Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83 based; site hou2h.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxl!houxm!hou2h!an From: an@hou2h.UUCP (A.NGUYEN) Newsgroups: net.cycle Subject: Handling flame thrown at me! Message-ID: <461@hou2h.UUCP> Date: Mon, 21-May-84 18:58:44 EDT Article-I.D.: hou2h.461 Posted: Mon May 21 18:58:44 1984 Date-Received: Tue, 22-May-84 08:12:26 EDT Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Holmdel NJ Lines: 101 -- Let's get something straight. Except for some cruiser-styled bikes (funny handlebars), I've *never* met a bike I didn't like! ------------------------------------------------------------------------- / I have always believed that almost every bike is enjoyable on its / / own level, and I would gladly take any bike over no bike at all! / / It's only when you talk absolute performance that one motorcycle / / is superior to another. / ------------------------------------------------------------------------- And now, here's the play by play: > From Darryl (I shift on the right!) Richman ...!cca!ima!ism780!darryl > The age of the four has come and gone three times this century! > Are you sure it's going to hang around this time? The last time it was around (MV Agusta GP bike) manufacturing technology (read Japanese ingenuity) wasn't good enough to make it available to the average Joe Biker. Before that (Henderson, Indian inline 4's), engine and chassis technology wasn't good enough to give it a clear cut advantage over anything else. > Raw horsepower has NOTHING to do with the tractability > of a motorcycle. Who said it does? Tractability is usually understood to be good low and medium rpm torque and clean carburetion (no stumbles). > Anyone who buys a motorcycle for the 1/4 mile times either only > rides a few weekends a year, or gets tired of the damn thing > because its so much effort in traffic. I happen to have bought my last bike with 1/4 mile time as one of the points considered. I have also put 21K miles on it 2 years, been around the Great Lakes (3K miles) in two weeks, and ridden at least one day *EVERY* month for the time I've had it. I learned to ride motorcycles by riding my first bike to school everyday, thru the best of Manhattan traffic! My credentials as Hardcore Biker are *impeccable*! > In many aspects handling is at odds with speed, and the compromise > that you make shows how you plan (or don't plan!) to ride. Handling is generally accepted as the ability to get around a curved section of road quickly. There have been plenty of power-laden bikes that are evil handlers (any Kawasaki two-stroke triple ..), but by itself, handling is not necessarily mutually exclusive with power. I don't recall making any compromises here. I want my cake and by God I want to eat it, too! > I have yet to understand why 120 horsepower is ANY better than 70 > -- both will move you out of harm's way at about the same rate. Don't tell me you want your 70 horses *JUST* so you can "move out of harm's way." If I want to outrun a Buick gone amok, I won't need anymore than 20 horses. If you want to outrun the man in blue, I suggest you consider organized racing -- it's much safer. If you just plain wants 70 horses to "move out of harm's way," I can recommend a good mortician who handles layaway plans. > Lots of development money has been spent already on the big singles. > They were the proving grounds for a great many ideas incorporated > into multi's. That's precisely the point. Money "has been" spent, but no longer is "being" spent. The thumpers had their day in the sun, and now they have reached the limits attainable with current technology. Maybe someday when carbon fiber pistons and plastic cases become practical, thumpers will again be able to produce decent horsepower for street use, and believe me, I'll be the first on line! Hey, I'm for anything that *works* and works *well*! > From david@tekig.UUCP (David Hayes) > An SR500 Yamaha might not instill the confidence a VF500 would, but > relatively few riders .. could use the Yamaha to its limits [anyway]. Amen! > To find the limits, you have to have exceeded them at least once. Aye, and exceeded them under true battle conditions, too! No novice tipovers-in-the-parking-lot here! All those who have, raise your hand ... > From Grego Sanguinetti ..!tektronix!teklds!grego > Well now the SR isn't really so bad, it's just not too good! Thanx Grego, maybe now they'll understand what I'm trying to say. > Thumpers can go fast. You guys in the Northeast should go up to Loudon (NH) sometime and watch Dave Roper of Team Obsolete racing his Norton Manx and other assorted relics. The man can fly! Au "Rider? Whatsa a rider? Won't the bike go fast by itself?!"