How do you control your street riding limits??

[rjh200]

Personally I can not answer your questions as I have never raced. The person who wrote that has been racing for I think 6 years and is on an 05 cbr600rr now. He wrote that as what it would cost for the average person getting into racing to be competitive in a class. the bike cost was for a GSXR 1k.

I am sure you can get into racing a lot cheaper with a basic track prepped EX500 or sv650 without buying all the goodies.

[Nazo]

I along with alot of other racers, race for fun and go balls out on a motorcycle in the environment that allows it.
If you wanna ride fast and hard.......do it on a track, otherwise you are just playing your "odds"
Not for nothing but the cost really shouldn't be a factor when your talking about your life or lives of others.

....IF I'm gonna ride hard and fast, I need to do on a track for it to be acceptable.
Your other option is to tell yourself.....I'm NOT gonna ride hard in fast, because its gonna be in a dangerous environment if I do.
...yes, I still ride faster than I should and sometimes push it on the streets a little, but I don't ride as hard as others do on the street, thats why I race.
Being competitive and winning is fun and well the goal of a race is to win, but overall I just love being out there riding the piss out of a motorcycle dragging me knee, going 100+ MPH....thats why I race.
If you really have that desire, but not a ton of money, you can get into "budget racing" ......you may have to give up street riding, but alot of people choose to race and not have a street bike.
NORMAL RACE WEEKEND FOR ME:
3 sprint race @ $50 each
Gas to get to the track and back $35
Gas for the bike $10, unless I use race fuel....$30
Food and beer $50 or so
Track Entry fee $20
Electricity use at track $10
Every other race weekend I buy tires $260
If you crash .....anywhere from $50 to $1500, depending on bike damage.

[rjh200]

So the average weekend costs about 450 thats not to bad to just go out and have fun.

[Nazo]

Originally posted by rjh200
So the average weekend costs about 450 thats not to bad to just go out and have fun.

...And alot of people put off buying tires as long as possible, so thats a good $250 less you will spend.

...I realized its not the cost of going racing on a race weekend, its ALL THE START UP COSTS.
Penguin School is $250
Yearly License Fee $150
Leathers
Boots
Bike....etc.

Once you get into the sport, its not THAT bad, just give up spending money on something else in your life....I cut back how many nights I go out and waste money on booze and girls.
Riding is riding, just a different version I guess

[Lucky13]

You can also look at it like this. My bike payment is $150 a month and my insurance is $90 a month. That's $2760 a year. My bike will be paid off soon, and if I ride strictly on the track I will not need insurance, so that frees up $2760. I think there are 9 race weekends? So $2760 divided by 9 equals $306, so there's a good chunk of the $450..but of course, this doesn't include repairs and hospital bills

[Kham]

you'll need the towing thingie.

the cost doesn't sound so bad. maybe i'll get into race next yr or once some debt are paid off. just maybe.

[ChR1s]

Originally posted by Half Squid
What to do ? Advise me???

Get another bike!

Truthfully, I have a fucking BLAST riding my KLR. Then, when I ride the sportbike again, it's like starting over -- I don't feel the need to keep pushing, upping the ante.

Rarely do I ride with any sort of fervor, other than in the dirt. Race dirt if you want to challenge your skills -- that's low risk, relatively inexpensive, and I have no idea what it would take to reach any type of skill plateau - you're always learning. And it's great physical conditioning.

As for a need for speed/power, if you get an appropriate bike there'll be no want for more power. Not to mention dirty track days are much cheaper than street, and you can hit a track almost any time you care to.

However, if I lived close to a road track and didn't have a lot of nice roads nearby, I'd probably opt for a track bike in the garage instead of a registered & insured sportbike. I'd still have the dirtbike, and I'd get one of those beastly adventure bikes like the KTM 950 Adv or BMW R1200GS (or the forthcoming adventure variant). Well, we plan on getting a couple of those things anyway, for some long distance exploring.

[beet]

i admit the same on the tl the ninja i could cruise
no way on the tl it begs 2 go fast

[R7]

Originally posted by Half Squid
BUT ? How do I keep myself in check and still ride the street??? Mentally I know I should take it down a notch, but cant control it....

Say it with me.... Moe-Tahd
Seriously, major fun and they keep the speeds at reasonable levels. Also there's nothing quite as fun as riding bumpy dirt roads at 30-40mph

I honestly am losing intrest in sportbikes pretty quick

[ZX-12R]

Originally posted by ChR1s
As for a need for speed/power, if you get an appropriate bike there'll be no want for more power.

If only that were true.

[dhuze]

Originally posted by R7
....................
I honestly am losing intrest in sportbikes pretty quick

Can I have the R7?

[Nazo]

Originally posted by R7
Say it with me.... Moe-Tahd
Seriously, major fun and they keep the speeds at reasonable levels. Also there's nothing quite as fun as riding bumpy dirt roads at 30-40mph

I honestly am losing intrest in sportbikes pretty quick

Mark, you truly are the poster boy for Motards!
....I'm gonna have to take yours out in a morning practice session, maybe next weekend......see what all this Motard hype is all about.

[R7]

Originally posted by Nazo
Mark, you truly are the poster boy for Motards!
....I'm gonna have to take yours out in a morning practice session, maybe next weekend......see what all this Motard hype is all about.

OK, but I need it back in one peice

[OreoGaborio]

Originally posted by R7
OK, but I need it back in one peice

.... i thought those things WERE one big unbreakable piece

[GadgettR1]

Get back into the dirt.... oh wait I own your ol dirt bike...lol... hopefully come Sept-Oct I'll be able to actually ride it again....

[Half Squid]

Originally posted by MnM
WOW and i thought you were the responsible one in the group

JK

You do understand my screen name right???

[Wayne-o]

Originally posted by Kham
somebody is feeling ill like me.

go ride with Wanyne. he's slow. j/k.

Personally I don't have a problem with riding on the more conservative side. I got my wake up call when I was 14yrs old or so......................A group of us were joy riding in a 1964 Pontiac Catalina on a rainy night. We totaled it into a telephone pole doing about 70 with me in the front passenger seat and no seat belts. We hit the pole dead in line with the passenger seat. It's astounding I'm hear today. Ya Kham, I do know what pain is. For this reason I will never ride as well or agressively as some of you.

Last Thursday.......sitting on the wall at MM, Adam and I were talking about my trip to Canada. He stated that I was more of a sport tourer than anything else. I guess the true reason I took up motorcycling shines through with nothing having to be said.

I love the thrill, the adventure and the speed (although predictably so) motorcycling affords. I also wanna live to enjoy the next distant adventure.

Wayne-o

[bentbryan]

Mike, give up the street. I doubt you'd miss it anyway, I get the impression that you'd be a monster on the track! Race that RC!!!

Look, you're already doing stuff on the street you know you shouldn't be doing. Is your life worth it?

[Cam_In_IL]

I was gonna say get a cruiser, but I find myself riding just as fast sometimes. I think I averaged around 70mph while zipping around on the backroads in CT yesterday.

[old timer]

You think it's a joke when I say I'm ' sightseeing ' at the back of the pack...? Slowing down is completely mental ( in your head ) and NO LESS FUN...

[Kham]

i umm... slowdown when approaching red light, stop sign, warning light, etc.

i know how to ride slow. right Wayne? it's when im in the open field i dont know what slow is. i'll stick with my riding style for now.

[ssg]

TheIglu is correct, you need a dirtbike.

Everyone needs a YZ450.

[sandman]

Originally posted by R7
Say it with me.... Moe-Tahd
Seriously, major fun and they keep the speeds at reasonable levels. Also there's nothing quite as fun as riding bumpy dirt roads at 30-40mph

I honestly am losing intrest in sportbikes pretty quick

80 in a 30 is the same on the tard, dirtbike or sportbike.

i'm about ready to give up riding the sportbike on the street.

i'm tired of the tickets.

[Wayne-o]

Originally posted by s a x m a n
have you done any track time?

that quickly made me relize all the dangers on the street when I got back on the road ...

You haven't a clue as to who you are talking to. This ain't ODFU!

Wayne-o

[ancosta]

Mike when we took a ride out to MM a few weeks back...I realized that those roads were FUN but at the same time little to zero tolerance for any murphy's law events, e.g. cars pulling out, driving over centerline, etc. Those little back roads beg to be ridden hard, and that's a bit of a risk.

So, you could say get a slower bike that handles and keep it under 100. I don't hear too many people talking about high speed accidents. It seems to be 20-60 mph for the most part, negotiating a turn while pushing limits, something unexpected happens, and then crash.

So, as much fun as smaller bike sounds, I am not sure it's going to address the problem in the way you want...?

I am wresting with the "whole forget street riding" thing myself, which isn't an easy question to answer, IMHO.

That said, what kind of motard (if any) could I use for a track day, cruise comfortably at 80 mph on the highway for several hrs with rest stops each hr, and carry a passenger 2-up from time to time?