| Author | Message | ||
     T_man |
Y'all, tis been a while since I posted here with any regularity mostly due to a prairie home which facilitated a 2 or so year motorcycle hiatus. At any rate, I used to live rather close to a few racetracks, competed on big twins and two strokes, did track days and so on and so forth. I remember even in those heady days mulling over getting a cruiser for the street as my sportbikes were essentially wasted on the road. Now that I've relocated to the mountains I had thought I would get some satisfaction on the serpentine mountain passes. I was wrong. Now in my 30's I can't justify doing twice the legal limit to approach half the lean angle achieved when at the track. Not to mention on road hazards, terrible drivers and the small matter of landing myself in jail. I am strongly considering giving up the bike altogether (there are no tracks anywhere around here). These bikes are made for the track and once bitten, riding them (or any other race bike for that matter) anywhere but seems like a damn and frustrating waste. Anyways, rant over - I am sure there are others suffering from the same affliction... I honestly think I had more fun srcaping the pegs on my '69 Bonneville than I have on my 1125 puttering around at one tenth its capability | ||
| Thefleshrocket |
You need to find "better" roads. I live in southern Illinois where there are a few decent roads, but not a great deal. We usually head over to east/southeast Missouri to find some good twisties. There are tons of roads with 30mph-recommended corners. Doubling the recommended speeds is a brisk but not fast pace, and going about 2.5 times is pretty aggressive. (We usually ride around/a bit over double recommended speed.) If a recommended corner speed is 45mph or higher, we pretty much don't even bother speeding up for it as we'd have to be going at least 90mph to make it moderately interesting. We just cruise at around 70-75 and don't slow down for the corners (or speed up a little for them). | ||
| Gearhead |
T-man brings up several great points. As much as I enjoy my 1125R on the street, there is no subsitute for riding and or racing on a track. As I've clipped along on some back roads these days, I notice ditches, barbwire fences, etc. much more now than I ever did before becoming a racer and I find myself not enjoying the ride because of the what-ifs. Now don't get me wrong there is danger on the track also but that risk is a fraction of what could happen out on some desserted backroad in the middle of nowhere. I have to admit I think I'd enjoy a much smaller classic bike more now than the 1125 for the same reasons T_man mentioned. | ||
| Smoke4ndmears |
Horses for courses and fast bike slow/slow bike fast! T-man and Gearhead you both have valid points. I get plenty of track time too, and would really rather a nice dedicated track rat and something "under powered" and flickable as a road bike, but in the meantime the 1125 is a nice compromise. | ||
| Jdugger |
> You need to find "better" roads. Eh. The kind of satisfaction you get from racing cannot be duplicated on any public road. It's a completely different level of performance. I would rather have a street bike that's a true street bike at this point, too. If I even rode on the street anymore. | ||
| T_man |
I would further wager to say 'it demands completely different level level of concentration', which is what gives track riding / racing incredible satisfaction - it is more a kin to meditation than anything else. Riding on the track (and amplified when racing) is an unbroken seam of concentration. This my friends cannot be duplicated on any road because self preservation (hazards, police etc) force you to divide your concentration into many streams. Which I suppose is the appeal of cruisers; they facilitate the reclined posture, pleasing sound and lazy performance to take in your surroundings while the actual driving portion takes very little concentration itself. Interesting how a motorcycle can provide their rider with two completely different types of pleasure. I guess my real problem is reconciling the piloting a fighter jet like a B737. | ||
| Jdugger |
If I buy another street bike, it will be some sport of sport tourer like a VFR1200 or something, for exactly these reasons. I simply don't trust myself on a sportbike on the street, and they aren't any fun anymore at street reasonable speeds, anyway. | ||
| Stirz007 |
I took the plunge this year and set my 14 (now 15) y.o. up with a track bike (Ninja 250 - that I steal from time to time so I can race it). I do not AT ALL feel comfortable putting him on the street, but am actually OK with him doing track days. The track allows him to develop skills faster, allows him to make some mistakes, and is what I consider a safer environment than the street. He's also doing all the ART's that are available and is having fun with it. It does create a problem in that he's about ready to move up to an SV650 (told him he needs to start saving his money). As some of the others have indicated, once you go track, you can't go back. Not being snobby or anything - I rode street for something like 30 years before my first track day. After that, my street riding really dropped off. | ||
| T_man |
Isn't it ridiculous just how capable sportbikes really are? Do you guys remember your 1st time at the track, first time knee down etc? I do, and my reaction was; I had NO IDEA I could lean this thing over that far, get on the gas this hard or brake that deep into a turn.. it honestly blew my mind. Speaking of which; even more fun than the liter bikes were some of the little guys like Stirz's son's 250. No better way to 'get fast' than on an underpowered bike. Not to mention feeling like a hero coming around a pack of 600's... Like I heard on an episode of 'Modern Family': "Slow is smooth and smooth is fast".. | ||
| Robertb1958 |
Have an 1125R, difficult to keep myself under control with it, so I have a track day lined up soon. Still have my S1 tuber. I live in town, running around on the S1 is about perfect, somehow preferable to the much more capable 1125R. I am not sold on the motorcycle touring concept, think something like a BMW convertible is a little more practical. I do enjoy day tripping on the MC, though. | ||
| Jdugger |
> Isn't it ridiculous just how capable sportbikes really are? I'll let you know as soon as I have an idea of what they are capable of. | ||
| Smoke4ndmears |
>> Isn't it ridiculous just how capable sportbikes really are? >I'll let you know as soon as I have an idea of what they are capable of. For this very reason my dad's track prepped SV650 is my favorite bike to ride the track on. | ||
| Jdugger |
More fun to ride a slow bike fast than a fast bike slow. I tell my students the throttle is directly connected to the grin. The more you twist, the more you grin. If you have more bike than you can keep at WOT, you grin less. Seems to hold more or less true. Those 250s are a lot of fun. So is the Buell, but it's more fun on a track where I can let it stretch it's legs. | ||
| Stirz007 |
Funny stuff, guys. I can say that I am riding the 250 beyond it's limits. The front end on that thing flexes and moves around quite a bit, but I can hang with (and sometimes pass) most of the 600's through the turns, then they say bye-bye on the exit. I'm kinda known as 'turtle boy' because on the straights I try to become one with the tank to milk an extra mph or two out of the "Green Fury". It tops out at about 92 on the 3500' straight (if the wind is blowing the right way). I can also say that I haven't nearly approached the limits of the 1125.   | ||
| Brumbear |
Then ya move or get rid of the bike. I would probably get an adventure bike and start jumpin on some dirt roads and such different thing but exciting. If you can't be happy then well you gotta do what ya gotta do. I've ridden my CR as hard as I want to on the streets and being as I am well past my 30's I don't want to ride the track anymore so I am gonna bag an adventure bike and see whats next? | ||
| General_tso |
The primary reason I ride on the street is because my wife rides and it's a good way to spend time together. I realize that sounds a little sappy... The best thing about racing / trackdays is that I get my speed fix on the track so my street rides are laid back. | ||
| Sir_wadsalot |
I still do the backroads terrorism...but it's not the same as a track day, not at all. And unless you're soooo far out in the woods police are a non-issue, and you're soooo used to riding in this style, it's not much of an option. I came up doing it, and it's still ridiculously dangerous. I try to find the most deserted, kinked up, narrow, elevation changing off camber tarmac that i can....but no matter how good the road, it's stil not the track. You simply cannot commit at the same level. Not if you have any self-preservation sense at all. That's why I want a Ully...comfey for the wife, more laid back, but can still scratch when i get the itch. A VFR 1200 is also high on the list...or a lowered Multistrada...I wanna ride the wheels off of a 250 motard (and stunt it), that sounds like fun! Street bikes for the street....that's why the SV's were so popular, they got the mix juuuust right. As liter bikes go, I think the 1125 hits the nail almost on the head as well. There's no other liter sport bike that's more comfortable or has better wind protection, or better ergos, and still goes like stink. Nothing. | ||
| T_man |
Back in my heyday backroads (and front roads, any roads really) were subject to sportybike terrorism. Hell I remember our little formation wizzing past a friends mom's patio party with cops in tow sirens blaring as we headed for open roads to stretch throttle cables and drop the 5-0. Weapon of choice: the infamous TL1000S, now that was a motorbike.. but I digress. Those were different times and wisdom of 16 more years has yielded a much more contentious and law abiding citizen. Testosterone best served at the track. "There are bold pilots and there are old pilots but there are no old bold pilots".. | ||
| Rodrob |
it is more a kin to meditation than anything else. Riding on the track (and amplified when racing) is an unbroken seam of concentration I have made almost this exact statement many times in trying to explain why I race to my dumbfounded friends. They all think I am addicted to the adrenalin rush. I say no, I am addicted to the focus and the calm. | ||
| Jdugger |
> I say no, I am addicted to the focus and the calm. Is it calm, or is it that after turn one and you settle in, all those butterflies, anxiousness, and outraged nerves are settled enough the difference just makes racing feel subtle? I'm a wreck in the pits before a race. Total wreck. | ||
| Sir_wadsalot |
It's funny you should say that...on the street, riding hard, I'm utterly focussed and ice cold. At a track day? Like you say, I'm a wreck! Butterflys, nervous, overthinking everything....it would take me almost until lunch time to calm down again. I don't know if it's the "sense" of competition or what, but as soon as I'm on a track ful of bikes, the heart is racing and it takes forever to calm down. And I'm aware of it, literally willing myself to calm down, the entire time. | ||
| T_man |
For me, it was the same as with Jdugger; I remember both states of mind being present at different stages.. lining up on the grid, waiting for the flag to drop.. yes the anticipation the impending rush to turn 1 created a fair bit of butterflies indeed! Post turn 1, it was crosshairs on the next guy in front - utter calm concentration. Or if lucky, no one in front which brought the butterflies right back as everyone but you knew if you were pulling a gap or being reeled in. Better to hang out in 2nd or 3rd and calculate than to have the crosshairs on you! That being said, and I remember this from more than just racing, but also from competing in other sports; some of the most off the wall thoughts did manage to creep in while in this state of concentration... like the repetition of a few lines of some ridiculous song on the radio.. Track days on the other hand (or during practice sessions) we're much more prone to 'getting deep' into the zone.. especially in sessions 15 mins+. A few laps in, smoothness increased, the calm proportionately increased. I don't know how many former military members are following this thread, but similar to when learning drill - it was likely a bit of a gong show for most everyone, your body wasn't trained, your mind scrambling to succumb to every command - not to mention some very angry dude ready to pounce if/when you f**ked up. However when your mind and body became habituated to the commands and able reacted instantly and intuitively.. there was a sense of calm - therapeutic even. Track riding for me was the same.. and that is what I cannot duplicate on the road. | ||
| Crowley |
Mr Dugger is correct about the focus and calm. Climbing hard rock or ice gives you the same inner peace when you stare death in the face. This state, where you loose peripheral vision and go deaf to surrounding noise, is well documented by climbers. | ||
| Stirz007 |
I share some of what both Rob and Jim describe. I've only been racing a few years. The first few times I gridded up, I would actually get a little lightheaded just before the flag dropped, which only added to my freak-outedness. It took me almost two seasons before I was willing to stick it in there on turn one and try to pass. I figure another season or two before I can actually let loose. Then again, I started this racing stuff at age 50 - I wish I were more like 22 when I was a lot more fearless. And Rob is right, it's almost a zen thing. You can't be thinking about stuff like what you're going to have for dinner or the argument you had with wife/GF earlier that day. The mind wanders a bit, and next thing you know, you're off into a ditch or biffing a minivan. Riding (street or track) has always been therapeutic that way - racing just amplifies it. | ||
| Sprintst |
Enjoy the cruiser At 48, I'll still enjoy my 1125R in the mountains | ||
| Rogue_biker |
Same here. I even enjoy commute on my R daily and still have fun.  | ||
| Rodrob |
When you're as ADD as I am, the calm that comes from being completely focused on one thing is a gift. It's not just in the race. It starts, for me, when everything is loaded up and I leave for the track. I start running the race in my mind over and over; the braking points, the entry points, on the gas, not too much, stand it up... By the time I'm at the track I have crossed over into another world. It's a magic place where one can defy space/time. Project oneself out of the body to be where you will be; your mind connected to incredible power; your life hanging in the balance. Here, your most grave opponents will go to great lengths to make sure you're out there, because without you, there is no race, no magic. You'll do the same for them. They assist in your progress; get better; go faster. They know the better the field, the bigger the magic. At it's best, it's pure bliss; it's worst, paralyzing pain. Somehow the pain fades faster than the bliss and I am compelled to return. | ||
| Jdugger |
Puff Puff Gotta get another hit off the track pipe this weekend myself... | ||
| Rodrob |
I hear ya brother... | ||
| T_man |
Ah f**k it - Maverick is re-engaging! I'm done with the street. The next mile the 1125R turns will be at the closest track (which is a ferry ride and a few hours away). Teaming up with an old racing buddy on a 1098S. Now how to pass an 88db sound test with my HPE.. |
