2001 GSX-R1000

Re: Widowmaker!

So please explain to me what the point is of having a bike that is incapable of being used safely on the street. It seems to me that the only purpose of having a F4 as a first bike is nothing but posing.

As far as speed in a straight line being safe on the street, you had better pick a long, long straightaway with NO potholes, NO driveways, NO cross-streets, and perfect smooth pavement with no traffic at all. Highway 35 south from Salinas, CA has a few stretches like that; otherwise, I wouldn't know where to go.

At 120 MPH, you are going almost 2/3ds the length of a football field every second. So if you see a car or other obstacle in your path 1000 feet down the road (15th of a mile!), you have about 4 seconds to react, plan and execute a course of action. You're going to need about what- 400 feet to stop? Leaving you with 2 or 3 seconds to react and start braking. You could probably do it, (if you don't panic- you DO practice emergency braking, right?) but what if you saw the hazard 500 feet away? That leaves you with 1/2 a second to start braking, or...splat!

Your attitude about cornering speaks of your lack of skill and training. You can safely lean an F4 way, way, way over. But you should take it easy if you can't see through the corner.

An inch of "wanker strip" is a lot- I run about 1/4 inch on the street and I consider myself chicken.

I would get a lighter, less powerful bike if I were you- you'll see that it's the cornering that's fun.

Well, I hope your credit is good enough too. Plus your health and life insurance.



Don't let anybody tell you you're not man enough for this bike! Remeber, riding a sportbike isn't about skill or experience, it's about purchasing power and raw bravado! Think how much respect you get when you roll up to your local sportbike hangout. Everyone will ooh and ahh! Of course, they'll all be thinking, "What a frigging squid!" But they're just jealous!



And besides, you obviously don't care what other people think of you, otherwise you wouldn't have posted such a pathetic statement!



Enjoy!

Deep thoughts from a monkey...

Well, Monk, I've pondered, and I gotta say, I think you missed the point. When I talk about us spending money on art, I mean society supporting artists with grants and what not. I don't have much respect for people who treat art pieces as consumer goods either.

Maybe you have a limited idea of what is meant by "art." It goes beyond sculpture and painting and goes to film, theatre, literature, dance, music, or any other kind of artistic expression.

I agree, motorcycles are beautiful expresions of industrial design. Wasn't there some show of motorcycles at some museum, somewhere? But the problem is, our culture will be judged not by its wealth, but by our art: the enduring things we produce. Ancient Greek wealth has disapeared (most of it was probably in slaves!) but Greek literature, art, architecture and philosophy lives on.

The GSXR, while gorgeous, is another culture's art. We discourage people from becoming artists in our society by underfunding art education and grants.

As far as education statistics go, I don't writes 'em, I just reports 'em. People come here to go to school because we do have some excellent institutions of higher learning, but notice that Swedish parents don't send their kids to High School here.