Foggy was an awesome rider! My favorite during that era was Aaron Slight and John Kocinski. |
SEGWAY.
Range; 450 blocks on a ten cent electric charge.
No maintenence.
Safe and fun.
Try one |
Suzuki SV650. My first motorcycle. When I dial in countersteering and how to set up a cartridge properly, I'll be good to go. Jeff |
jj2468...countersteering is so "counter" intuitive. Have you seen Keith Code's "Twist of the Wrist"? It is a really good video that goes over the concepts of countersteering. |
Yesh, the Keith Code video & Keith Code's travelling motocycle school. The only time I ever seriously hi-sided a motorcyle was late braking into a lean on one of his track Ninja 600s. Went over the bars and sprained both hands foolishly landing on my palms. Best lesson I ever learned on a bike. |
Hey, how about an audiophile group trip to the isle of man? We could talk bikes and audio and really drive everyone around us completely bonkers. : ) The merits of synthetic oil over non-synthetic. Slipper clutches and the virtues of the Norton Featherbed frame!!!Don't get me started. |
isle of man??? that is one crazy race. doesnt someone die there every year? it wouild be cool just to go and maybe putt around the course (i would be too scared to go too fast) |
All I have left is my wifes YSR50 that we used as a pit bike. Old, but "Minty" though.:>)
Tboooe,
AMA, CCS, WERA or ?
Jim S. |
Fun counter-steering experiment. At my local ducati dealer, the sales rep and I asked about a half dozen riders to show us their hand motion when counter-steering. No two riders did it the same. Everybody says to do it, but when asked to demonstrate, no two riders in our (very small) test group did it the same. Demonstrations included: rotating both hands in the vertical plane, rotating both hands in the horizontal plane, pushing both hands sideways, pushing both hands sideways and down and lastly and my favorite, "... I refuse to play this game." Let's meet at CES and ask people how to set SRA, whether tubes are better than vinyl, whether vinyl is better than cd, and how to counter-steer... just for fun. Happy Holidays. Jeff |
Jim. S, I was AMA but that was a few moons ago and many many crashes. I still try and do a track day at Laguna Seca now and then. I am not be very fast anymore but I look good in my Doohan replica ARAI helmet...
The YSR is awesome. I used to scream around my block on one. It is so fun just getting the knee down and pretending I am actually fast... |
Tboooe,
That's so cool. Laguna is classic. I'm in the Midwest, and while I've been to Laguna, I didn't get to ride. We were before your time. I quit in 94.
I'm with you on rides, I liked the FZR400 the best. No, I loved that bike.
Jim S. |
Thanks to a suggestion by my wife, who used to show horses professionally, I "steered away" from counter-steering. Steering by rotating the hips and tensing the inner thigh allows for much better control--especially at higher speeds--than does counter-steering. We used to run a motorcycle dealership, FWIW.
My wife's favorite T-Shirt says "Does this motorcycle make my butt look fast?" |
No honey, your butt looks perfect! Repeat after me, No you look good in/on everything/anything. |
Jim S., Yes LAguna Seca is an incredible course! I got to rige on it right after they re-paved it and it was an amazing experience. Going down the corkscrew is something that has to be experiencsd. I have no idea how the racers' bikes do not bottom out the suspension. On the opposite end of the spectrum was my expeirence at Brainerd in Minnesota. That really is a "road" course. The uneveness of the surface made riding fast a scary proposition, not to mention the different surfaces on the track. Those AMA racers have bigger you-know-whats than me!
BTW, i used to the the FZR600. Rock solid chasis. The 400 was defnitely a classic for us wanna be racers. |
Tboooe,
Yeh, a lot of people put FZR600 motors in the 400 chassis to race. Strangely enough, it didn't work as well as most expected.
Were talking shop, is that OK, or are we hijacking a thread?
How the heck did you end up at Brainerd? What did you think of turn 1?
Love and Respect,
Jim S. |
Tboooe,
Re Isle of Man TT - I used to work w/ a Brit who told me that they have "Mad Sunday" there, where they leave the "track" open and let anyone out on it!
Don't know if that's still (or ever was) true but can you imagine??!!
'98 VFR800 |
Boa2,
Do NOT answer "It's not the motorcycle" |
Jim, I was actually living in MN for a time (work). And turn 1 is nuts!!!!
mfsoa, I love your VFR. My favorite bike is my RVF400. There is someting about the 4 four design that is so cool. |
Mfsoa,
I believe they still do Mad Sunday. You can also take a bike around the old Nurburgring (spelling?) course for a couple of dollars. No speed limit.
Tboooe,
Big change in weather from MN to CA. AEH? (not exactely sure how to spell that upper Midwest/Canadian pronunciation.
You guys still follow bike racing? Nicky Hayden "World Champ", who would have thought?
Jim S. |
Jim s. I still religously follow bike racing, mostly World Superbike and MotoGP. I dont really like following AMA that much for some reason (probably because a lot of the tracks look horrible and dangerous). I want to like Nicky Hayden but I cant get into him. For Americans I like Colin Edwards and Kenny Roberts Jr. My favorite Euro riders are Pierre Francisco Chili but he retired and Careless Chucker Carlos Checa. But the best has to be Noriyuki Haga...he's a nut!
And yes, the weather is nice here is CA. Its nice coming home again. I am hoping to get to Laguna Seca for this year's Motogp. I used to go there every year but family, responsiblity, etc has made it more difficult. |
Okay 5323 people have looked at this thread, and 120 have replied, or maybe 120 people have looked at it 43.6 times, but anyway...
When are we going to have the AudiogoN first annual bike rally??? I'm working on the Victory Motorcycle Club rally for next summer already, so what's one more? |
Nrchy,
Ok, I will mount my 1.6'S on my wifes YSR and meet you in Daytona the 1st weekend in March. You'll have to bring amplifaction, and someone else a player. :>)
You will represent the Classic camp, me, Tboooe, and Mfsoa the RR's. We need volunteers for Cruiser, Chopper, and all the other camps. |
Nrchy, I keep revisiting this thread because I get a kick seeing what you younger guys are riding these days - as do the other Agoners who lurk here. You can see my bike list somewhere above. When I lived in Laguna Beach about a decade back, my 60 yo neighbor went out and bought a new Ducati, making me and the other 40+ yo's quite envious. Bob had the bike about two months before he laid it down on Laguna Canyon road at about 60 mph on a rainy day. He managed to avoid serious injury and sold the bike as soon as it was fixed. That episode wasn't lost on my usually indulgent wife.
So, no two-wheelers for me at this point of the journey. But my tweaked E46 M3 handles almost as well as my Super Sport did, goes verrrrrry fast and, when it starts to rain, I can put the top up. Still, I really enjoy bikes and would like to take a ride on a contemporary superbike.
I will be at CES so if Agon bikers decide to ride in I'd love to see your machines.
Enjoy the holidays and see you LV. |
Huge MotoGP fan here, and I do like Nicky. Not always the fastest on a single lap, but mature for his age on and off the track.
I too have grown weary of watching Suzuki's dust the field in AMA.
My celebrity claim to fame: My neighbor (Anthony Fania)is the lapper that Aaran Yates drop-kicked at Daytona a few years back.
Is anyone else particularly psyched about next season with the 800's? I am, it'll be fascinating to see if the machines click with certain rider's styles. But I think the pip-squeak (affectionately!) Pedrosa may have an advantage. |
If anyone is serious about a biker/audiophile rally or meet, please do count me in. |
If we can get enough (whatever that means) response we could try to do something central to the respondants.
I'm all for it... |
Mfsoa,
Pedrosa, maybe? Rossi's coming back with something to prove though. He will be hard to beat. I am a Nicky fan. I don't think he is the most talented, but he is a hard worker. Nicky's dad Earle had just started Nicky and Tommy on 125's in WERA (you only had to be 12 yrs. old on 125's or 80's) when I was racing in WERA, so I knew them a little bit. So, I still root for the Hayden's out of respect.
This thread made me think of all the bikes I got to race or ride. It is a longer list than I ever would have expected.
Nrchy, Mid-Ohio has the "Vintage Days" the week before the AMA race weekend. I have a friend that went every year and always enjoyed the variety of bikes that showed up. Close for me, but a long way for the West Coast guys.
Jim S. |
Now I'll really make you guys laugh; I use to race YSR50's on MiniGP series in Texas with Nicky and Tommy Hayden when they were really really young (early 90's). I've owned 6 YSR's, enduranced races them for 4 years with both the MiniGP series and CMRA (now renamed) at the time...
I have sold my guzzi and moved on to Kawasaki Z1000 (Arata Ti full exhaust, PCIII, CRG levers, Ohlins..) and just recently a another Kawasaki ZX-14R because you can really never have enough HP (dyno at 186hp with 109ft/lbs of torque) on tap... (mods waiting to be installed, full Brock Ti pipe, PCIII, TRE, etc...). After all these years I'm going to see about some track days so I can enjoy the true potential (or at least my limits) of these bikes.. I encourage any motorcyclist to lookup the local race organizations and do some open track days. This is the only true way to understand you bike at that limits in a safer environment.
Keep the rubber side down..
Chris |
Chris,
Happen to know Michael Martin or Brad Sawyer? They raced CMRA about the same timeframe.
Jim |
2000 Suzuki Hayabusa modified for those 200+ MPH days! |
Stilljd: I've met Michael Martin, don't remember Brad Sawyer. Do you know Robert Marsh (ex-AMA)? it's a small world.. I did a ton of endurance racing and YSR50 racing, not a lot of big bike sprint racing because I was broke back then... I wore my yellow jersey for a whole year because I was either going fast or sliding on the ground... |
CCycle - Yeah, Roadracing is a small world. In 1990 there were about 10,000 racing licenses with all the sanctioning bodies. Figure at least half of those were duplicates (some people had 5 or 6). Maybe 5,000 or less racers total. A very small, elite, group we were :>).
I remember some of the YSR racing series's. You guys took it more seriously in the South and West. In our region, every now and then there would be a race for the 50's during lunch.
We raced the WERA endurance series 89-92, then got into AMA 92-94. Rode with Michael in 90 before he went Emgo Suzuki. Michael probably knew Roger, but I can't put a face with the name. Brad rode with us in AMA 92-93 and some earlier endurance stuff. They are both Dallas-Ft. Worth.
We got to race the bigger bikes and the National Series but, in the end, we all end up the same - BROKE! You just saved yourself the financial roller coaster.
Was a lot of fun though.
Nice system BTW. That is a serously dedicated listening room. Want to sell and sponsor a race team?
Jim S. |
Hey Jim S.,
I've been a fan of the Hayden's since they burst out on the National scene. Living here in Cincinnati and growing up in KY, of course I'm a Nicky fan. I love hearing his drawl when he does his post race interviews with the motoGP press!
Early this summer my sister was telling me that a new nurse at UK hospital had a brother that raced motorcycles. She thought he was "racing in Europe" or something like that. I asked her the new nurses name and it was Hayden! Turns out Nicky's sister works in the ward with my sister. It was nice that Nicky had his whole family at the last race where he secured his championship. Not bad for a good ol' boy from Owensboro!
BTW, I about jumped out of my shoes when Rossi crashed! I didn't have anything against Rossi, but it was a nice turn of events after that crap Pedrosa pulled on Nicky in the previous race.
Currently bikeless since I don't have a garage. Previously had dirt bikes, then a tricked out RZ350, tricked 1990 VFR750 and finally a CBR900RR. Once I get my new house built I'll probably get some type of cool bike that ain't so fast. I'd really like to have a tricked out GB500 or possibly a small bore 2-stroker. Of course, that yellow Duc 748 looks good too......
Enjoy,
TIC |
Hey Tom, nice to hear from you.
You have an affection for 2-strokes too? I got to prep TZ's for a couple of years in AMA and the early Formula USA series. I had never even ridden a 2-stroke before that. Simply amazing performance and straight forward technology. I have been a 2-stroke admirer ever since.
CBR900, what a great bike. Hard to keep the front wheel on the ground though.
The entire VFR series were some of the nicest handling bikes of their time.
RZ350, stock RZ's wobbling across racetracks all over the US and Canada. Those things were dangerous in stock form. Almost got killed by an RZ wobbling uncontrollably across my line out of the last turn at Savannah.
That Ducati is going to put a crimp in your music budget.
Think Nicky can repeat?
Jim S. |
Jim,
You are right about the RZ wobbling. I didn't really notice it until I went back to it after wadding my VFR down in the KY twisties. I had kept the RZ and started riding it again after totaling the VFR. I couldn't believe how bad it handled after riding a more modern machine. I promptly sold it and bought my buddy's 900RR.
I don't know about Nicky repeating. There are several other good contenders and it's very hard to stay on top.
Your right about the Duc. It's a bit expensive and a bit fast for my current taste. But it is absolutely beautiful. Honestly, I think the Honda GB500 is the ticket for me. Looks cool, can be tricked to look nearly identical to a 1965 racer, it's relatively slow, sounds cool, blah, blah.
I must be getting old!
Enjoy,
TIC |
Tom,
It took me a little while to find the time to look up what a GB500 is. I don't know a lot about singles, but it does look cool. Some of the nicest customs I've seen have been based on singles. There is something about the simplicity and functionality that strikes a resonant chord!
Hope you find one if you decide to go for it!
Jim S. |
For Jim or anyone interested in seeing a Honda GB500, here's a link to an ad for one. It is a good photo of a stock bike. Click on the photo to enlarge.
http://adcache.cycletrader.com/5/3/1/87117331.htm
The bummer is that I could have bought a brand new one in the early '90s for about $2500-2800. They didn't sell worth crap at the time of their procuction run and dealers were nearly giving them away. Oh well, I guess I'll get to fuel the economy a bit by paying double when I'm ready for one.....
Enjoy,
TIC |
I am riding a Yamaha FJ 1100, the last of the great air cooled bikes. But now it is 1400 cc's, flat slide Keihn carbs, Carillo rods, titanium valves, Perf. machine brakes/floating rotors, puffed out swing arm, gumball 17" tires f/r, 4 into 2 exhaust, stock cam timing, rebuilt trans. with stock gearing--and there is not a bike made that can touch it in a top gear roll on. |
Oh my gosh, that is a reaaaally pristene piece. Funny how some things go up in price. I see why you want one.
Don't tell anybody, but I paid $800 for my wifes YSR50 as a Christmas present in 90 or 91. I have seen them for sale recently over $3M and not in as good of a condition and not all original.
Does this ever happen in Audio gear. I am aware of something of a collectors market in "antique" gear, but just good functionality that actually appreciates over time? Or is it more a matter of art?
PS. - Huntermusic - That is a pretty bold statement. I get large displacement and what it provides, but cripes, there are so many lightweight hot rods being built out of the factories?
Jim S. |
Huntermusic,
As the ol' saying goes, "Nothing exceeds like excess!".
Enjoy,
TIC |
Jim,
In about 1991 or 92, I paid $1100 for a pristine stock 1983 RZ350-TC in Team America colors. The owner had only replaced the pipes and even supplied the "like new" stock catalytic pipes with the bike. Of course I immediately modified the crap out of it. Anyway, sold it for $1800 4 years later. Heck, if I had left it stock and pristine, it would likely have been worth more, but it wouldn't have been as much fun. |
|
Hello, I have a small collection of Italian motorcycles which you can see here,
http://community.webshots.com/user/amaranth143
I was never a big fan of bikes in my youth, but then I discovered a 77' Moto Guzzi Lemans 1 in 1982 at the age of 26 and that was it for me. Prior to that I was into sport cars such as Triumph TR6 and 7, MG, Alfa, Porsche and anything else as they were all inexpensive then, I still have the bike. I have added to the collection over the years and now have a nice collection of vintage Italian sport bikes. I race a vintage Ducati single and a few of the others have gotten on to the track for track days. No particular favorite, except I am mad about Ducati singles, never met one I did not like. Of course Laverda triples are pretty cool too. As are...
Bob |
Helloo Stilljd
thanks for your comment. I've nailed a couple of bikes in roll ons. The thing is a torque monster and with the stock cams and the racing carbs the throttle response is instantaneous in the rev range where most of us ride on the highway. All the ultra fast bikes make their power high up the rev band and in top gear (esp. a 6 speed bike) they are sitting in a part of the rev range at 80mph where there is not a lot of power. I like riding two up and the torque and power in the 4000-7500 rpm range makes it a joy without a lot of shifting. The wide seat is great and the modern radial tires, wheels, brakes and new fork make it very secure. I would love to have the chance to roll it on with any bike; I am pretty sure it would win against any modern bike if it were stock. I know I am narrowing the rules a bit but if you had a chance to ride it I think you might agree. |
p.s. Stilljd
Nothing is faster for riding on the two lane road with curves than a lightweight bike. And lightweight bikes are also great fun to ride. But they certainly are not the most comfortable for a cross country trip, two up riding, or carrying luggage of packages. I love light weight but the real world is the real world. I have a few cars but only one bike.
My personal theory is that the factories build lightweight bikes for the reviewers to review, and that sells more bikes. But the reviewers are all young guys making no money having fun with someone else's bikes. They don't live in the real world where you have a bike and put 5000 miles a year on it, take a couple of trips a year, but still want it to have some go. And besides all that, at least my bike has a 6.5 gallon tank and that means I don't have to fill it up every 150 miles. Another real world item. |
How'd I miss this one? Been gone for too long. 2005 HD FXDXI (Dyna Superglide Sport). Live on 15th Street in NYC. Keep it on 13th street. Every time I get on it, I start and finish in the City. Love it. Nothing quite like rumbling down 5th Ave and startling the tourists. Keep the shiny side up. |
Huntermusic,
A grain of truth in everything you say. I didn't mean to disrespect your ride or one up you.
"and there is not a bike made that can touch it in a top gear roll on."
I just thought that was was a pretty bold statement considering the likes of the R1's, GSXR1000's, Ducati's of all shapes and sizes, and such in the world. May the power gods smile on you!
Peace Brother. :>)
Be Safe,
Jim S. |
stilljd
no offense taken. I love debating over e-mail. I know that it sure would be fun to try my FJ against all the bikes out there. I think if you rode it you might agree. It has got a lot of power, and the throttle response is truly instataneous so that when you slam the throttle open you are slammed forward as if someone smashed you in the back, not merely accelerated, but slammed forward. The bike gets up over 100mph in a flash, and you have to hang onto the bars for dear life.
but let me say that it really is only a matter of the 80-120 mph range; I am sure that a lot of the new bikes would gather steam much faster in the higher speed ranges. Plus, I have left the stock hearing in place so even though the bike would go a lot faster than the top speed now (145-150 or so), the gearing would run the engine past redline. |
Huntermusic, OK, BS around which bike is faster/fastest. I can live with that. I just don't want to tick off/offend someone that I don't know for no good reason.
If I don't get too busy at work I am going to research some horsepower/torque vs. weight numbers and see what we might be able to predict. There are canned programs that will do the modeling if I can find a "freeware" version.
Jim S. |
I forgot to update this thread from my last post.
Circa March 2006 I traded in my Triumph Daytona 600 for a Triumph Daytona 675.
A very good, very sharp handling bike, but I never really warmed to the "Scorched Yellow".
Nonetheless, I racked up 21,000 miles in just over one year and have just sold the bike to purchase the new Ducati 1098 in yellow.
For me, the perfect commuter car for my 80+ miles in and out of NYC every day. |
