With every year comes a new batch of sports bikes just that bit faster, lighter and better handling than the previous years crop.
I have been riding superbikes from the 80’s 90’s and Naughties and have to say that the modern stuff needs to be hussled round a whole lot more to get the same satisfaction that one used to get from taking a twisty road on a bike that bucked and weaved.
I think thats why I tend to go for oddball bikes like TL’s and ZX-10s, they provide the thrill factor that the sterile rockets can’t offer at anything less than twice the speed limit.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the new bikes, but just wonder if they maybe do the job too well to be exciting at safe speeds?
It’s quite possibly become relative. Do you remember the first time you got on a bike and did 30mph? To me that felt much faster. Then it was a rush the first time I did a motorway. Then more and more as I pushed the speed.
After a while, the speed itself wasn’t the thrill it was the acceleration or the handling.
I wonder if you’ve found the same “norm” from it all?
Not necessarily as I have spoken to guys (and girls) who ride modern bikes and have older bikes and they get a greater feeling of satisfaction from riding the older bike as it requires more rider input.
Ask someone who has a new Gixxer and had an early Slabby how different the ride is;)
What I’m saying is today’s bikes do everything so well that the thrill is higher up the speed scale.
I’m inclined to agree then, although I also find the above but my 'blade was one of the original ones (chassis number 49) and it was ballistic. It didn’t do anything smoothly, especially accelerating, no smooth power curves or anything. It just turned into a sadistic monster the minute you turned the throttle.
Sadly I got over confident and wrecked it and nearly killed myself :pinch:
No, bear in mind your abilities from that earlier time, jump on an RD250 now and you’d be bored…until you came to brake!
Did that once a few years back, rebuilt a GT380, looked fab, handled shite and brakes crap, wasn’t exciting just dangerous…still easy enough to scare yourself on modern stuff, I agree it’s further ‘up the scale’ but that’s because you ( if you’re an ‘experienced’ rider ) may be better than you were?
Imagine you’d just passed your test and jumped on one of the top litre bikes - you’d cack yourself!
That’s one reason why there’s always so many low mileage superbikes around - dealer I know said a lot of mature people come in to rediscover their biking - buy a superbike then within a short time realise they’re not going to have a problem with maintenance as it’s doubtful whether they’ll survive that long!..
Hey Monkey - yes I did that - went from GSXR750 to Supermoto - but to be honest they are a great tool for larking and getting around town etc., the effect wore off - 98mph just not fast enough!
Everybody should have a go on a supermoto, and I’d love one as a second bike, but I can only have 1 - so sportsbike it is for me!
My most recent sport bike was a 2004 GSX-R750. It was wicked huge fun to ride…that being said, the opportunities to ride it the way it was “intended” to be ridden were few and far between.
I’d own one again if I lived near a track and could do track days regularly…otherwise, I don’t see myself owning another sport bike for street riding. I have a “sport cruiser” now and LOVE it. Plenty of power…decent performance for a big bike…fun to ride. I would still give my left arm for a Super-Moto, though.
I think you just answered the question “98 mph not fast enough” if you need to go faster then that on the road then you are a prime example of why modern sports bikes are less “safe” than earlier models, you “need” to go faster to get the “rush” with all the atendant risks that that brings.many years ago james Hunt stated that he got more fun from his battered old van than he did from all of the expensive sports cars he had driven during his reign in formula 1, the reason… he could drive it at 100% ALL the time rather than 30% most of the time.Modern sports bikes are superb machines but at the same time an example of ultra specialisation, they work suberbly on a track and look the business, but off the track they are a compromise and the compromise is getting more and more lopsided as each new model comes out.the early fireblades and gixxers are not as good for track work as the modern stuff but on the road which will get you there first? and if they are second , then by how much of a margin? not much I would bet! and more and more now which gets more attention at bikemeets? the old stuff! the modern bikes are better in all ways except the one that counts… involvement! the old bikes have to be ridden and need to be learnt they can give you an enjoyable ride without the worry of a “dead licence” offence .
It would be good to have a go on a supermoto, but IMO, they are even less practical as road bikes than sports bikes…The main example being very poor fuel economy.Think I’m getting to the VFR stage of life…
Need a bike with good handling, decent power, but some real world practicalities like some storage space and a pillion seat that isn’t so uncomfortable that the pillion would rather step off the bike at 90 than stay on :laugh:
Would still keep something extreme for track use though
My regular rides are the R1…high speed knee down fun,
the 600 bandit, relaxed easy going, dangerously slow two up riding bike…I have more near misses on it than the R1 cars are all around me and they seem to want to get me…or am I just paranoid…
the GT750 my 31 year old big mother of a two stroke and my favourite, I also ride and enjoy…and that never goes much above 70…might break…but it too has its fun,not great brakes mind…
the GT550 (2stroke)is okay and sounds great…3 into 1 expansion pipes but is a bit noisy
The KH500 (2stroke) is good fun and a nice ride, the KH400 (2 stroke) feels small but too is fun and light
The rg250 (2 stroke) is slow and big bikes scare the fook out of me when they whizz past but its a lovely little bike to ride…feels so damn safe and light…good brakes
The RGV 250 is a track bike and not yet done a track day on it will take it to one soon once I have tidied it up a bit…
Speed is one thrill but bikes give you lots of thrills…speed induces a the release of an lsd like hormone in the brain and is totally adictive…there has been a study done on this and it is an accepted fact…we are all speed junkies, its nowt to do with the bike… honest officer I am not able to control my addiction…the world is against us and we are all doomed, is that my paranoia again…
I’m not so much talking about out and out speed as we have been able to do double the speed limit for the last 20 years or so:w00t:I’m talking more about the bike’s handling allowing us to take bends at twice the speed, knee down* as on say your KH500 which was hinged in the middle and gives you the same buzz but at a safer pace:)*some of us:pinch:
yes and my point is that I agree…on the KH and the gt 750 you have to be a bit more careful and drive a different ride but you are on the limit at 60 where as on the R1 your on the limit at triple that speed. The modern bikes are just so good that they lull us into a false sense of being more capable than we are…
the bikes are far better than we are, but my oldies are not…
Today’s sportsbikes are so efficient in what they are designed to - racing - the limiting factors have long moved beyond normal rider’s capabilities. Sportsbikes got so focussed, so sofisticated, they become too good for us…
Look at Fireblades. Old ones were raw and wild, but every another 'blade got more refined, more stable, more faster, but… less exciting at lower speeds.
Don’t get me wrong. Sportsbikes are fantastic, but their limits are beyond us.
I have had a Thunderace once, crashed it at substantial speed, nearly died. I was exactly 1 year off road. That was a time that let me think thing over. Things like: why do I ride, what’s in it for me, could I ever stop riding, what could I have done differently.
I figured out that speed, even thou it is sooooooo intoxicating, has to be controlled to remain safe. It is not once controlled by emotions or addictions.
I needed something that I could ride more slowly, but with same level of pleasure. Got a fazer 1000. It CAN keep up with sportsbikes most of the time, but it’s not the point.
The point is this bike rewards you more at 50mph than a sportsbike does at 150. You do your matchs.
For the same reason people get off sportsbikes and on SMs. Less speed, more fun.
Ah you see, there’s the rub - it would be very nice to have a garage full of bikes to suit your mood on any particular day or any specific journey, and , if you have that then that’s all good.
But…most (?) of us have only the one bike, then we have to compromise. I’m getting on abit now and have had a fair selection of bikes in the past, and yes, my current ride has abilities beyond mine - However - my sportsbike can commute through town, tour and be reasonably comfortable on the motorway, be fun in the twisties and the odd trackday. I can, if I so choose, ride it slowly and economically or press on. It’s a bit like having a ferrari you can tootle to the shop on - not it’s best use, but do-able.
Supermoto’s are good fun and ace through traffic, but painful on a motorway, and misery when it’s really cold. Commuters are designed specifically for that purpose, tourers for touring, scooters for err…scooting?
So, back to the point, imho, sport’s bike are the best compromise - for me - that doesn’t mean I’m right or wrong, and I don’t beleive modern bikes are too good to be safe - I’ve (ahem) ‘overextended’ myself a couple of times and the bike has coped and I haven’t crashed when I thought it was inevitable - the fact they, (modern bikes) are so good ( brakes and suspension) means they’re safer than the evil handling, underbraked tat we used to ride.
And I don’t include classic, or vintage bikes, as that’s a completely different kettle of fish where pride of ownership and maintenance are key issues.
