How do you know if you outgrow your bike?

[OreoGaborio]

this reminds me of the last track day i did on the Shitbox-EX500. i will never forget this story and will tell it as long as i can. But I remember passing 3 600s and a 1000 in T9 at the same time. Granted, I got passed again half way down the front straight, but that was to be expected.

Hehe... reminds me of the first time I rode the EX when I passed that 1098 at VIR.... twice... in the same lap.
Once coming out of turn 17 onto the front straight, and again in turns 1-2.

It wasn't so much that I was fast, more that he was just really.... REALLY... SLOW.

[daviid]

Hehe... reminds me of the first time I rode the EX when I passed that 1098 at VIR.... twice... in the same lap.
Once coming out of turn 17 onto the front straight, and again in turns 1-2.

It wasn't so much that I was fast, more that he was just really.... REALLY... SLOW.

did he stop and get a sandwich while he was passing the start finish

[GixerJockey]

Katanas suck. Ditch that thing.



next/

[rice_rocket]

Ouch, much hate towards the Katana! Well, if I can sell it.. I'll upgrade to something a little lighter and sportier. If not... I hope to be passing people next season on my can-o-tuna I'm starting to scrape my center stand once in a while now on some of the turns I'm really comfortable with.. but now that makes me uncomfortable scraping it....

[OreoGaborio]

Track daaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyy. We'll show ya how to turn even faster than you are now w/o scraping

Back in the day I started scraping my pegs in T3 on my ZX6R more & more... Then one day it started happening less & less... and I definitely wasn't gettin slower, that's for sure.

[richw]

Route 22 north out of Kensico (Valhalla, NY) is 4 lanes (not divided) for like 6 to 8 miles.

I would haul and leave my group far behind
when I got to the point it makes the right/2 lanes I would stop

Wip off the helmet
Take out a cigarette break off 2/3's and light the butt

When they made it there I would be sittin on my bike relaxing with an almost finished cigarette

[SRTie4k]

Have you thought about another style of bike? Out of all the bikes I've owned and ridden (82 Kawasaki KZ305, 98 GSX-R 600, 01 Ninja 250, 01 CBR 1000, 04 GSX-R 750 06 GSX-R 1000, 08 Suzuki DL650 V-Strom and my 08 Z1000) I have to say that my Z1000 is definitely the most fun bike I've ever ridden. It handles pretty well for a heavy naked, it's got more than enough power, and the short wheelbase makes it even more fun. But what makes it such an interesting ride is that it feels like you're not even sitting on a bike at all, carving through back roads without any fairings blocking your line of sight. It almost feels like you're riding an insanely fast bicycle.

[Woodsy]

i have ridden a busa in a straight line and i was not thrilled or impressed. straight line speed is nothing. in fact i usually try to avoid it for the sake of my insurance. the "thrill" as you put it is from the turns, getting down and riding through always gets me going. if you cannot negotiate turns at a speed you would like, upping the HP is only going to get you in trouble. CC's do not matter. there are some roads that i have had more fun on my old 250 than on my 1k. there are others still that are boring on the 1k but are awesome on my 125cc scooter. its how you ride it.

[rice_rocket]

Yes it could be the bike itself being heavier and a much longer wheelbase. The other day I went to my friend's work with the GSXR and parked beside it. When we approached my bike was so large you couldn't even see the GSXR behind it. The wheel base is probably 1/2-1 ft longer.. and the bike is definitely heavier. That could probably contribute to the heavy feeling around corners etc for me being more of a "cruiser" style bike.

I understand what you mean by riding the naked bike. I had the fairing and windshield off before when I was fixing things, and it definitely looked more exciting without so many things in the way! I think I need the extra protection however, since hitting the highway to go to work is a little punishing with the wind for such a long period of time... at least with my experience. My 30 min ride of all hwy seems a lot more tiring than the 2 hr drive we took in the backroads going at 45mph give or take.