older riders

Uncle Phil said:
I remember in the NC mountains I would occasionally run into an elderly rider on a yellow VFR (old style) with full racing leathers.
Off the bike he could hardly move around, but once he swung a leg over that thing, he was like a young man on a rocket. :biggrin:
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Years ago, on a charter to Indiana, I saw this very elderly gentleman doing a walk around on a Sabreliner with a younger fellow reaching up for the bits the elder couldn't. He appeared to be in his late seventies & had trouble clinbing up into the cabin. I was told by the folks at Signature (he was a regular customer) that he was the Captain & got his first jet time on Sabres during the Korean War. He was the check pilot for his company & nobody flew as smoothly as he did... very meticulous in every aspect of every flight.
He was also rock steady when dealing with any unexpected (WILL happen if you fly enough) event.
IMHO, that's the sort of person I pay attention to in order to learn and survive: I did when I flew & do so now with regard to motorcycles.
 
When I was a kid, I use to ride motocross bikes around the trails of the city outskirts where I lived and I used to get chased by the police alot when I would use streets to get to and from the trails. Most times I got away as they were usually in cars. They had some dual purpose bikes, but we never saw those much. One day a cop caught up to my buddy and me on the trail and I grinned and thought "see ya". We turned it up to 10 and the next time we looked back, this guy was practically running us over. My buddy and I were riding on the ragged edge of crashing and this guy had his right hand on the throttle and was waving his left hand, pointing to pull over. This guy was literally faster than us with one hand. He gave us a warning and I later found out that the local police forces newest recruit was a Canadian national motocross champion... well crap. I met up with him through work about 45 years later and I laughed hearing some of his similar stories. He had an st 1300 briefly.
 
W0QNX said:
Amateurs. My moving average is 225 mph.

:wink-2x:


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Meters Per Hour? ;)
 
pffff...

Mach 1.2 here... ;)

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One of the benefits of age: you don't get provoked as easily anymore...
Getting emotional puts one foot "into the box" as we say over here...

Someone giving you a hard time, zig-zagging across the road, blocking the path, too stubborn to let you/anyone pass...?
You just patiently stay on him, slight, steady pressure, waiting...
 
Interestingly has my GF, armed with the skills from various rider safety & handling trainings as well as endless kilometers on alpine roads in Austria, Norway and Scotland, grown impressively smooth and quick on her NT700VA... no comparison to her on that Kawa ER5 back in 2019...
So she's never far behind, and tells who got in her way, so she just had to pass them... :biggrin:
And some are really stubborn, cruisers in particular, which low ground clearance is quite unfavorable in twisty terrain, so they're all over the place like a timber hauler, leaving not much space to pass them safely...
(And I guess that besides being passed by a "Dullville", that [Granny On Tour] sticker on her top-case offers another ego-pinch... :cool:)

The NT features similar handling as the ST, like the rear wheel is 'running in a rail' the whole bike pivots on in cornering, just counter-steer and the mount flicks around that one point...
What the 680cc twin lacks in low-end torque and rev band, can be compensated by just letting it roll, just allowing the mass move around the corner...

Which is where I observe many riders having issues with... even, or especially hyper-sports...
First they desperately pass you, full risk, cutting in way too close... at the next back-sweep, where I'm already leaning in, starting my line, they are still straight, hard on the brakes, far out on the shoulder/center line, to abruptly let go, and pop into a harsh +90° (squaring off at the entrance, with the latest possible turn-in) right back into (my!) corner apex, forcing me (again!) on the brakes to not run into them... and so on and so forth... :cautious:

Yeah... some annoy me enough that I'll slam the door on them once I get a (safe) chance... interestingly will I loose them within the next 2~3 corners after that...
I don't know what they "teach" them in their race track lessons, but apparently it ain't working on alpine roads...

I have no problem with people passing me, but then please be gone!
 
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ST1100Y said:
Interestingly has my GF, armed with the skills from various rider safety & handling trainings as well as endless kilometers on alpine roads in Austria, Norway and Scotland, grown impressively smooth and quick on her NT700VA... no comparison to her on that Kawa ER5 back in 2019...
So she's never far behind, and tells who got in her way, so she just had to pass them... :biggrin:
And some are really stubborn, cruisers in particular, which low ground clearance is quite unfavorable in twisty terrain, so they're all over the place like a timber hauler, leaving not much space to pass them safely...
(And I guess that besides being passed by a "Dullville", that [Granny On Tour] sticker on her top-case offers another ego-pinch... :cool:)

The NT features similar handling as the ST, like the rear wheel is 'running in a rail' the whole bike pivots on in cornering, just counter-steer and the mount flicks around that one point...
What the 680cc twin lacks in low-end torque and rev band, can be compensated by just letting it roll, just allowing the mass move around the corner...

Which is where I observe many riders having issues with... even, or especially hyper-sports...
First they desperately pass you, full risk, cutting in way too close... at the next back-sweep, where I'm already leaning in, starting my line, they are still straight, hard on the brakes, far out on the shoulder/center line, to abruptly let go, and pop into a harsh +90° (squaring off at the entrance, with the latest possible turn-in) right back into (my!) corner apex, forcing me (again!) on the brakes to not run into them... and so on and so forth... :cautious:

Yeah... some annoy me enough that I'll slam the door on them once I get a (safe) chance... interestingly will I loose them within the next 2~3 corners after that...
I don't know what they "teach" them in their race track lessons, but apparently it ain't working on alpine roads...

I have no problem with people passing me, but then please be gone!
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;)
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Yeah... some annoy me enough that I'll slam the door on them once I get a (safe) chance... interestingly will I loose them within the next 2~3 corners after that...
I don't know what they "teach" them in their race track lessons, but apparently it ain't working on alpine roads...
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Those days are over for me... I've had too many people crash directly in front of me trying to stay ahead or follow after I've blown by them. I simply back off and let them do their thing. Again, on track, it's another story. Regarding your comment about what is taught at the track, I'm not sure if the people you encounter have made it to the track more than once for bragging rights, if at all. Here, people who race or ride trackdays do not ride like that on the street. There may be a few exceptions, but the guys who ride like that here have little to no track experience. They are the type of rider who buy worn knee sliders and take-off track tires to look faster than they really are. Those guys are more likely to cause you problems, whether crashing in front of you or into you. Not worth it, IMO. You don't really have to worry about the really fast riders. Firstly, they will not ride like that around you. And secondly, if they did decide to "go," they don't need Two Turns to disappear, they only need one. ;)

I once chased down an Aprilia rider who clipped my mirror as he passed me aggressively on my 500lb+ 70hp 39yo Honda. He pulled over when he realized he wasn't going to lose me. As I screamed at him for almost putting me into a rock wall (and then trying to take off), he finally apologized just as I was about to face-mask him and throw him down a steep embankment. Certainly not one of my proudest moments. For me, it's just not worth it... I can deal with screwing up and hurting myself. Not worth it for me if I take someone else out unnecessarily. YMMV.
 
JetRanger said:
Years ago, on a charter to Indiana, I saw this very elderly gentleman doing a walk around on a Sabreliner with a younger fellow reaching up for the bits the elder couldn't. He appeared to be in his late seventies & had trouble clinbing up into the cabin. I was told by the folks at Signature (he was a regular customer) that he was the Captain & got his first jet time on Sabres during the Korean War. He was the check pilot for his company & nobody flew as smoothly as he did... very meticulous in every aspect of every flight.
He was also rock steady when dealing with any unexpected (WILL happen if you fly enough) event.
IMHO, that's the sort of person I pay attention to in order to learn and survive: I did when I flew & do so now with regard to motorcycles.
Click to expand...
Did you fly out of WW?
 
Brave pillion. I wouldn't ride pillion behind Marc Marquez even if he promised to take it easy

Years ago, there was a couple that would terrorize the Dragon in NC. They would pull in to the Dragon Store with an enclosed trailer and unload a black R-1 Yamaha. They both dressed in matching black head to toe leathers & helmets. They were very fast and you could hear them coming from a long way off giving you time to get out of their way, but every time I saw them, I just thought ..someday.....

Wonder if they are still riding...heck truthfully, I wonder if they are still alive.
 
ST1100Y said:
Interestingly has my GF, armed with the skills from various rider safety & handling trainings as well as endless kilometers on alpine roads in Austria, Norway and Scotland, grown impressively smooth and quick on her NT700VA...
Click to expand...
The beauty of a low powered bike is that you can't rely on your right hand to solve all your problems for you. I started riding again, after a long hiatus, on scooters. I had a 400 cc, 34 hp Burgman 400 scooter and learned quickly that if I wanted to ride fast, I needed to carry my speed smoothly into turns and not scrub off too much with my brakes...because that 34 hp can only go so far. I actually think I was a better rider back then than I am now. I've gotten lazy, relying on a far more capable bike to make up for my sloppiness.

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2011 Honda NT700V

Chris
 
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