When is a bike "too heavy" to be fun/safe???

[dduelin]

Originally Posted by baloneyskin daddy

I think he wanted us to see the odometer reading at 111111, kind of a neat shot . I always seem to miss seeing those odd readings. I know that they,re coming up and I make a mental note to notice them but somehow miss them.

Bingo. I may have a heavy bike but I ride it alot. At the risk of hijacking the thread, take a look here .... I reset the trip meter 999.9 miles earlier to get this shot. The next one is coming up at 123,456 miles. I'll reset a trip odometer at 123,377 so it reads 123,456 plus 78.9 on the trip. (If I remember)


And one more for my new friend from down under. I caught your prior inference that any bike that attracts the darksiders is beyond the fun weight but I let it go. I think car tires on bikes is, well, not anything I would want to do.

[Mountain Cruiser]

Deep mud, that's when it sucks to have a heavy bike. Most other conditions are manageable.




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[Bueller]

Originally Posted by ben2go

That bike weighs what,960lbs dry?

Whatever the weight is, it's about 50 lbs heavier after that ride.

[Harry Backer]

Originally Posted by Icewalker

What does one of those boss hoss POS's weigh?

990lbs/450kg

http://motorcyclespecs.co.za/model/B...c3%20774SS.htm

[Glenngineer]

Originally Posted by dduelin

Bingo. I may have a heavy bike but I ride it alot. At the risk of hijacking the thread, take a look here .... I reset the trip meter 999.9 miles earlier to get this shot. The next one is coming up at 123,456 miles. I'll reset a trip odometer at 123,377 so it reads 123,456 plus 78.9 on the trip. (If I remember)


And one more for my new friend from down under. I caught your prior inference that any bike that attracts the darksiders is beyond the fun weight but I let it go. I think car tires on bikes is, well, not anything I would want to do.

I'm generally not impressed when people post their miles, or their lack of chicken strips, but this post is a fucking power combo. Well done - this is sport touring.

[nwdub]

Originally Posted by BCC

Watch one of those videos showing little females lifting big bikes and then teach your wife. It's technique. I learned to lift a loaded GSA at bmw Performance school. Easy, once you know how.

easy in perfect conditions, when it's slick and you can't get a footing...

it's a fucking PAIN IN THE ASS. That must mean you have never dumped the bike offroad, which is to say you prolly have never gone off road more than maybe a gravel or dirt access/forest road. Wow, another GSA used only on pavement. Puttin it to good use there, eh?

just sayin..

[Wuwei]

Originally Posted by Rollin'

Too heavy?

Yes! What's the point of the weight when you could be doing the same exact thing on a bike that weighs 500 pounds less, and probably have more fun doing it?

[Unleaded]

I understand the points from the "light is right" crowd, but really - if you have fun riding it and you can ride mostly without the weight causing you to crash...does it really matter? Lighter bikes are too much of a compromise on the slab for me....a place I have to ride often in the Midwest.

[Garry]

Originally Posted by Unleaded

I understand the points from the "light is right" crowd, but really - if you have fun riding it and you can ride mostly without the weight causing you to crash...does it really matter? Lighter bikes are too much of a compromise on the slab for me....a place I have to ride often in the Midwest.

Where you ride makes a huge difference on how much bike weight is a liability or not. I am lucky enough to spend my riding days in the mountains of WV and the unrelenting rollercoaster of sick twisties in southeast Ohio. Miles of turns marked 25 MPH (or less) with little/no straight of any length between them. Max lean angle left followed immediately by max lean angle right. Over and over and over for miles. With big elevation changes in WV. At double (plus another 5 or 10) the suggested corner speed on the signs.

Heavy bikes are not fun on those kinds of roads at that kind of pace. More weight means harder to slow down, harder to speed up, and harder to change direction. Stability is the least of my concerns with a bike as I avoid going in a straight line as much as possible (I hate slab with a passion).

[Kestrel]

A VFR is about the biggest bike you can ride at a true sportbike pace (including track days). You can do it on larger bikes, but they tend to become more 'tour' as the weight increases past that point, and suffer when it comes to braking/frame/suspension due to the loss of the sportbike roots.

And no - barely leaned over photos of a giant sport tourer on a track as you ride around at a dangerously slow C pace do not qualify.

[Rollin']

Originally Posted by Wuwei

Yes! What's the point of the weight when you could be doing the same exact thing on a bike that weighs 500 pounds less, and probably have more fun doing it?

The full trip was 11,197 miles. Milwaukee to Key West, FL, Key West to Prudhoe Bay, AK and then back home.
For most of the trip it was the perfect bike.
.

[dduelin]

Originally Posted by Garry

Where you ride makes a huge difference on how much bike weight is a liability or not. I am lucky enough to spend my riding days in the mountains of WV and the unrelenting rollercoaster of sick twisties in southeast Ohio. Miles of turns marked 25 MPH (or less) with little/no straight of any length between them. Max lean angle left followed immediately by max lean angle right. Over and over and over for miles. With big elevation changes in WV. At double (plus another 5 or 10) the suggested corner speed on the signs.

Heavy bikes are not fun on those kinds of roads at that kind of pace. More weight means harder to slow down, harder to speed up, and harder to change direction. Stability is the least of my concerns with a bike as I avoid going in a straight line as much as possible (I hate slab with a passion).

Thing is you can't run a pace like that all day, every day, anywhere, and keep a license. I agree about WV though, some of the roads there rank among the best I have ever ridden and the Triple Nickle was also great fun, ridden both ways from the Ohio River to Zaynesville and back, in one day, and I rode there from the hills of eastern PA and spent the night in Parkersburg. That particular day was a 500+ mile day, almost every mile on two lane roads you and I like so much. I saw only 2 bikes on 555, running it both ways - what's that, something like 120 miles? On a Saturday to boot.

[EetsOK]

Originally Posted by espacef1fan

Its a well known fact that even heavy motorcycles can "hide" their weight while moving.
At what weight(ready to ride, minus rider and junk) do you guys consider a motorcycle too heavy(too much work or even too abusive on tires) to play on a windy back road or even go to track day?

It's not the bike it is the rider.

[Papermaker]

Originally Posted by Kestrel

A VFR is about the biggest bike you can ride at a true sportbike pace (including track days). You can do it on larger bikes, but they tend to become more 'tour' as the weight increases past that point, and suffer when it comes to braking/frame/suspension due to the loss of the sportbike roots.

And no - barely leaned over photos of a giant sport tourer on a track as you ride around at a dangerously slow C pace do not qualify.

Which VFR? My R1200RT weighs less than the current VFR1200 and it handles better than my old 99 VFR.

Besides, fun at the track is what you make of it. It's great fun to out brake the guys that passed you on the straight and then make them work to get around you in the curves. Practice, ABS and a bike that has anti-dive geometry mean I can brake pretty hard, compared to the average sport bike with a short wheel base. Sure, I'm faster on a 600 supersport, but I'm not running a C pace on my RT either. 50+ days at the track with Reg, Jason and Kevin have seen to that. Speed is mostly about the rider and not the bike.

[Tanshanomi]

My wife (who is not tiny — 6' tall) recently sold her 657 lb. V-Star 950 Tourer because she decided it was just too much work to ride in town. After riding it, I would have to agree. It WAS a bit of a pig. However, I think this impression had more to do with its Nimitz-class wheelbase, overly-wide handlebars, and wonky, stretched-out riding position than the actual weight figure.