Posted on 06/06/2005 8:12:11 AM PDT by Responsibility1st
No but the people that drive them are. Especially if they're young.
Consensus among motorcyclists is that the 205 mph reported speed was bogus, high yes, but the bike in that episode could not do 205. Rider plead to something lesser. If he had contested it, the airborne means in us for the determination of speed would have been shown to be invalid and lots of other tickets would have been tossed out.
Old motorcyclist wisdom: You can out run the Mustang, but you can't out run the Motorola.
I know of one in Memphis where a guy (a corporate Vice President) talked someone at a gathering in a Friday's parking lot into riding his new Triumph 750 Triple. He told they guy he had experience with bikes, but he didn't tell him it was dirt bikes. He didn't have a helmet, and took a passenger with him who wanted to go but didn't know him. Ten minutes later he t-boned a little old lady in a Cadillac making a left turn. He left a skid mark at least 150 feet long (rear brake only, of course). Witnesses said the two riders flew up in the air as high as the power lines. The little old lady's passenger was killed too.
I don't believe an unmodified bike will do 170 on a dynometer or even a test track, let alone heavy traffic on the interstate.
"It actually scared me because I never saw them coming."
That's what gives methe shivers too. I keep an eye on all my mirrors (SUV) all the time so I know where everyone is at so I have an escape. Everyone once in awhile there's someone that will go by going twice the speed of anyone else. It's amazing some of these cars and bikes don't get hit by normal lane changes they can come up so fast.
205 takes at least 77 percent more energy than 170, on the same motorcycle (205 squared divided by 170 squared)
Damn, that's scary just to watch.
Depends where you're heading. You can't scramble officiers to remote areas any faster than the bike can get there. Speaking hypothetically, of courses.
???
It would have to be a dynamometer with a wind tunnel attached, since they only measure force (or horsepower).
Uh, you'd be surprised (speaking hypothetically)
I don't know this for sure, but I may know the guy who submitted that video. He's submitted videos to a number of web sites.
Speedometers are nortoriously "optomistic," although if this is an earlier 'Busa that's had just a bit of work done, then 200MPH+ is quite possible.
They guy is nuts...
Mark
I think "this guy" passed me just a few miles west of Needles, CA about 9 months ago. I was doing 80 and he zipped by me like I was standing still.
Au contraire.
LOL
Psst. 205 squared divided by 170 squared = 1.45
Secondly, its not a matter of KE but rather power vs drag.
cool! I want one for my 56 year-old frame!
Before the manufacturers put limiters on them, the Kawasaki and Suzuki were both clocked by motorcycle magazines on test tracks at over 190MPH, and IIRC, one hit 197MPH.
However, the EU threatened to slap a 100% tarrif on the bikes if they could exceed (I believe) 300KPH, so they added limiters to keep the speed "down to" about 180 - 185 MPH.
Mark
Ring ding ding ding ping
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