Kawi2strokes.com Forum

I just thought I would throw this out there in light of todays wicked iron, but was just curious what do we consider a "Fast" bike. Back when most of us on this forum started riding these tripples were one of the top dogs, along with the Z1's and assorted hopped up british bikes. Back in those days most people started out on a smaller displacement "learners bike" and actually learned how to ride! These days it seems rather the exception instead of the rule. Back in the day we had to learn how to ride to make a bike fast, these days factory bikes blow away race bikes of 30 years ago. In my experience I am always surprised by how fast these new bikes are and yet how slow they are as well. Maybe a gap in the skill level and experience of the rider. During the 80's I had owned virtually every hot muscle bike that came out, and rode them as hard as possible. As far as the street bike go I had dragraced every one I had and they were generally in the high 10 to the high 11's. These days with bikes at nearly 200hp it is surprising how fast some are and how slow some are. I dont have a lot of road race experience but am curious as to what others thoughts are. A well riden 600 these days will out handle race bikes of yesterday and in the right hands (and weight) will still blast a 10 second quarter mile. Surpassing the performance of most 1100's 30 years ago. The other thing that surprises me is what kind of performance can be had from these small displacement 2 stroke bikes with mods and tuning. One of the fastest bikes I ever owned is still a 750 H2 that I had ridden to the tune of 5.80's through the 8th mile and with a lighter rider had gone 9.26 through the quarter mile. That was fast to me!

Well, I have a zx10r, '06, and it has ability that you can't use, and I have a '72 H2, that has ability that I am HOPING I CAN USE.......!! ( The zx10r is incredible!)

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"One day, your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it's worth watching." : anon.

I already assume for myself and 99% of all of us riding that all my bikes out perform my riding ability.

^ That happened for me in 1972...........!!

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"One day, your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it's worth watching." : anon.

Many new bikes make so much power that they just aren't effective at reasonable driving speeds. Without traction control or careful throttle management the thing would flip out from under you before you knew what happened. I think this is part of what is limiting 1/4 mile times on some of these new obscenely powerful bikes. A friend of mine has a newish R6, it'll do 70 MPH in 1st gear. FIRST GEAR!

Another friend got 1992 CBR600 a few years ago. It was the first "modern" sport bike I'd even ridden. 20 years old, and it was an amazing bike to ride. It did absolutely everything I asked it to without hesitating. I was just leisurely putting along a country road while test riding it, I looked down at the speedo are realized I was doing almost 70. Compared to what I'm used to riding, it was absolutely effortless.

I don't race, and I generally try to obey traffic laws. The roads around here are generally straightish and flatish. I find modern sport bikes kind of boring, they just work sooo well. For me anyway, I've really got to be moving to get any sense of excitement on one. On the other hand, I don't need to go nearly as fast on the H1 to get the same sense of excitement. At anything over 30 MPH, I feel like I could die at any moment

Nuff said

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This is true. Where I grew up the hills were so steep and long, when your ball rolled down the hill you just said "screw it"...

Well said Jeff, and Barry that was very close to my first bike in the early 70's and I thought it was fast !

I think you first need to define what is fast to you. I had a 86/87 ninja 600r, used bike with some miles on it. At 100 that bike felt fast, and I really didn't want to go any faster on it. I bought a 2003 zx6r(636) new. 90 was cruising speed on it, which was the problem because every time you rode it you were doing 90+ at some point. 50-70 felt like you were on a moped in the slow lane. So at 100 the slower bike felt faster even though it wasn't the faster bike. Like the old saying goes, I would rather ride a slow bike fast than a fast bike slow.

I think it would be more appropriate to ask how "exciting" a bike might be. As has been posted, the new bikes can be doing 100+ in a blink. I rode my buddies ZX12 years ago, ran it through 3 gears, and was doing 150mph, and it felt like 80mph. Really fast, but not exciting. I took a FI600 Honda on the race track, did everything beautifully, felt like Superman, but not exciting.

It's a double edged sward, these new bikes. First they are so good and easy to ride fast, not a lot of talent is needed to go fast. Second, kids are flying on them and crashing and killing themselves at crazy speeds.

Our generation had to deal with a lot of "aggravations". Like weak brakes, wobbly bikes, and engines that tended to stop spinning at the worst times. Solidified grease tires, and boingo suspension. We HAD to learn how to ride in bad conditions. A 30 mph corner, might has well been a 100 mph corner with these "variables", as far as excitement goes....

Fast is relative, at the road race track young guys think us old guys are crazy to go that fast on old bikes and skinny tires, they don't realize, it is just more "exciting"!

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Twist the throttle, tilt the horizon, and have a great time. What triples are all about...........