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Posted on 09/13/2007 12:29:27 PM PDT by BraveMan
Newbies. Hands down. Experienced riders on sportbikes aren’t as dangerous as squids on any bike. On top of that, a sportbike’s handling vs. a cruiser makes it more forgiving.
‘Tis true. Hubby rides his R1 LE on the track and says it just takes the fun outta riding it on the road. LOL We’re headed to Barber in October. :-)
Insurance Institute says geeser newbies on their “hawgs”.
At least they did five years or so ago.
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Probably because they can’t get going fast enough to do any damage?
Dang! That is something! Where did you find it?
“Supersports are built on racing platforms but modified for the highway and sold to consumers. They’re especially popular with riders younger than 30. With their light weight and powerful engines, supersports are all about speed. They typically have more horsepower per pound than other bikes. A 2006 model Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R, for example, produces 111 horsepower and weighs 404 pounds. In contrast, the 2006 model Harley-Davidson Ultra Classic Electra Glide, a touring motorcycle, produces 65 horsepower and weighs 788 pounds.”
Supersports are not “built on race platforms” - they are specifically built as street bikes and are often known as “race replicas”. The are sometimes raced in almost showroom stock classes but for higher race classes typically need significant modifications to improve various aspects. Also they are not “all about speed” - the popular 600 sportbike class, while certainly fast, is also very much about handling. The fastest bikes are ones like the Hayabusa and Kawasaki ZX-14, which do not handle as well and are typically not used in racing, other than drag racing or speed record attempts. Oh, and I have another name for a 788 lb bike with 65 HP - “boat anchor”.
Some of the classes of bikes that seem overrepresented in crash statistics, like touring bikes, have much higher exposure to risk due to the large number of miles they accumulate in the year, compared to the average cruiser which only racks up a few thousand miles in a year. Yes, I know there are guys who ride their cruisers much further every year, but many are used for nothing more than Sunday afternoon rides to the local pub and back. Bikes sitting in the garage at home tend to get into very few accidents - one of the reasons that I choose not to commute on mine, in very heavy traffic.
Eugene i didn’t know thye would post pictures
“...riders of the Ultra Classic are well below the national average.”
They cost too darn much to go out and wreck ‘em. I love my Road King and I treat him nice. Half the traffic on the road passes me, mostly doing 10-over while talking on the phone.
Back when I lived in Los Angeles I spent 20 years on motorcycles splitting traffic on the freeways. I always told people who were concerned about me that “they couldn’t hit me if they tried!” Trouble was, one day some idiot wasn’t trying to hit me, and managed to do it anyway. I had “the big one” and through the grace of God I walked away from it. I was riding a GSXR1100 that day, though it wouldn’t likely have mattered what I was riding.
Helmet, heavy gloves, leather jacket, and high top shoes did their jobs and saved lots of skin, though my blue jeans failed miserably and my knees looked like I lost a fight with an angry cheese grater.
Long story short, I moved to the country and occasionally ride a little red 50cc scooter around my quiet neighborhood. The joy of riding was gone after “the big one.” ... BUT (and that’s a heavy BUT), if I had to live in Los Angeles and get around to my clients in West LA all over again, I’d still be on a bike and it would be a high performance sport bike.
Blind ditzes yakking on cell phones. (”But officer, I didn’t see him!”)
Oooooh! I had one of the very first CBR900RR machines to arrive and it was certainly a doozy!
I felt that, compared to other bikes I had owned, it posessed true Warp Drive. Nimble, quick and eminently flickable, it actually tended to turn inside the line.
Eventually, I sold her and hung up my helmet. There are simply too many idiots behind the wheels of Minivans, twits yakking on cellphones and deranged morons clotting the roads to dodge anymore. One of them was going to get me.
I have a buddy who raced competitively for Kawasaki for a while. He was nearly killed by a 21 year-old mother who turned around in her seat to scream at her kids, crossed the lane and ran him over at a stop sign. He wasn’t even moving.
I drive an F-350 Duallie now. Go ahead. Hit me.
Basically, they are bullets on wheels. But, if that’s what people want, it’s OK with me. Just don’t hit my 1 ton, four door dually. You may not live.
already debunked here:
http://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=30210
try 16,500. That’s the redline for the Yamaha R6 :)
Between the twenty somethings on crotch rockets, wearing tennys, shorts, a full face helmet, and sporting the little lady on back dressed similarly but with a tattoo on her rump...while doing wheelies on the freeway;
the guy, even older than me, with the terrified expression on his face as he rides his brandy-new glide up and down my street;
and the real estate agents in nazi style skid lids and leather hauling housewives in leather to the local "ride in" sunday afternoon beer fest...
I'm currently just looking at my resto projects and wondering if I want to get back into the mix. (Although I did find a donor bike in better shape than the intended recipient)
One thing for sure, when I was commuting, splitting lanes and wearing the mandatory helmet/sound suppressor, I was just scared enough to be VERY alert, the kids I see today doing 85 down the divider line and slamming across lanes are cold meat in the making.
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