The Thing About a Liter Bike ...

Yup. Those who lack the ability to control themselves will regret owning one very quickly. I have the utmost respect for mine.

10 years and over 100K on the Tuono and I have no points on my license. It's not like I ride like an old lady either. Just no wheelies down main street.

Yep! The guys that have all the LEO troubles are the ones that are racing everywhere they go. I only ride fast about 25% of the time on the streets, it's just stupid on so many levels to do it all the time. Hell, maybe 25% is too much too! The streets are NOT the place to be wringing out your liter bike at all. This includes the middleweight bikes as well, they are definitely NO slouches!

Bikes don't kill.

I never understood why it would be desirable to control yourself.

To avoid having to be controlled by others

Of course sometimes other try to control you. But NEVER do they HAVE TO control you and it's still much better to be only controlled by others from time to time than to be controlled all the time.

The type of control by others situation I can get into with any motorcycle, let alone an open-classer, would most assuredly NOT be of the 'from time to time' variety.

He's talking about going to jail, losing your license, etc. haha.

You know, because you just did something really stupid on your bike (because you can't be controlled...) and you're now considered unfit to ride/drive/live in public.


Anyway, back to "true" liter bikes. I actually found my '07 Charcoal R1 to be kinda comfortable. It had a Saddleman seat and Heli-bars. This made the bike quite bearable for multi-hour stints. I wouldn't want to ride it for more than 2-3 hours straight, but still not so bad. It was also very easy to ride and commute in the city at lower rpm. It would just purr along until I wanted to wick it up a little.

And for some unknown reason I wanted to unlock even more power out of it. Losing the catayltic converter and adding Yoshi exhausts, tuned PCIII and a K&N filter had me doing power wheelies in 3rd gear - absolutely redonkulous! I had it geared down -1 front and +3 rear and it could punch me in the face if I wasn't paying attention.

After the re-gear, top end for it was around 180mph of which I reached 176mph at VIR North. On the front stretch, leaning right before the start/finish line, the rear wheel actually spun up to 176 (according to my top speed recall). Once I got comfortable keeping it pinned down the stretch I realized what was actually happening. I have no idea how the club and professionals do it so easily. It scared the bejesus out of me at first. Then I wanted more...

It would take me wonder if there was such a drastic difference as from "nearly never" to "not only from time to time" if one changes from 2.1kg/hp to 1.5kg/hp.

Well, I did some really stupid and even illegal things in the past and never had a problem with that. But while not controling myself is an every day thing, the really stupid things happen on a time to time basis.

Wonder away

that is what the tuck is for...

Dude, you're lost. :huh

That would be me, and that's why I commute on a KLR. They would bury me under the jail if I commuted on a liter bike. Hell, I can't even commute on my SV650 without making an ass of myself.

For weekend only riding, no issues. But I can't drone the same piece of interstate day in day out on a fast bike and keep myself in check.

That would be me. I spent the last six weeks or so, living in MD and commuting to DC. I found myself flying by traffic most of the time, and riding very aggressively, just because 270 and 495 are big, wide roads with lots of room to play on, and the curves are only fun at 75+mph.

I managed to do this without being pulled over (probably by some good luck), but I only had 17hp. I can't imagine the kind of trouble I'd get myself into with a quick bike.

The MD side of 495...let's just say the police in Maryland actually have work to do. The "pullover rate" is much much lower there.

I got to ride my friend's CBR1000RR. I handed him the keys after a short time and said "I am not mature enough to ride this motorcycle." I didn't even get it above 85mph, it wasn't even in its powerband (stayed below 8K). I don't know how the squids do it.

I think that's normal the first time (bikes are like women). It was the same when I tried one for the first time at the age of 19. But you get used to it.

Dude, that's the best part!! You're scared at first, that's common sense speaking to you. Then, you start thinking "maybe I'll try it again". Next thing you know, you're doing wheelies in third at a buck twenty! Lol!!

I'm curious, are you an anarchist?

I always thought the best political system would be anarchy for me, and totalitarianism for everyone else.

I think you mean assholist.