circles just to see if I can ride it back up, as you were talking about doing to yours a little while back.

I know I know I'm who your mommy said ya can't hang out with. This thread is obviously not for you but we've seen video of likes of xbackslider taking things hot to point he's over shot double yellow on brakes in turns. That is what ya can expect at times if risking speed thrills. There is so so much attention and effort put into serious hot roding that is totally unneeded for riding like you describe and I do too but rarely get to 70, so I just wonder if anyone is getting much pay back now and then when its pretty sane to do so but still pressing things that could go wrong.

I resent your ignorant insulting implications that I am taking any more risk to me or bike just going about my business more sanely than your easy riding, SMACK Goats or Deer or Dogs or Loging trucks. Your reaction reveals your denial of being just another stupid emotional cyclalist as me or any one else. Had patient late d/t a couple going down on freeway and ambulance blocked by traffic so EMT still pumping on chests 45 min later or TV news announcing women death on a cycle near by but her 12 yr old make it mostly ok. How about the 6 killed sitting at a light a dump truck ran over them, could of been you w/o looking in mirror to shoot out and run a red light to survive. You do look in mirror before slowing and at stops don't ya? I do as never know when them cops might be lurking : )

Every bike that I have ever owned I have ridden WFO.
I'm sure that it can be traced back to my thrill seeking, hooligan youth.

Motorsickles to me have always been adrenaline producing machines.
The amount of excitement is directly proportionate to how hard you twist that throttle.

Hop on that beast, grab it by the nuts and give 'em a twist. If you're crazy enough!

Honestly, I don't see any reason to own a hot rod bike if you ain't going to ride it for what it's worth.

Reality is, our Nortons are far from the fast motorcycles they were in the late sixties and early seventies. Today's 250 Ninja would probably outperform a Commando. I don't think a 50 horsepower, 400 lbs. motorcycle will provide the feeling of desperation that a +100 hp, 600 cc Kawasaki, Honda, Yamaha or Suzuki makes. Of course, reality can be a drag, for some of us.

Mark said:

Every bike that I have ever owned I have ridden WFO.
I'm sure that it can be traced back to my thrill seeking, hooligan youth.

Motorsickles to me have always been adrenaline producing machines.
The amount of excitement is directly proportionate to how hard you twist that throttle.

Hop on that beast, grab it by the nuts and give 'em a twist. If you're crazy enough!

Honestly, I don't see any reason to own a hot rod bike if you ain't going to ride it for what it's worth.

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Damn straight!

Can anybody post in this thread and risk being resented for ignorant implications, or is it just for the agreeable?

Not interested in the politics , just love the bikes .
Yes , passion does get the better of me when I ride my commando , and I think it does me more good than harm .
As for dinosaur performance , the commando thrills me more than my occasional rides on mates super bikes , they have more power and speed but they just are not the same for pure thrilling pleasure .
That is why I still ride a commando , I love it .
Dero

I don't know about you folks but I often feel like I'm getting away with something. It usually happens above 70, and I don't mean avoiding the speeding tickets. Just a feeling I get, then I remember I don't have any contraband and everything is legal. Figure that's why we all wave to each other or something like that....

I have a character flaw. If I spot a Harley, I speed up to catch and pass them. If at a stoplight, I can't resist dusting them. I can't explain this. I should have learned my lesson 35 years ago when I lost my license racing a Chevy Nova. Just something rewarding now about a 39-year-old motorcycle being able to embarass the posers.
Hobot, are you a doctor? I'm a cardiologist; rode a Triumph to med school. I've been riding and fixing bikes longer than I've been a doctor. At least that's my excuse.

Ok good to know others have similar urges and have survived so far, no fault of your own. I've had two serious crashes on race tracks, one the tire fold up wheelie and two a ninja wheelie drop down wobble at 120 but all the rest were just behaving my self even with self talk inside congratulating self on how thoughtful each action and observation was, SPLAT!!. This has flipped my logic on its head for any sense of safety logic but to stay away form the evil things or suck out much joy as ya can while ya can. A commando is plenty powerful enough with lurking handling quirks too test ones skills and ahead of time restraint judgments. But I know some must be releasing horse power they strove so hard for.

Chris I'm a DC under 1' Physician license since '78. Cardio cases are common for me to get in control, beat skips to enlarging or even collapsing attacks but do send out for ablative procedure when that is found, usually by me not hospitals till I tell em what to look for as not fully responding otherwise. Most heart and lung stuff has a strong central neurological element most miss out on.

Its was during pre-med and 1st couple years in professional college I had the P!! dragster, a lot of time as only transport across big cities. I did not have time money tools to maintain it so when clutch got fully stuck up and me moved in with a gal in small apt, the frat house I'd been in moved it then it got taken. I picked my time and places to let its hair out as an arrest or serious crash would of stopped my schooling in its barely supported tracks. If was easy quickest thing around back then so part luck and part discipline saved me. Oh I miss it so.

Yes, but not on mk3 interstate, that's a very good cruiser and long distance traveller. And that is another sort of fun.
I get my best illegal fun on a Ducati single.
Some rides, especially when others are on the same ride, leave me beaming and feeling younger for weeks after. It gets a good stretching of its legs and the head a good clean out. The thought / feeling that if it goes bang I'll enjoy rebuilding it.
It's doing what it was built for and I'm smiling.

Graeme

I can't describe it, but my Norton feels better taking off from a stop sign than my son's 1000 Ninja. Not as fast of course, but the long smooth pull of the Norton just feels better. I can't resist going WOT occasionally just for the thrill.
Jaydee

I've had my 74 850 for about two years now and still have not found the nerve to get it past 80. When I was in high school I owned a 94 CBR 600 f2 that was only 4 years old. That bike felt like it wanted to be at 100+ mph. I even received my first speeding ticket on the NYS thruway going 119 in a 65 mph zone, needless to say almost lost my license on that one.
Now, even when I try to hit the ton on the Norton, it scares the crap out of me. Just once I would like to say I did it...

Seems to me it boils down to, would you rather ride a slower bike at the edge it's limits or a fast bike at the edge of your limits? I like my Commando a lot and more often than not I'll pick it when I go out to the garage. If I want to get somewhere in a hurry or ride somewhere where REAL stopping power is necessary then I'll take my balloon tired ABS eqiuipped Bandit. It makes me smile just as much as the Norton.

Decemberist said:

I've had my 74 850 for about two years now and still have not found the nerve to get it past 80. When I was in high school I owned a 94 CBR 600 f2 that was only 4 years old. That bike felt like it wanted to be at 100+ mph. I even received my first speeding ticket on the NYS thruway going 119 in a 65 mph zone, needless to say almost lost my license on that one.
Now, even when I try to hit the ton on the Norton, it scares the crap out of me. Just once I would like to say I did it...

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Funny, I have the same bike for about the same amount of time and I know what you mean. I have taken it to the ton, ONCE, and that is enough for me. It will do it easily and got up there pretty quickly. I have no fear of it breaking apart. I just don't need that sort of thrill(or tickets) anymore. I will say it was exhilarating.

I am not the thrill seeker some on this thread are, nor do I thrash the bike. I ride it and when I get on it, I love the feeling of having to hang on when you give it a good twist.

I just started riding 3 years ago and maybe at 48, that has something to do with it. I did not go through the dirt bikes as a kid or the squid stage, needing to outrun everything on the street. I don't begrudge the thrill seekers and the speed freaks as long as it does not impede my good time and safety.

Each motorcycle has its own personality, kinda like horses. The bike will let you know how it likes to be ridden, so it will change your riding style. A mellow riding bike will put me in a mellow mood. A fast bike will urge me to go faster. My chopper makes me regress back to a rebellious youth and I start to feel and act like a hooligan again.
There is a different feeling I get when I ride the Norton, too. I have done all the repairs my self, so there is a satisfaction when the bike works and runs better. Then the sense of joy when you make it home after a ride on a decades-old motorcycle and the bike is in one piece. You don't get the same feeling when you buy a new motorcycle that does everything perfectly, gets little attention from other riders, and is destined for the trash heap when the latest and greatest Yamakawazuki comes out.
I know an old guy who wants to be buried with his Laverda 3C. What bike would you want to be buried with?

I'm enjoying the scope of reports and reactions to riding flunky old Clunkers vs modern appliances, though either is as risky to ride in public. I've found its the close calls that build survival reactions and thoughtful restraints before finding limits the hard way. This takes time in the saddle to have enough encounters to realize ya can't predict or avoid every close call even being as careful and sane as possible, which is absolutely crazy making to me. Having a poor handling bike upset your fun is just plain disappointing scary while pressing to upset a good handling bike is racer level educational scary to thrilling juvenile joys.

My last immature escapade on my Combat was being a bit late to work but staying close to legal d/t cop hazard till on last 7 mile leg of level-ish river valley hwy a PU truck didn't let me pass as I creep-ed up slowly from behind, picked up pace to 80's so I did too - keeping a hand full of bike lengths behind, but my 19T Combat is just getting into power band about then and the way was open to see straight- so gave her WOT and left that accelerating PU behind hitting ~110 and kept over 80's last few miles of decent turns G's to arrive refreshed and tingling I got away with it again. Trixie did not start to hinge at all on this nice surfaced hwy but only takes a bit less smooth path or gusty conditions and she'd been more than a handful to hold onto.

have a character flaw. If I spot a Harley, I speed up to catch and pass them. If at a stoplight, I can't resist dusting them

Who are you dusting off? little old ladies?

I do like nortons, and when a buddy asked if mine went 60 or so I just smiled-

but you ain't dusting off many HD riders that give a hoot-

I noticed there are a quite a few riders in parts of the US that have lots of windy 2-lane roads, which are ideal for a relatively light, nimble and torquey bike like a Norton.