No I'm not against Harleys in the least. If that's your brand, more power to ya. If you're on two wheels, you're alright by me.
But I've always loved me some Jap bikes. We may have bombed the hell outa those cats back in WWII, but out of the ashes arose an epic sportbike empire! I love MotoGP, WSBK, Redbull series... hell even the AMA is exciting again now that Spies and Mladin are both gone (along with their total and complete dominance that made the series an utter bore to watch).
So Kawasaki has been my brand ever since I started riding. But I still have love for Suzuki, Yamaha, Honda, Ducati, Aprilia, Triumph, KTM, BMW, MV Augusta... did I leave anyone out? Lol, like I said if you're on two wheels, then you're having fun.
Here are some vids I made recently on the only road I ever really take my bike up on high speed runs around here. The road itself is about 5 miles long, but the part I blast down is about 1.6 miles from the peak of the one hill to the peak of the other. Along that 1.6 miles of road is almost dead flat, with little to no traffic (I don't ride fast around other vehicles period... you'll notice in the 2nd video as soon as I see the tractor pop up over the hill I immediatelly chop the throttle and start applying the brakes so that by the time I pass him, I'm doing the speed limit again), about 3 farms all with mile long driveways, and no bushes or trees for animals to hide in and jump out in front of you. It's the most wide open, completely visible road I've found, and the lack of traffic is the biggest drawl for me. I do not go fast around other vehicles period!
I would love, love, LOVE it if there were a race track around here where I could do this sort of thing. But unfortunately for me the nearest track is about 150 miles away, and expensive to get into. So this is my drag strip. I'm planning on going down to Deals Gap here in the next few days, I'll definately take some vids down there!!!
This is my intro video...
1st run of the day...
2nd...
And 3rd (notice when the speedo reads 172 the handle bars jerk right for an instant... that'll get your blood pumping lemme tell you!!!)...
And here's a lazy pass through a local state park. Now this is what I really live for, CORNERS!!! Unfortunately the speed limit in this park is 25 mph, so you can't get all crazy or anything.
I have mixed feelings about these bikes only because I've seen people riding them like maniacs around here...actually popping wheelies on one of the busiest roads. In fact, one of my clients died losing control. No one knows what happened since it was a a one vehicle accident. The helmet didn't even matter. He was found 10 ft away from his bike, and his chest was crushed in. It was very eerie when I heard the news because he actually told me months earlier if he ever crashed, he was gonna go. It was very sad. I'm glad you are careful around traffic, but please be aware accidents can happen at anytime...especially at those speeds.
I'm with ya Mary on the idiots that give others a bad name. My friend has an Yammy R1, but I always love my cruisers better. Back college the crotch rockets were fun though.
Well that's pretty much the status quo as far as sport bike responses go, lol. Bikes are a dangerous hobby to be sure. I seem to be addicted to all of the dangerous hobbies though (parachuting, motorcycling, cliff diving... why can't I just like golf?).
I guess motorcycling is somewhat like being a smoker... my dads been smoking since he was 14, he's now almost 70 and has never been diagnosed with cancer or emphisema. I smoked the two years I was in the Air Force then quit and was diagnosed with two forms of cancer 14 years later. So, it's a roll of the dice I suppose.
Same with those who take up the two wheeled sport... some young men throw a leg over a crotch rocket or other type bike and wind up dead, paralysed, or with some number of broken bones in their body within the year. I've been riding sportbikes for 20 years now. Have racked up more than a quarter million miles on them (my current ZX-10R has just under 50,000 miles on her, I bought her new in 05). And I've only been in one major accident thus far. My gear saved me from anything more than sore muscles in that incident, but I'm aware gear doesn't save you from everything.
I'm also well aware I could get killed driving out of my driveway like my uncle did on his (cruiser). You can get killed on a bike just as easily going 2 mph as you can at 150 mph. But I'm with you guys, I can't stand those idiots who ride wheelies or like a general madman through town, traffic, around kids, etc... I hear about motorcycle accidents every summer. And every summer someone asks me, "hey did you hear so-and-so died on their motorcycle the other day? You should sell yours".
That's never made sense to me. I've known 5 times as many people who've died in car accidents than in motorcycle accidents, but I don't tell people to sell their cars after someone I know dies in a car accident.
To which the anti-motorcycle crowd always tells me, "yeah but cars have a much safer record than motorcycles, there is a much higher death rate on motorcycles than in cars, so why would you knowingly choose to drive something with a higher accident/death rate"? Well I must say that's a pretty good argument, why would anyone knowing choose to drive something with a higher accident/death rate anyhow? I mean, you'd have to be nuts right!!!
Yup, that's why we should all sell our vehicles and go back to horse back riding. There is a HUGE Amish community around here that does all of their travel by horse back or horse carriage. And the accident/death rate of driving in a car compared to horse back riding is 1000 times higher! So I always let those of the opinion that only a crazy person would knowingly choose a method of transportation that's more dangerous than another option know that they'd be much safer on a horse than in their car. But, strangely enough... not one of them has sold their car for a horse? Hmmmm... oh well.
Lol, that's not aimed towards anyone here mind you, just thought I'd share my humorous experiences I've had over the past 20 years. My dad was big into bikes when he was younger, but turned in his two wheels for a set of golf clubs because that became his bigger passion. But he always told me that when you choose to ride a motorcycle, you're going to catch hell from the rest of society. And of course just like most advice handed down from father to son, he was dead on!
I always used to think that one day I would give up motorcycles for something safer like golf or canasta. But after my cancer experience when I was 35 years old I realized that life truly is short, and you might as well enjoy it while you can. So motorcycles aren't going anywhere for now.
More power to you, brother. I'm happy for you - I really am. I was really trying to justify my own reticence rather than question your decisions. We all have our own paths.
No worries, I'm not mad at anyone who's not into motorcycles or chooses not to ride because of the risks. There are some who choose to do things that I find risky, like smoke cigarettes. After going through chemo and radiation I really don't know why anyone would knowingly do something that could wind them up in that situation I was in.
But it's their choice, I don't hate on smokers or any other activity that I find risky. Everyone makes their own choices.
I realize that the vids I put up make me look like an insane person. I only put those up because those are the only vids other motorcyclists seem to enjoy watching. I could post up the videos of the other 50,000 miles I've put on the bike putting around town or calmly riding down the highway... but people don't seem to take any interest in those what-so-ever?
It's only the extreme stuff people seem to take any interest in.