Do you get challenged in your bike?

I got challenged twice while on my Blackbird. Once by a VRod and once by a HD cruiser. Never by a car driver. You really need to bring your "A" game if you challenge a 'Bird, 'Busa, or ZX14.

I don't anticipate any challenges with my ST1100.

As for speed, it depends how I'm feeling when I swing a leg over the bikes. Sometimes I feel like a nut and other times I don't. I can say for sure that I've slowed way down since moving to Texas Hill Country due to the deer. I usually just cruise around at 5-10 over and love the challenge of riding a brisk pace on the rough twisty cow trail roads.

As I get closer to 70 years of age, I find myself wanting a nice light 250-300cc bike that can putt around and still manage 70mph or so. That would be perfect for much of the riding I do.
 
ST1100TX said:
I got challenged twice while on my Blackbird. Once by a VRod and once by a HD cruiser. Never by a car driver. You really need to bring your "A" game if you challenge a 'Bird, 'Busa, or ZX14.

I don't anticipate any challenges with my ST1100.

As for speed, it depends how I'm feeling when I swing a leg over the bikes. Sometimes I feel like a nut and other times I don't. I can say for sure that I've slowed way down since moving to Texas Hill Country due to the deer. I usually just cruise around at 5-10 over and love the challenge of riding a brisk pace on the rough twisty cow trail roads.

As I get closer to 70 years of age, I find myself wanting a nice light 250-300cc bike that can putt around and still manage 70mph or so. That would be perfect for much of the riding I do.
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i am going to buy my buddy's T-dub but i keep looking at those CB 450 nighthawks
 
ST1100TX said:
I got challenged twice while on my Blackbird. Once by a VRod and once by a HD cruiser. Never by a car driver.
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I wasn't going to mention it, or even comment in this thread, but you said... Blackbird.

Never took the bait, those few forgettable times another rider wanted to test me, but one dark night there was this one obnoxious Porsche driver with what appeared to be a trophy girlfriend...

Black, shiny, late-model 911 style, he was showing off, revving it up at stop lights, jack rabbit starts and backing off all the while giving me the stink eye. I ignored him until we both took the same highway on ramp. No other cars around.

He took the curved ramp aggressively ahead of me, and I could hear his engine spooling up into the power band, me right on his tail. I had to lean hard at that speed to stay on the concrete, but as soon as we were on the highway and the road straightened I shot around him on the left (I may have been too close, but I was sure he was not going to show down).

His German engine sounded glorious at this high rpms, but the Honda Dos Equis had its own full-throated roar under hard acceleration as the four carburetors gulped all the air the Keihins could swallow. Fortunately I didn't miss any shifts, and I passed him in 4th, held it extra long there and then 5th and then 6th

He was obviously surprised, maybe even shocked, but as fast as he may have thought he was, the Blackbird was singing happily as it was even quicker.

I got up to 110 or thereabouts, and decided I had proven my point, if there actually ever was one, and at that exact instant also realized I was acting like a fool.

As I was rolling off the throttle, he passed me quickly and I settled down to legal speeds again. The 1100XX always impressed me with its quickness and stability, but also that buttery smoothness no matter what speed you wanted to go.

As this true story is an anomaly in my typical riding style, a momentary lapse of reason if you will, I have managed thusly to live to my current ripe old age, mostly intact, largely unbroken, and without the need for steel screws or rods to hold me together.

And I have asked for forgiveness, but not from that Porsche driver, because I never saw him again.
 
Sadlsor said:
The 1100XX always impressed me with its quickness and stability, but also that buttery smoothness no matter what speed you wanted to go.
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Always depending on the terrain though...
Sure, any Fireblade or Blackbird would smoke an ST1100 in acceleration in the blink of an eye... on a fairly open road...
On our narrow, twisting back-roads/passes, littered with back-sweeps and blind corners, the deck is shuffled differently... in favor of the low rev torque-line, still pretty maneuverable ST...
I was running with a motorcycle club for quite a while, and on roads like the Lesachtal Bundesstraße I frequently pulled away from the pack... easily...
The Blade and the XX handle just a tad too stiff for those quick changes of direction...

And then again you've that obnoxious car driver, starting to tailgate and badgering you on an m/way, while already going 160kph/100mph... like that VW van on the Klingon Autobahn on our way home from Scotland last month...
So you ramp it up to 200kph/125mph to then go like 'oops! Still got a gear left...' and pull away at nearly 240mph/150mph (which admittedly is the operating limit of a well tuned ST1100 though... but still, you made your point...)
 
I'm not about to get into measuring... ah, top speeds or acceleration, but i get what you're saying.

The XX was a bit vague hustling it through tight twisties, the front seemed uncomfortably uncertain with quick steering changes at sharp lean angles.

Then I had a suspension tuner install RaceTech cartridge emulators, and it transformed from a sharp hatchet into a competent, nimble, fixed-blade skinning knife.

But i had to relearn how to ride those same twisties with my next bike, a single cylinder f650gs with a 21in front and knobbies all around.

I like motorcycles. Even different ones.
 
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