[seruzawa]

Was he wearing only a pair of sandals and a T-shirt also?



The amount of force available if a bike hits a car at that speed could be deadly to anyone this idiot hits. This is the sort of thing that could result in more anti-bike legislation, should this idiot or anyone like him wack an innocent person.



I'm as guilty of speeding as anyone, but 157 mph on public roads? No way. Not even close. Find a race track or a dry lakebed, moron.



Oh, that's right, there aren't any dry lakebeds in perfidious Albion. Too bad, ducky.

 

[seruzawa]

And on the autobahn you would be quite right. However on a fairly crowded road with a substantially lower speed limit things are completely different. I don't know what the speed limit is on the "busy A412" but I'll bet it's more like 60 mph.



At a differential speed of 80 mph the bike begins to resemble a kinetic energy weapon.



I agree with you that our national max of 75mph on Interstates, especially through places like Nebraska or Wyoming or Nevada east of Vegas or Tahoe, are ridiculously low.



However speeding like that through traffic travelling at say 50 mph is simply criminally irresponsible. Fortunately for me during my younger and stupider days my old Ksaki W2650 only topped at about 100.



And if you wish to start a new political party for the purpose of ridding the roads of half-blind octegenarians you've got my vote! In fact, I'll move to Florida and give you 5 votes!!

 

[seruzawa]

Re: Bikers responsible for anti-moto laws.

I understand your sentiment, but the lack of entry level bikes in the 300-400cc area is due to the refusal of the public to buy them. It's not because the manufacturers refuse to build them. Get out of the US and there are loads of smaller bikes available.

In the US people either want 100-150HP sport replicas or overweight cruisers or a few naked streetbikes. Nothing else sells.

 

[seruzawa]

Well on that Interstate you have to run at 125 just to keep from falling asleep.



I shudder when I think of droning across Wyoming on I-80 with Nixon's stupid 55MPH speed limit.

 

[seruzawa]

Answering our own posts now, are we?



Must be the fumes from those burning zeners.

 

[seruzawa]

Re: Bikers responsible for anti-moto laws.

Uh Captain, sir, I looked up the websites and there are indeed very few entry level road bikes. Honda has the 250 Nighthawk and Rebel. Buell has the Blast. Yamaha has the 250 Virago. Suzuki dropped the GS500 (which is pushing the envelope for a beginner bike). The 70HP SV650 is hardly a beginners bike.

I guess the question is "What qualifies as an entry level bike?" Probably a bike under 30 HP is what would be considered a traditional entry level bike. Like the old CB350. Enough power to drone on the freeway, enough power so you can avoid being run over, but not enough power to get you into serious trouble at the flick of the wrist.

There simply aren't many of those types of bikes. Dual Purposes are a consideration, but with the extremely high seating positions on most of them they are hardly friendly to a new user either, or a 5'6" 16 year old.

I guess these days "entry level" is an 883 or a Shadow 750. However these are capable of 100mph and hardly classify as a beginner's bike one would want to put a 16 year old on. A friend of mine recently went out of state to pick up an old 450 Nighthawk for his 16 year old. Still this is a bit of a lot for a neophyte.

There are loads of neat 300-400cc bikes outside of the US, but the manufacturers have given up trying to sell them here. I don't blame them. All I see around here are squidlies and big cruisers. I guess the macho image trumps all.

Gen(whatever) Extreme lines up to attempt suicide on CBRYZKZGSRRRRRRs one after the other, T-shirts and sandals flapping.

 

[seruzawa]

Pay no attention to sarnali. He recently bought a new Triumph. The fumes from all the burning zener diodes and the bill for all the oil he has to pour into it have loosened his boilerplates.

 

[seruzawa]

The problem with using formulas is that they don't take into account practical considerations.



The energy from the impact of a bike against a car would not be distributed evenly throughout the car. The front wheel of the bike would strike the car at a relatively small point thus applying the energy developed by the differential velocity at that point. The fork would deform and the rest of the bike's mass would strike the rest of the car in some random fashion.



Someone (we'll call him AF) is going hell bent for leather down a city street at 100 mph. Some woman in a Honda Civic with the back seat full of kids makes a leftturn in front of him. AF then strikes the Civic on the right rear quarter where the children are sitting.



It wouldn't be pretty. The force could also force a small car into another lane of on comming traffic.



It gets worse when intead of AF on an F1 you have Buzglyd all tanked up testing out his new 95CI engine along LaJolla beach. Imagine the impact of that mass!!

 

[seruzawa]

Oh yes. He accidently hit the accelerator instead of the brake. But it's okay. He's old!



A 24 year old would be in jail facing vehicular manslaughter charges, rightfully so. Time to lock up this old fogey mass murderer too.



This coot must never get the chance to do this again. But, like my grandmother's rich friend, who lost his license, he just kept driving anyhow.