Survey Question--even For Lurkers :)

[tweek]

May 2006 I took the MSF class

June 2006 I bought a 2006 Ninja 500

June 2007 I took Level 1 in Mid Ohio.

so on and so forth.

 

When do I get to be all grumpy and talk about the good old days?

[Lazarus]

Been wanting to ride for a while but I finally broke down and got my license in April of 2008. Brought a 1998 Yamaha YZF600R from a friend of mine in May of 08 and just brought a 2008 600RR in December of 08. My next bike will be a dedicated track bike as I had to sell the 600R this summer.

[Cobie Fair]

Tweek and Lazurus,

 

You guys are living the good old days! Man it's a great time to be getting into riding: track days all over the place, stock bikes that are bullets and handle well with little or no added parts, tires that are incredible--we are pretty knocked out with the Q-2 Dunlops right now. I wish I'd had them yesterday, chasing some students at Sears.

 

Good time to be riding!

 

CF

[Lazarus]

Thats true, especially since I moved down here to Atlanta, its like track city. I mean theres like 4 tracks within 2 hours of my house and 6 within 4-5. So I'm getting all my gear now and prepping the RR for the track. I just pray I dont crash too bad because its still kinda minty.

[Cobie Fair]

Thats true, especially since I moved down here to Atlanta, its like track city. I mean theres like 4 tracks within 2 hours of my house and 6 within 4-5. So I'm getting all my gear now and prepping the RR for the track. I just pray I dont crash too bad because its still kinda minty.

 

Many take all the street bodywork off (like we do) and then put track body work on. If you don't crash, you can sell it when you are done with the bike, and if you did, you would save yourself THOUSANDS in bodywork!

 

CF

[spthomas]

How long have forum members been riding?

Had a Honda Shadow 500 from '88 thru '99, was bike-less till 3 years ago when I got my CBR, which was almost like starting over.

[Cobie Fair]

How long have forum members been riding?

Had a Honda Shadow 500 from '88 thru '99, was bike-less till 3 years ago when I got my CBR, which was almost like starting over.

 

Right, that's a pretty decent bike difference. Nice time to be riding bikes, that's for sure.

 

CF

[Lazarus]

Thats true, especially since I moved down here to Atlanta, its like track city. I mean theres like 4 tracks within 2 hours of my house and 6 within 4-5. So I'm getting all my gear now and prepping the RR for the track. I just pray I dont crash too bad because its still kinda minty.

 

Many take all the street bodywork off (like we do) and then put track body work on. If you don't crash, you can sell it when you are done with the bike, and if you did, you would save yourself THOUSANDS in bodywork!

 

CF

 

Yea I dont want to get some track body work but I have so much other stuff to get like new tires, leathers, trailer, etc that body work is one of the last things on my mind but I'm going to see what I can do over the work.

[ozfireblade]

Hey Lazarus,

 

Maybe have a look at this site for fairings, they're an australian company, and cheap. Injected moulded plastic they claim a 98% fit if your bikes not bent, full decals as per your model or race replica. Just thought you or someone else might want a look.

 

Fairings

[6blade07]

2001 I owned a cbr250 without full insurance and it got stolen some 12 months later . I spent 12 months commuting and staying fairly upright (even though I owned TOTW1) I cancelled my CSS reservation and always dreamed of the day I would be able to ride again.

 

June 2009 rolled around and I was ready to commit. Got myself a 2007 cbr600 and havn't looked back. So, 6 months real riding

[Lazarus]

Hey Lazarus,

 

Maybe have a look at this site for fairings, they're an australian company, and cheap. Injected moulded plastic they claim a 98% fit if your bikes not bent, full decals as per your model or race replica. Just thought you or someone else might want a look.

 

Fairings

 

Thanks but I'm a little leery on ordering stuff from outside the US. I'll probably just get some used ones from WERA forum or something.

[sleepr]

Started riding at age 19, after mom did not let me have the dirt bike I wanted at age 8. Started with a 78 KZ200 for a year, moved to a Yamaha XS400 the following year then an 84 Yamaha Virago for 3 years. Made the switch to sportier bikes with an 88 ZX10R, rode that for 5 years and 160000 km. Did my first track day in about 96 or 97 and then proceeded to spectate at the track till 2000 when I purchased a 99 R6 and started club racing. By that same time the ZX10 had been replaced by my first brand new bike, a 2000 ZX12R, which I'm now still riding on the street. Unfortunately she has been neglected more than the ZX10 and only has 94000 km on the clock, life has gotten in the way a little as I've aged. After racing the R6 sporadically for 7 years, in 07 I bought an 06 ZX6R and have been racing that for the last 2 seasons. After my 20th year riding I can say I'm more excited about riding now than ever, bikes are one of those things that the more you know about them the more enjoyable they become and you still want to know everything. I'm hoping to start ice racing this winter on a little KLX110 I picked up for shits and giggles. Can't wait for the next ride!

[Cobie Fair]

Started riding at age 19, after mom did not let me have the dirt bike I wanted at age 8. Started with a 78 KZ200 for a year, moved to a Yamaha XS400 the following year then an 84 Yamaha Virago for 3 years. Made the switch to sportier bikes with an 88 ZX10R, rode that for 5 years and 160000 km. Did my first track day in about 96 or 97 and then proceeded to spectate at the track till 2000 when I purchased a 99 R6 and started club racing. By that same time the ZX10 had been replaced by my first brand new bike, a 2000 ZX12R, which I'm now still riding on the street. Unfortunately she has been neglected more than the ZX10 and only has 94000 km on the clock, life has gotten in the way a little as I've aged. After racing the R6 sporadically for 7 years, in 07 I bought an 06 ZX6R and have been racing that for the last 2 seasons. After my 20th year riding I can say I'm more excited about riding now than ever, bikes are one of those things that the more you know about them the more enjoyable they become and you still want to know everything. I'm hoping to start ice racing this winter on a little KLX110 I picked up for shits and giggles. Can't wait for the next ride!

 

Great story, and a real man that will ice race! Those little spikes get my attention...

[teg]

How long have forum members been riding? To define this slightly: needs to be a real motorcycle, and not just "I rode my friends XR-100 around his back yard when I was 10."

 

I wasn't really thinking of a "I've been riding longer than you have" but to see what kind of riding experience is up here, and what (if any) theme there is.

 

Chime in, don't be a wimp.

 

CF

 

(PS--I've got some other survey questions after this too, a series of them).

 

Hi cobie i,ll try and answer this in 2 eras , i was riding field bike mopeds and eventually got my hands on a honda sl125 4 stroke traile from the age of 12 to 15 down old disused brick pits near where i used to live . god i wish that was accesible now w,ed be down there all day but can,t do nowadays . this was interspersed with the occasional and rare taster on someones proper 2 stroke motoxer if i remember right a bigger lads maico 400 was first , i was terrified and loved it at the same time ! l.o.l

then got my licence for a 50cc moped on my 16th birthday but because i had ridden larger bikes off road i didn,t ride it for long .then a couple of my peers where killed on bikes .

gave in and got a car age 17 , as i got older i did some karting (2 plastic pots somewhere ) and very amateur low level club racing in small sportscars with my self run self engineered brilliant dad so has always been in the blood .(my budget wouldn,t keep most racers in sandwiches alone , ha , ha ) and didn,t ride again until 2002 when i did my bike test .

this of course led to first trackday in about 2004 and so on and eventually found the school done 3 level 4,s now and they can,t seem to get rid of me ! but don,t get out as much as i,d like and the road riding has turned into hardly ever as i can,t go fast enough to practise what i want on the road much . although if i wait long enough between trackdays i eventually give in and go for short road ride (better than nothing )

[skingraph]

bout five years steady on the road with intervals between bikes lastin at most 6 mnths.

the list:

x6(chinese mini bike)

x7(same)

x18(")

x22(")

ysr50

rs125 aprilia

ninja 500

yzf600r

fzr400

fzr 400/600 hybrid

gsxr600(owned weeks turned out to be hot )

xr80

pitster 125

derbi gpr 72cc

[Cobie Fair]

Teg and Skin,

 

Thanks, good to hear that. We don't usually get that kind of riding history here.

 

Rode a mini bike a few times in '73, my grandfathers Honda Trail 70. He kept it in case he was out in the boondocks camping and something broke.

 

It was a hoot, rode it as hard as I could whenever I saw him, no helmet, probably didn't even have gloves on.

 

CF

[R Sole]

I grew up in South Africa and I wrote off a mates bike (DT 125) at 18 on a dirt road when I got on it and thought turning was weight shifting like a bicycle, but harder.

 

I could not understand why anyone would ride things that they could not control an I could not understand why/how small GP type guys could fling bikes through chicanes the way they did. When I was 28, I started riding a mates bike CBR250RR and finally figured out countersteering (I never learnt anything about it until after). I could have avoided my 2 accidents. Now I am a preacher of c/s. I rode my cousins bike a bit when I was 32 - a BMW R80GS.

 

I have since moved countries to NZ, and bought a VTR 1000 Firestorm (Night Hawk? in the US) 6 months ago and commute to work on it everyday.

I have not yet attended a track day, but voraciously gobble up everything I can find about riding technique.

I have plans for a track bike and hope to attend the CSBK at Auckland's new Hampton Downs raceway soon.

[Cobie Fair]

I grew up in South Africa and I wrote off a mates bike (DT 125) at 18 on a dirt road when I got on it and thought turning was weight shifting like a bicycle, but harder.

 

I could not understand why anyone would ride things that they could not control an I could not understand why/how small GP type guys could fling bikes through chicanes the way they did. When I was 28, I started riding a mates bike CBR250RR and finally figured out countersteering (I never learnt anything about it until after). I could have avoided my 2 accidents. Now I am a preacher of c/s. I rode my cousins bike a bit when I was 32 - a BMW R80GS.

 

I have since moved countries to NZ, and bought a VTR 1000 Firestorm (Night Hawk? in the US) 6 months ago and commute to work on it everyday.

I have not yet attended a track day, but voraciously gobble up everything I can find about riding technique.

I have plans for a track bike and hope to attend the CSBK at Auckland's new Hampton Downs raceway soon.

 

 

R Sole,

 

Sounds good.

 

I know what you mean about c/s. When I finally tested it and realized it works on bicycles (at any speed, ever very slow) i was amazed.

 

Best,

Cobie

[ClaudeV5]

I started on the little Honda 70 and a few rat dirt bikes in the mid to late 70's. No real seat time on anything until the 82Maxim 650 came, and went in about 3 months. Self taught riding style of course, cheap and not worth much either! Since Y2K have got around 100K between a 95Tiger and 03VFR all street. Never been to a track but hope to in the future. I hope to be a life long learner/rider. This forum is very helpful along with all the twist books and dvd's. Keep up the great work!

[bananaman]

Elder brother cocked it up for me, kept coming off so was a no-no with my folks when i was young ....however, , plenty of mates around with bikes...me officer?....girlfriend hated bikes, then i married her!! Always a petrol head with four wheels then got to thinking, (a lot of yrs later) hey, i'm just about old enough to make up my own mind so did direct access nov '05, bought a mates fazer 600, decided wasnt quick enough, then found myself in june going round the "ring" on a new 'blade. Run it in on the way down there. F**k bikes had changed in 30yrs !!!! Older, wiser and i reckon self-preservation kicks in earlier nowadays. Comfort zone is raised every time i go out, even had my knee down once, just the once lol. Had gixxer thou last couple of yrs and a vert sm. Done more sm track days than road bike and first quad day last week, now THATS different!! Spose answer to the Q is nearly 4yrs of summer/dry road riding and hopefully many more............Born again teenager !!!!

[Cobie Fair]

B/man,

 

Born again teenage!!!! T hat is a hundred times better than "mid-life crisis" I hear all the time. My standard response is I've been having a mid-life crisis since I was 16, 34 years later, still having it.

 

'Course, I also tell me kids I have a short attention span

 

Best,

Cobie

[EA6BMECH]

I'm just gonna go with "I started when I was 12". Rode street bikes. I rode a bike and thought I was pretty good rider until I bought a ZRX1200 in '02. Joined up with the ZRXOA......then I learned how to ride a bike. A year later I was on the track. I have close to 30 track days since then with one crash. 636 is the primary but can dice it up fairly well with the ZRX. No schools because I need the more time on the track than instruction. I bought TOTW2 last week, watched it and I can check yes I comply to all the above, I need the practice.....

[khp]

How long have forum members been riding?

 

I got my drivers license in '89 while studying, and bought my first bike in '95 after graduating and getting a job (cars and bikes are expensive here in Denmark) - a Yamaha XT600Z Ténéré '88. The year after, I moved to Norway and brought the bike with me.

 

In Norway, I started going canyon carving on Sundays with a bunch of people on mostly sportbikes. That led to a YZF600R (ThunderCat) in '98, which I attended my first CSS-inspired course. I proceeded to crash it thoroughly later that year on a local track (Rudskogen) after getting both my right knee and footpeg down in "Storsvingen".

 

When I moved back to Denmark by '99, I got a new ThunderCat, which I thrashed around on both street and track for a few years until I moved to Sweden (where the bikes are inexpensive) - and got a YZF-R1 2002. It got nicked a year later, so I decided to get a dedicated track bike instead - a '01 R6.

 

Come 2004, I got "an offer I couldn't refuse" so I was the lucky owner of a 2003 R1 as well. I still have that bike and loving every moment of it, even though I had to pay for it an extra time when registering it in Denmark, when moving back in 2005.

 

Last year I swapped the '01 R6 for a '08 R6. What a difference! Still trying to adapt to it.

 

Overall, I must have ridden around 90K miles, riding on the roads for around 15 years and on the track for 10+ years now (I'm a fairly smooth and predictable, but not a very fast, trackday rider). Since 2005, I am also working as an instructor at a motorcycle driver safety course here in Denmark.

[Sabah]

I started August 2008, applied for my license while my parents were away on a holiday mom wasnt so happy! This was the easy part, applying for the license was a killer! had to get a million No objection letters from all over just because im a girl! No comment....

 

Finally bought a 250cc ninja did around 7000km on it, mostly on roads and a few ride outts with the guys. Now i've got a CBR 600RR done amost 4000km mostly on track, done around 11 tracks days at Dubai Autodrome and now i'm obsessed...got the "Track Fever"

 

Ive had two falls since! Small low sides

 

Thats the only riding experince i have so far...But its the best expirence of my life by far...

[Cobie Fair]

I started August 2008, applied for my license while my parents were away on a holiday mom wasnt so happy! This was the easy part, applying for the license was a killer! had to get a million No objection letters from all over just because im a girl! No comment....

 

Finally bought a 250cc ninja did around 7000km on it, mostly on roads and a few ride outts with the guys. Now i've got a CBR 600RR done amost 4000km mostly on track, done around 11 tracks days at Dubai Autodrome and now i'm obsessed...got the "Track Fever"

 

Ive had two falls since! Small low sides

 

Thats the only riding experince i have so far...But its the best expirence of my life by far...

 

Wow, don't think that's the average story. Can you elaborate on the "No objection" letters, that for sure isn't something that we have to deal with over here...

 

Best,

Cobie