Thread: Tales of High Speed

Originally Posted by Quick Orange

I just put some slicks on the pitbike in my avatar, and that's pretty cool, but nothing like that KTM.

Thanks, your bike must be a hoot, too. I can't recognize the bike in your avatar, but I'm guessing (by your handle) that you're a KTM fan? This is my second KTM (my first being a '96 625 RXC, which I didn't like because it was kick-only and ran terribly) and I love how it rides. My brother has a 990 Superduke, which also rides great. I ride about 10,000 miles a year, so reliability and durability are important to me. If the 950 Supermoto does well on those dimensions, I'll be a happy owner!

I use to ride high speed road rallies on highway 35 Skyline through the Santa Cruz hills. I had been doing this since I was a kid of 17. Back in 1995 I had an FZR 1000 Yamaha with lots of big tuning. Riping through the hills with a group of many other bikers was BIG fun. Nothing like seeing your buddies knees dragging at 160 mph and realizing just how fast you're going. I trashed that bike in 96 by getting off at around 110ish. Just got a few bruises out of that one, leather works wonders. The bike was totaled after hitting a guard rail and flying down the side of a steep hill hitting a tree or two on the way down. Now at 50 I ride a bit more conservatively on my Ultra Glide, but still enjoy hanging the front wheel in the air now and then.

My earliest brush with real speed came when I was 13.

90 mph, 2 inches from the ice, on my back, pulling 4 gees. Yeah, I was on the junior Olympic Luge Team. I even got to meet the real Jamaican Bobsled team.

I've gone 140 mph in my WRX late at night. Not too often. Smooth ride though.

189 kph on the Autobahn was fun. I would have gone faster but I had an 86 year old with me and I had to drive sensibly.

That's pretty much it if you don't count snowboarding or whitewater kayaking.

Now that looks like a blast!

Luge is one of those sports that you just know a bunch of young guys came up with. They were bored, had a steep icy hill, and sled materials. In other words, it looks like a blast!

Mine is one of Guy Cooper's Xtreme pitbikes- it runs off a 125 4-stroke honda engine (Guy lives a few miles from me). I love KTM's, especially their motards. For dirt, I'm partial to Yamaha though.

Anyway, yeah the Orange in my name is in a roundabout way in reference to KTM. I bought the orange version of my bike because it looked like a KTM, and I look quick on my little orange bike

Motorbikes were my passion for many years, rode everywhere, didn't have a car license back then. Lived and breathed bikes. Ended up doing courier work in london, which is a blast but not something I'd want to do again. Life expectancy is way too short.

My last bike (tuned FZR1000) I sold in 2000 when I moved from Holland to Texas, with the heat and the crazy people, I didn't fancy roasting in my leathers. AFter that it was Brunei (only one main road and not many twisties. Back in London now, and it's not worth owning another, I get my thrills cycling through the city.

Memorable moments were seeing 160mph on the FZR, it would get there so damn fast. Any number of rideouts with friends. The advanced rider course with a police instructor going waaaaay over the limit. A day trip to North Wales with 6 police riders and me (I used to run a training center) getting real thin chasing these guys around the mountains.

The Ijsselmer dam in holland, 19 miles long, straight with a single shallow bend 2/3 along. Wife and I had rented a supercharged Mercedes SLK for a weekend as an anniversary present to ourselves cruising around our new home country. With almost no traffic and a dead straight road, plus a fast car I wondered how quick it really was. That car tracked so solidly, I'd never driven anything like it before. At one point my wife, who's used to me driving a bit quickly here and there, looks over and very pointedly says 'we're going quite quickly, aren't we' in a tone of voice that actually said slow the down!. I looked at the clocks quickly and was counting in my head (233, 234, 234....) Yes hun, I'll back it down a little. At 160 (kph obviously) it felt like you could get out and walk.

http://uk.encarta.msn.com/media_1216...therlands.html

But for my 40th birthday my wife bought me a day on the track with a pair of Aston Martin's, long my dream cars. Started with laps in a new Subaru Imprezza, then laps in a V8Vantage and then a DB9. Wish I'd driven them the other way round, the V8 was a much better behaved and balanced car and I was starting to get the hang of the track by then. I do have video of the DB9 though, with a racing driver giving you instructions all the way. Feeling 450 ponies screaming under your right foot exiting a corner will stay with me for a very, very long time, although all that power and the V12 out front did make it drift rather wide once or twice, the V8 with less power felt more poised and faster round the track. Oh to have the difficult choice over which one to choose. Enjoy

http://www.youtube.com/v/U99rqeFsQqQ

Hmm, tried to embed that but it didn't work, you'll have to follow the link.

J.

I have a 1985 Yamaha V-Max that will make you grin from ear to ear. I have done 150 on a Honda V-65 Sabre. It was done at daybreak on Sunday morning when no one was on the road.

bj

Ok i have read all the posts and have to agree with the bikers here. A wee bit of history. Im an immigrant to the USA from Scotland. I have owned a few bikes and one awesome car in my life and am putting a bike in my mind now.

Bikes I have had...
1.Honda Transalp KT600V..lovely thumper trail bike.
2.VFR750FM..another lovely sports/Tourer and thumper
3.Suzuki GSXR1300 Hayabusa..1999 Model unrestricted
4.Honda Goldwing..nice bike for old men...not 30 somethings
5.Kawasaki ZXR750 (sold due to import laws here, emissions allegedly)

Car....BMW 535 i Sport ( six cylinder)

Number 4 was my favourite and most comfortable due to its riding position and length...then the speed...fastest speed attained 195mph, now that being said we do not have the Police on the roads in Scotland like you do have here and after that ride I didnt do it again, purely because I got too brave, the exhiliration of being fully dressed in matching leathers and skid-lid and looking in car windows as you slip effortlessly by them is , well beyond words. I enjoy the freedom of the ride, now Im here I fancy a customised Boulevard, as I think they look great, a shop does them and they look wicked, now I am a family man I need to screw the heid (head). After the ride I went to the pub and the high stayed with me all nightso I ran off at the mouth all night...

I am looking forward to riding the Blue Ridge and surrounding areas here as I graduate to more sensible years Im just afraid that the demon is still lurking back there in the deepest recesses of my mind saying' where have your balls gone'...lol

regards,simon

130-140 on my Yamaha R-1. Kinda freaked me out a little especially when my buddy zipped by me in his unrestricted 'Busa!
Sold my R-1 a couple of years ago when I was laid off. Never got back into it.

Originally Posted by coully

I am looking forward to riding the Blue Ridge and surrounding areas here as I graduate to more sensible years Im just afraid that the demon is still lurking back there in the deepest recesses of my mind saying' where have your balls gone'...lol

Oh, it's there. When you're at your weakest, it'll pop out and nab you. The riding bug seems to always be there once you've been bitten.