Hey Everyone! I know it has been an eternity since I posted here. Its spring and my place of business is incredibly busy! I just realized that I had like 400 e-mails in the time I was gone. Anyway, I hope everyone is doing well and still keeping it rubber side down. This is more of a rant than anything, but maybe there are a few of you in the same situation.

Let me start off by saying that I just fitted some new mirrors, bar ends, and frame sliders in carbon fiber and I love the look…….their will be some pics soon.
Ok this is an ongoing thing where I work and lately it has come down to me getting really pissed off.
Some of my co-workers (Most of which have owned bikes before. None of them actually have them anymore, because they were stupid with them). They come up to me and make rude comments about the fact that I DO NOT do wheelies, speed down the roads, or take corners at blistering speeds. This is where I get into the problem. I am no idiot. I am comfortable with the fact that my bike can, and will, at my command, hit triple digits and raise the front wheel off the ground. I CHOOSE not to do it, for the simple reason that I like my life and my four children and wife. The sad part is that these are the comments that are being thrown at me are from the same dopes that did it and went down. Got arrested and lost there licenses. Or were forced to get rid of them. Shouldn’t that be enough to not want to go do these things?
And please for those that do these things, I mean no disrespect. Go for it and be safe. I am not judging!

Can’t I just ride my bike at safe speeds and enjoy it that way? I do crack her open when I feel the need. Just because I don’t ride all over like I am at freakin’ Sazuka, Road America, or Laguna Seca, doesn’t make me a non-enthusiast or in their own words “a puss”. I am tired of being told that my bike is being wasted away, because I keep both wheels on the ground and stay within the legal speed limits.
Thanks for listening.
Jersey

 

Glad to hear you have what it takes to ride your own ride and not give in to pressure. It would be nice if there were a crushing response to the idiots, but anything you could say would either go over their heads or roll off their backs. Maybe something like, "I know you don't understand now, but when you grow up you might." It sounds like we ride alike, but nobody has bothered me about it, maybe because I'm in my 60's and expectations are lower, maybe because my friends are older and wiser. Anyway, hang in there. Don't let them get to you.

 

your post already implies it; what possible value should their opinion have on the matter? if anything, i say take it as the compliment it really amounts to.
unfortunately, there's some sort of line-of-thinking that comes with owning testosterone that says if you're not reckless then you're somehow a lesser man. take those illogical emotions of frustration that come from thinking you aren't proving you're skill unless you're living on the edge of foolishness, and trade them for the self-assured pride that comes from exercising uncommon wisdom. now that's a reputation worth admiring.

 

Man I agree I like to ride the same way (not too crazy). Unfortunately there is nobody around my town that rides like that so I end up riding with cruisers. I'd love to find someone to ride sport bikes with that don't just want to rip down the interstate at 170 all the time. the problem is that 90% of sportbikers ride like this.

 

I agree i use to love to speed in and out of cars and all that bs but once you go down and your life is put into jeopardy you tend to look at the hole picture and not just here and now crashing was almost like a rebirth for me now when i want to speed and take twistys i go to the track. try explaing to the father of the little girl you just killed because you slammed into the passenger side why you where going 120 thats something i never want 2 do or will do just my 2 cents just ride it how you want hence thats why its your bike and not theres.

 

i know what you mean LJ! it takes a lot to ride your own ride. i just got back from a nice ride today (150 miles with lots of twisties) and although i was going pretty fast - i was in the back of the pack... and i was okay with that. the guys i ride with are pretty cool (and wicked FAST) - will wait for the rest to catch up at the next intersection or turn. anyway, if they think you're a "puss"... then that makes 2 of us

 

we can all ride fast enought to kill us. the one thing i want to do is learn how to ride at safe speed and still have fun. what i do is set goals for myself like working on my lines in and out of corners and practice on smoothess.its a lot of fun to see that if you really want to be a better rider/safe driver you can and still not be a danger to yourself or others.good luck guys.

 

It all really comes down to the idea of what "fun" is. What I may think is fun you may not agree with. I bouight a sport bike not for its speed but to take those crazy cornors swooping in like a hawk on the road lol. The idea that my bike can go 160+ mph may be true but I probably will never see that kind of speed for a long time and it won't be on the streets. I just love how a sport bike handles in the twists of the road thats my idea of fun. Others think getting your bike into the triple digits is fun. If thats what the want do they have my blessing to some degree that I hope they dont kill themselves or others. I look at what your rding though and it does make me wonder if all you really wanted was the sports bike appeal then why a 954rr a 600 you would have more than been happy with. Also if you have chicken strips a mile wide you might have also been better with a cruiser. Don't take it the wrong way like I said for the type of riding you do these a choice top be made on what bike suits you best. Theres always a better choice or smarter choice hell I started on a 600rr for my 1st bike by a majority it wasn't the best idea but I made that choice. If a 954 is what you wanted I respect that aswell but I can also see the other side of the coin that the bike isn't being used to it's full potential. It's funny becuase you could say unless your running through every street and road doing 100+ then no ones really using the bike to its fully potential. These are bikes made for the track and thats what people need to realize.

 

Hey melantus, I have that same jacket! As to this post, I believe that it takes more to ride safe than to ride fast and reckless. I'm sure we have all 'accidentally' gone much faster than we realized, but that does not mean we should be judge like the rest of the immature riders out there. How many time do we see vids of people going down? Mostly on GSXRs because of the trend that comes with stunting. I'm not saying that other bikes go down just as much, but I also feel that CBR's are much more forgiving than most bikes. It's not only our poor choice of skills that might be involved in a downed bike and hospital bills, it's also a fact of a car/truck/van/big-rig not wanting us risking our lives so they cut us off, or that they want to be a-holes. My 0.0002 cents always be a defensive rider unless its to avoid a collision and then you might have to be more aggressive.

 

i think all you guys are right, but just ride w/in your abilities and remember sometimes what our little pea brain tells us about how good we may be exsaggerated.