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Sure the bike's good, but how many riders are good enough to really use it?



I know I'll never buy one. It would just be too demoralizing for me to be riding around on the latest and greatest, knowing Colin Edwards could probably beat me on a Gold Wing.
 

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Re: Outriding your bike

Being more skilled than the bike you are on is tons of fun. If you are better than your bike, you can pay less attention to where you are going and be just as good. But if you should like to hunker down and play the racer, kicking out the back end and powering out of a corner is more fun than being on a bike that threatens to ride you into the ground, and a lot cheaper on tires too. Just think of Mick Doohan sliding his 200hp bike around whatever track you throw at him. Do you think he is less skilled than the bike he is on? No way!
 

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Widowmaker!

After seeing two R-1 riders killed on two seperate trackdays, I think I know what I'm saying when I say "this bike is going to kill a lot of people."

So, indirectly, MO is encouraging people to go kill themselves. Nowhere in this article do they say that this bike is only for experts or how hard it is to ride safely on a racetrack.

I don't believe in tiered licensing, horsepower limits, or even mandatory training. But all those things will be inevitable if the industry, press, manufacturers, and dealers, doesn't start behaving responsibly and policing itself.

Just look at the testosterone coursing through this message board! Lots of young guys who don't want to race, but want that adreline rush of raw acceleration. Not what this bike is for, folks.

So what is the bike for? I'm not sure. On most tracks, a 600 will be faster, and nobody can utilize 150 HP safely on the street. So what's the point?

The point is that they will sell every last one, mostly to people who just want to wobble around at about 50% of the bike's performance capacity. Most of them will be crashed after one season.

So enjoy, squid-o's! Just get a good life insurance policy.
 

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I'm totally into thrashin at the track, I have never raced but do as many track rides and schools as my cash flow will allow. I am also for ridin whatcha got wherever you can, but let my tell all you squids that have what I call a Puss line around the edge of your tires, if you can't use the bike then don't buy one, I am so tired of all these punks with puss lines buying these open class bikes, stay in your league boys, if you can't abuse em, don't even use em!
 

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Re: Outriding your bike

It spit him off and ended his career, didn't it? Also, same thing happened to Foggy, Rainey, Joey Dunlop, and Schwantz also. I don't believe the rider is the Master all the time, forever. Most of the Greats of our recent generation have had career-ending injuries. The greats of the bygone eras were, sadly, usually killed instead. I also tend to think that, imperfect beings that we are, will never truly ever be able to extract 100% of the machines capabilities 100% of the time. It's just that, with the greats, they get 100% most of the time, or 99% all of the time, which is closer than most of us will ever get.
 

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Does Honda pay "most industry mags" for this hype, or what? 10 pounds up from the GSXR-750 for the new 1000 makes your Fireblade the SECOND lightest, SECOND flickable, SECOND braking bike here. The articles I saw showed the 750 with the quickest time around the track. If you see me at the track, tell me how the back of the new 1000 looks pulling away from you. Don't let it get to you, the King-O'-the-heap gets replaced every year or so. Enjoy what you have, or, if it bothers you that much, trade up.
 

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Re: Widowmaker!

Well, I sound negative for two reasons, first, I am out of riding for a couple of months because I crashed and fractured my spine, and second, I have posted on this subject numerous times, and find very little in the way of helpful feedback or suggestions.

I do suggest one area of improvement; more responsible behaivior by the motorcycle industry. But look at how much interest this bike generates: 147 posts in less than 2 days! Americans want big, powerful bikes, whether they can use them or not, and they will ride them whether they are trained or not.

Mandatory training, unless it's a 6-month Keith Code racing school, will not teach you how to ride a bike like this safely while riding it near it's limits. I've been racing and riding 13 years, and I would be terrified of riding it at the track. The two guys I saw killed were experienced riders. One guy was in his 40's, the other in his 50's.

I gotta pull an Abe Froman here and say that the only solution is to encourage riding and buying smaller displacement bikes, since regulation is always a step behind the market. If we limit horsepower, they'll build 150 pound, 90 HP high-siders. If they limit displacement, they'll perfect 500cc GP technology for the street. Before you say, "oh, cool!", you should go find out how many bones Mick Doohan HASN'T broken. We have to police ourselves, and that includes injecting a note of sobriety into superbike launch hysteria. A lot of people are going to die or be horribly injured on the GSXR-1000. That's the truth. And whether that will be a result of idiots, squids, Suzuki, MO, dealers, socialists or men from Mars is irrelevant. A human being dying is serious sh*t. So let's hear a little less rah-rah and a little more reasoned thought.

I think your last paragraph contains terrific advice . I agree 100%. So why doesn't the AMA support it? Too busy repealing helmet laws, I guess.
 

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It’s only a geezer on a soap box - just nod and keep moving, please.

Motorcycle Online recently posed the question, "Should the GSXR1000 be a track-only bike?" As much as I tried to let it go, that question has kept bothering me, since it echoes a much more basic one: "How much is too much?"

I don’t think there has been a 250cc bike built in the last 20 years that does not have enough power to haul the average adult male beyond any speed limit. And I once rode a 35hp ‘69 BMW across country quite comfortably.

Sure, if you’re carrying a passenger or luggage, or want a heavier plush bike, you want more power. If you ride up mountains you want more power. But except for maybe cops, nobody NEEDS more power.

I don’t like it when some "squid" wastes himself showing off on his crotch-rocket. I don’t like it when an "outlaw" intimidates people on a loud cruiser. But, hey, I like to cruise sedately along the beach and then blaze through the canyons, so, to each his own! I’m not interested in top speed, but I’m tempted to learn to do "stoppies".

Manufacturers have, I think, every right to sell as much horse power for as much money as the market will bear. Likewise, anyone with the money should be able to ride them. If you can’t resist the urge to twist the tiger’s tail, it’s your business.

If you want to test Darwin’s theory, go right ahead.



 

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Dude!!!

... I read your comment as: ... I can't control my R-1 ... it might get me killed ... I'll stay with my old bike that I have grown accustomed to ... and since I'm a mature {read as "old dog no new tricks please"} sport biker, I don't want any young testoterone filled, non-Viagra taking kids, showing me up.



... AND THE GENE POOL THEORY!!! When are we gonna drop this comment??? I and many other racers, have donated significant amounts of genetic material on tracks round this globe to get that 916 to where it is today ... push the limit!!! or seal your ass in that envelope you call maturity ... and the time capsule in which that 916 belongs.



... Better yet ... I have an ole moped that needs new tires ... take it, and show me how good a rider you are ... Silly ... the rider AND the bike AND your crew AND the road surface AND the weather conditions ... (get it yet?)



Yet the real reason for the inflamed comment, is your last comment about pure power belonging in the hands of the professionals ... like guns ... oh please sign me up ... yeah right !!! Maybe it's just my being an American, with the love of freedom and the jurice prudence to act, that gets me so excited. I'll take two GSX-R1(000)'s please ... one for you to wreck and one for me to beat you 6 times till Sunday.



... have fun at the back of the pack ... I've been told it's a pretty good view ... looking at other guys rears. I still haven't converted though.



I still want more power !!! this guy has never ridden a 500GP has he ... he'd probably say that there is no need for that kinda power ... All I need to do, is get that pipe quiet and I'm on the street ... well during daylight hours anyway.



Who am I? ... Don't be so sure, that you don't already know.
 

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Re: Widowmaker!

Well, not every single one. Sometimes I skip a few days.

Some of us like to take postitons contrary to the majority to stir debate and work the ol' intellect muscles. You should try it.
 

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If Only!

If only it were so...unfortunately, every year there's a new crop of 10-armed mollusks with the newest, bestest bikes. They seem to be slightly worse riders every year.

But you know what? I've decided I just don't care...I have been assimilated....bzz, crk..bzt

Right on! GSXR1000! All right! I'm gonna put my deposit on one as soon as I can! I'm gonna smoke all of you pussies with your R1's! Woooooo-Hoooo!

I just hope Yosh has a pipe as soon as I get my bike- I just know I'll need that extra 2.7 HP.

Yeeeeeee-Haaaaaaaa!
 

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Seen LOTS of rears.....as I was PASSING THEM! In all seriousness, It's lasted 15 years, and over 30,000 miles (it sat for over 4 years in a storage shed when I moved to Ohio before I went back and got it), with nothing but brushes for the alternator, and a clutch when my "friend" burned it up doing burnouts. Look at the record number of endurance race wins the first generation GSXR's had. They won the 24 Hours West at Willow springs every year I was there. Team Hammer, Vance&Hines, Team Valvoline Suzuki. Look at their dominance in the ORIGINAL Formula USA series. Not this wimpy substitute series with their restrictive "rules". I doubt the Fireblade (you must be from the UK or something) will have as storied a history. Time will tell. That the 750 did as well against a bike with 179cc's more should worry you....
 

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Nobody needs a $1.25 million McLaren F1 that has over 600 hp and will do 230mph either, but God bless 'em if somebody makes it, and somebody buys it. I read a rather humbling story from some rich dweeb in the UK that bought one, and wadded it into a ditch the first week, trying to see "wottit'lldo". He was unhurt, and very humbled ny the experience, saying that the repairs cost more than a BMW 3 series. He also said that he went out and immediately got some expert driving instruction and track time, so it wouldn't happen again. Unfortunatly, most people (squids) that experience things like this on their bikes don't walk away with just a bruised ego, and a deflated wallet like this guy. There's a moral in here somewhere......
 

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I think as alway its not the bikes fualt that it ends up on the ground. It is the Ham-fisted-clowns that ride them. At the track you watch the people ride around R1s and other power deamons on RS&TZ 125&250. Its not all in the power. But man wouldnt it be fun to have it. I am sure as when the R1 was released there will be no shortage of these ending up in the salavage yard. Go ahead squids buy my next track bike for me. Computrack and some time in the garage and presto change-o some ones bad day turns in to a great track bike. hehehehe

 

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To what can't you agree? I do not want anyone to die or be injured, but I don't want politicos using your letter as ammunition to outlaw bike sales. Have you written any letters lately cautioning against razor-type scooters? I see little kids blazing across streets on razors (or copies)...no bike helmet...no pads. One ripple and he's down...should they be pulled from the stores so no H.S. or college students can have one?

I offer tips to other riders based on my experiences. Let's all try that instead of wringing our hands. Cya later; I'm going outside to practice extreme braking and counter-steering.
 

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Re: Whoa...

True enough- It's OK to go fast, just make sure you are wearing good protective gear, (over 40MPH=leather or ballistic nylon!) and have some training and confidence. Never ride past where you feel comfortable!

keep riding!
 
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