Why ride street bikes?

[CalG]

Since this is under Rural Living, I live on a narrow road no berm. I was driving at night and an oncoming car suddenly swerved way into my lane and back again. He was still down the road a bit, so I slowed way down, in case he did something else erratic. He passed by without incident.

A little further down the road, and I understand what happened. There was a man on horseback, complete with cowboy hat, riding in pitch dark with no lights or reflective anything!

Do you think the hat was the problem? Send a letter to your legislator. there needs to be a LAW!

 

[oosik]

I am very sure that I've been able to ride safely for 56+ years because I watch out for everybody - including myself. I don't ride at night - EVER. And I don't ride when I'm tired or otherwise impaired in any way. Also - my butt has an absolute limit of 400 miles - under the best of conditions - no more. So everything is 400 miles or less. I will NEVER be a member of the Iron Butt society.

 

[CalG]

Night riding is a boon. Head lights give warning! Both ways!

Watch for Deer! They have no lights, only those sick shiny eyes...

 

[Jstpssng]

^^^^^^
Moose are worse, they are black as night and like to come up out of the ditch and cross the road just as you go by.
I had a rider telling about catching a hawk in his chest at highway speeds, it nearly took him off the bike.
There is no way that you can plan for that one!

 

[Rock Crawler]

I rode for a while on the road after riding for 25 years on dirt. I did read a book, I forget the name... but it had a couple pointers that stuck with me.

You are narrow, humans can look past you and not see you in a car while they are looking for a car/truck. It is recommended that if there is a potential front facing left turn vehicle ahead of you or a vehicle at a side street, that you should oscillate left to right in your lane to give that driver better ability to register your existence.

If you must stop in traffic before traffic behind you has stopped, leave space in front of you for an escape, as you come to a stop, angle your bike 20° or so facing the planned escape path. This makes your bike appear wider to the still moving cars and has a better chance to register with the eyes/brain, and you are always watching them coming, so you have the pre-planned escape path ready to shoot.

If a car is following close and making you uncomfortable, this is my own personal thing.... Do not get mad, don't trigger road rage.... instead.... stand up on your bike and sway the bike gently in your lane. Yes, standing is illegal at least in PA, but the effect that it has almost EVERY time is that the driver behind you gets confused a bit by your "antics" and will back off to observe you. It very rarely has failed to cause a close trailing vehicle to drop back a good bit.

I rode on the street for a very short time, a truck pulled out from a side street and caused me to do some highly evasive actions that totaled the bike and crushed my left foot and ankle. I missed the truck, but my V-Strom 1000 slid under the truck, I slid into a guard rail. I had a KLX250, KLR650 and V-Strom 1000 at that time. I LOVED my dual sport / Adventure bikes and I loved riding them. After that 9 months of recovery and pain, I sold all 3 and I kind of doubt that I will buy another street legal bike in my life. Luckily I was all the gear, all the time and I was sliding down the road on First Gear Kilimanjaro jacket, First Gear Air mesh pants, AXO dual sport boots, Scorpion EX-500 full face helmet and I forget the gloves but they were gauntlet style with Kevlar knuckles. Not a single piece of my gear burned all of the way through, I had zero skin injuries. All of the gear was thrashed/burned, but it stuck with me until I came to a fast stop on a guardrail.

The accident would have been avoided had I not been coming hot on a down hill sweeping left with a feeder street on the right side just before the apex. I was likely going around 55 in a 35 with plans to stick the V-Strom hard into that sweeping left. As I was setting up for the sweeper, the truck pulled out from behind shrubs on this downhill 2 lane heavily wooded road. As soon as I saw his front end coming out I knew that bad things were about to happen. It was just as much my fault for coming in hot as it was his fault for not inching past the shrubs and seeing me before he committed and pulled out. If you eliminated my hot run, or if you eliminated his pulling out.... I would not have eaten asphalt.

Back to the dirt.

 

[Sigarms]

Back to the dirt.

Honestly, That's about the only thing I really miss about the coal mining area in Pennsylvania (being able to ride off road the entire day without coming accross a paved road). That said, some of my old friends have told me that people from New Jersey have been ruining the area for the "locals". Take that back, miss the strippin holes as well.

Perhaps if we retire out to Utah or Arizona, might look at an Enduro (is that term still around LOL).

 

[Rock Crawler]

Honestly, That's about the only thing I really miss about the coal mining area in Pennsylvania (being able to ride off road the entire day without coming accross a paved road). That said, some of my old friends have told me that people from New Jersey have been ruining the area for the "locals". Take that back, miss the strippin holes as well.

Perhaps if we retire out to Utah or Arizona, might look at an Enduro (is that term still around LOL).

That was the term top use before it was replaced by dual sport, now that seems to be the ubiquitous term of endearment. The other more recent term, based on the new class of big bikes with some gravel/dirt chops under them is Adventure bikes. The pinnacle being the KTM 990 Adventure. My V-Strom 1000 was more like a naked touring bike converted to Adventure Touring... but with literally half of the power of that 990 Adventure. And you trip on your own giant balls... you've got balls for miles.... jump onto a KTM Super Duke 1290 at about 200 HP and hp do some naked twisties.

See, that's the problem here. I really want up ride these big bikes. Fast. But I promised myself. No. No more.

KTM 990 Adventure KTM 99 Adventure - Google Search

 

[cqaigy2]

Honestly, That's about the only thing I really miss about the coal mining area in Pennsylvania (being able to ride off road the entire day without coming accross a paved road). That said, some of my old friends have told me that people from New Jersey have been ruining the area for the "locals". Take that back, miss the strippin holes as well.

Perhaps if we retire out to Utah or Arizona, might look at an Enduro (is that term still around LOL).

Man you are showing your age with that Enduro comment. :laughing: I used to ride a Yamaha, Enduro for miles on back roads, game trails and cross country, man that was fun! You could ride off road, except a few road crossings from Wenatchee all the way to Lake Wenatchee or to Ellensburg.

 

[MossRoad]

I had a 70s Yamaha DT250 enduro. It was my first bike. :thumbsup:

 

[Sigarms]

Man you are showing your age with that Enduro comment. :laughing: I used to ride a Yamaha, Enduro for miles on back roads, game trails and cross country, man that was fun! You could ride off road, except a few road crossings from Wenatchee all the way to Lake Wenatchee or to Ellensburg.

Mine was a silver XT-500. Even with all the trails, it was still nice to be able to use it on the road "legally".

 

[oosik]

When I was "younger" and lived in Alaska - I raced motorcycles. Never won - had a h e l l of a good time. But I was 24-26, married and knew I was destructible and would not live forever. I raced against younger fellow who didn't know that yet. Dirt track - 750 "Snortin' Norton" twin cylinder. Ice cold beers and red hot motorcycles.

There were a few "worked out" gravel pits in the area. Where the gravel ran out and all that was left was peat - acres & acres of peat. Ride all day - gigantic rooster tails of peat - never get even a little bit muddy.

 

[tractorshopper]

Mine is a Honda CRF-250L. I enjoy riding off road and in the mountains on slow days, but I have to ride it on regular roads to get to those spots that I really like to ride. I don't have enough trails just where I am to strictly stay off-road and I think if I was going that route, I'd probably just buy a 125 straight dirt bike to keep riding.

I didn't draw for my Colorado hunt this year, which I expected to, but had planned to trailer it out there and then offload it when I got to the Rockies and ride the rest of the way in and use it on the forest roads and off-road trails out there at least once (I travel out there with a group when I go so someone else can drive the truck with all the 4-wheelers and camping gear the rest of the way in). I should draw next year, so may keep it just to do that at least one time before retiring to just off-road only or 4 wheelers. I have a strong urge to ride the roads of the Rockies with the long sweeping curves.

Our mountains here are a blast with the many turns, but out there, you can get into a turn and stay in it for long periods.

 

[Wakey]

We have some of the best riding areas in North Georgia, Tennessee and western North Carolina. The Cherohala Skyway, Deals Gap, Suches etc are close enough to make a day trip. Cherohala was the best. It runs through gov't land with minimal roads intersecting it. You could flat out walk the dog on that road. The cops were mostly hands off until someone wrecked and then they started writing tickets.

It was the time of my life but I'm glad it's over and I'm not going back. :laughing:

My MD cousin calls them organ donors.

 

[deserteagle71]

Had some pretty close calls riding my BMW at night...in Nevada and several other western states many of the roads are still posted as "Open Range". That means that there are no fences - and livestock has the right of way. If you hit one not only do you end up paying for damage to your rig and yourself, but for the cow or horse you hit. Good luck seeing a black Angus at night!

I restrict myself to my dirt bike (enduro!) now.

 

[CalG]

I make it a point not to over drive my head lights.

Deer, Moose , bear, cows, bicycle riders or pedestrians, I don't want to run into them. .

 

[atsah]

I started out on a Honda 70, little orange one, what a rush that thing was at the age of 8. A Bultaco was next and then Indian was it from there on out..

 

[3930dave]

Yes those wide pillars can actually hide even a school bus, never mind a bike, and that is at an intersection, not a mile away.
My KIA has air bags in all 4 pillars!

Also the side window sills are so high that I only get to see a car that is passing me on inside when his windshield is alongside. (and I'm a 6 foot guy)

I remember some of the early LEO comments evaluating the new Charger for patrol duty..... something about being able to hide a young sequoia behind the A pillar....

Many modern vehicles have terrible driver sight lines, esp. rearward. Why the industry pretends this affectation isn't a Safety issue is puzzling....

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

I rode for a while on the road after riding for 25 years on dirt. I did read a book, I forget the name... but it had a couple pointers that stuck with me.

You are narrow, humans can look past you and not see you in a car while they are looking for a car/truck. It is recommended that if there is a potential front facing left turn vehicle ahead of you or a vehicle at a side street, that you should oscillate left to right in your lane to give that driver better ability to register your existence.

If you must stop in traffic before traffic behind you has stopped, leave space in front of you for an escape, as you come to a stop, angle your bike 20ｰ or so facing the planned escape path. This makes your bike appear wider to the still moving cars and has a better chance to register with the eyes/brain, and you are always watching them coming, so you have the pre-planned escape path ready to shoot.

Back to the dirt.

Good points about visual angles, and the side profile.

I practice much of what you describe..... that said, if you ever recall the book's name or author, pls post it.

Pulling up behind a vehicle stopped at a light, I'll often position myself hard left in the lane. Drunks etc can end up slamming into the back of stopped vehicles - hard left, I might get missed, or at least pushed past the stopped vehicle instead of crushed between them.... usually I keep tapping my brake light while stopped.

No limits to what people get up to on a bike (thinking of people putting nitrous and turbos on 'Busas...... known to be dog slow out of the box.... ) but realistically, a modern 600cc sport bike is pretty quick..... if you have speed impulse control issues...... yeah, staying off Litre+ bikes on the street is a really good idea.

They sell well, but many people don't have the strength and endurance to do any serious riding off-road on a litre bike.... even lightly loaded (many people over pack), you are talking about muscling around a significant amount of weight....

2 wheels in the wind.... big fun, on road or off.....

Rgds, D.

 

[drssg]

I remember some of the early LEO comments evaluating the new Charger for patrol duty..... something about being able to hide a young sequoia behind the A pillar....

Many modern vehicles have terrible driver sight lines, esp. rearward. Why the industry pretends this affectation isn't a Safety issue is puzzling....

Rgds, D.

On the positive side, the backup cameras offer quite an improvement. I first got one on my pickup, because I thought it would be nice when hooking up a trailer. I didn’t realize how useful I would find it every time I backed up.

 

[MossRoad]

Going through this list of fast bikes over the years, I was happy to see my little RD400 was faster in the 1/4 mile than a lot of stock bikes two and three times its displacement. :laughing:

It was always a joy to pull up to next to someone at a stoplight on a 1000cc+ bike and leave em lookin!

List of fastest production motorcycles by acceleration - Wikipedia

I can't imaging having a sub-10 second street bike out of the box, let alone highly modified. YIKES! That's fast.