You haven't lived until you've ridden a slow bike at its maximum speed... that's the beauty of my Ural; I can be going flat out, WFO, balls to the wall, at the limits of traction and sanity, laughing in the face of death all the while... and nobody knows it but me. 110kmh on an Ural has got to be equivalent to 300kmh+ on a race bike, I am sure.
And you wouldn't believe the rush you get when you accidentally launch one over the edge of a 300' embankment at 10kmh.
Gummiente wrote:You haven't lived until you've ridden a slow bike at its maximum speed... that's the beauty of my Ural; I can be going flat out, WFO, balls to the wall, at the limits of traction and sanity, laughing in the face of death all the while... and nobody knows it but me. 110kmh on an Ural has got to be equivalent to 300kmh+ on a race bike, I am sure.
LOL!!
This reminds me of my 1982 Yamaha Seca, man, that thing would give you the cold sweats sometimes going around corners since I would be pushing it already near max. Then you'd hit a corner and the front tire would start skipping sideways, ah, I might have been only going 110km/h around a 90km/h warning curve, but it sure felt a heck of a lot faster.
As High_Side knows, my Seca was great but no match for his VTR or his wife's Ducati around the corners, but hey, I tried.
None of the above.
I prefer riding a fast bike really fast....
Provided it's the proper time and place. It's what trackdays are for.
On the street, I just enjoy the effortless manner of the larger/more powerful bikes during steady state cruise, accelerate up to speed on a merge, tool around in 3rd gear like an automatic transmission scooter, etc.
Two Big Jugs or Four Small Cups. Life's Good.
`08 CBR1000RR "Ayane" - the Shinkansen
`07 S4Rs "Persephone" - urban Monster
`00 SV650 "Ayame" - trackday special
on a track, give me the 125 screamer and let me wring its little neck for all its worth (not like I could come close to pushing a 600 to its limits on a track anyway)
on the street, covering long highway stretches is a lot more pleasant on a larger bike. a medium sized bike (like a 650 twin sportbike, or a 600 standard) strikes that nice balance for twisty backroads, you can ride it fast enough to be fun without pushing it anywhere near its limits.
My first bike qualified as a slow bike, it was fine for pretty much anything, but riding it on twisty backroads was a bit hairy. Even going the speed limit it felt like the bike was nearing its limit. My second bike on the other hand I could hustle down a twisty road at a nice pace and never feel like I was reaching the limits of its handling.
I dunno... you can really haul arse on a Honda RS125 or Aprilia RS125 GP bike.
Two Big Jugs or Four Small Cups. Life's Good.
`08 CBR1000RR "Ayane" - the Shinkansen
`07 S4Rs "Persephone" - urban Monster
`00 SV650 "Ayame" - trackday special
Riding a ZX12R at 50% above the speed limit can be a complete snoozer as it isn't even breathing hard at those kinds of speeds (at least when I did it). The thrill of pasting your eyeballs to the back of your head gets old when the majority of the time you cannot begin to use what it has on the street. Boring.
By contrast our old VTR 250 could be pushed hard around town where every stop-light is Moto-Gp.
My bikes tend to be getting smaller as time goes on...
Last edited by High_Side on Tue Feb 10, 2009 1:39 am, edited 1 time in total.
Mike 
