Get on Your Bikes and Ride, Fellas!

Holy hell, they must be turbo? Can you recall the exact bike, how many CCs, any forced induction at all, n2o?

No fancy tricks, just standard bikes - don't forget that these things are extremely light. I think the ones he was looking at that do that are some of the 1000cc Triumphs and Kawasakis.

I know he wants to go for a Triumph Daytona or a Triumph Sprint RS, but can't remember if those are the ones he was talking about.

Mmmhm, my uncle has a Kawasaki (K1-R1?) I don't exactly recall, and he was stating almost the same specs as you did, it's got a nice big light bar on the back, seat shaped a bit funny, I may even go grab a picture or two of it if I can remember to, excellent on gas, and excellent on speed.

R1 rings a bell.

That's the thing about motorbikes in general - the fuel economy is fantastic. Even if you push the thing hard you'll get about 50 miles to a gallon, and although the tank is small (they hold, what, 15 litres? 20?), you'll get 300 miles out of them at least. My Dad's worked out that with a bike, he'll save over £120 a month - he currently drives a P reg (1997) Saab 9000 CSE Turbo (might be the CS, actually. Either way it's a petrol Turbo with an automatic gearbox), which does 30 mpg if he drives it softly, and he's not someone who drives cars softly.

I'd have to be in an ironman suit before I'd consider riding a motorcycle on the highway.

You know, it's actually safer to ride a motorbike at high speeds... well, not too high, obviously.

If you're going too slow, then the tyres don't warm up and you can't get the cornering (much like a Formula 1 car - the tyres are made of a rubber that gets stickier as it warms up, giving greater grip in the corners), and you're much more likely to tip and fall off.

Granted, go too fast and the bike will quite literally fly from underneath you. Some of the more powerful bikes, when you accelerate from a standing start, will throw you off backwards as the power goes to the back wheel and lifts the front wheel a good few feet off the ground. And if the bike has a competition clutch, well, you'd best tie yourself on.

Oh yes, I'm too afraid to purchase my own as we've had a very close friend of the family get killed on a motorcycle (no helmet..) only going about 50-60 in a 45mph zone.. They are a devil's advocate of a vehicle, you don't have the saftey of your steel cage that you're accustomed to, but you do have excellent, excellent gas mileage, excellent speed and power, you can park almost anywhere, you can access almost any road, and they're just really cool.

One of my favorite bikes to date, has GOT to be the Hayabusa. They've been around for a few years now and have made great progression in their stock HP. Seriously, a friend of my Fathers had one of these back in '99 brand new and he would tell us that stock he could trap it out (1/4 mile) at 12.1secs at something outrageous like 135mph.

99 Busa



New '08 models

Ooooh! The '08 models are pretty!

My Dad bought the Triumph Sprint RS this morning, and it's being delivered tomorrow morning - I'll try and get some pictures of it.