Posted: 7/1/2008 12:10:28 PM EDT
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Holy freakin crap! Just more proof that it ain't the tool, so much as it is the skill of the rider. Bet that 90% of the posers on sport bikes can't ride like this (I know I can't!  )www.webbikeworld.magnify.net/item/4LSHDRQLCTTZ0BCB |
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Damn that's crazy. www.youtube.com/watch?v=whVXD3ex9DA&NR=1 heh heh |
Looks like the average hawg rider in my neck of the woods too. We have an 11,000' pass full of hairpins and those guys just loaf around those. I try to pick a time when I think they're all at the bar when I want to do some leaning on the sport bike up there.
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Sure, lots do, just not very many on the street. YellowWolf would be getting his ears ripped off in an average B group track day session. |
True. The fastest rider on the street is not the fastest rider- it's just the guy willing to take the most chances. I ride slower on the street now than I ever have. I've seen plenty of "fast" street riders come out to the track for their first time. They they get to learn just how slow they really are. The hard part is getting them to calm down and start paying attention to their riding instead of just pushing it into adrenaline overload until their God-given self-preservation instinct takes over (or they suddenly decide to take up high-speed gardening). |
Those aren't "riders". They are "operators". They are able to manage the clutch well enough to get the bike rolling without killing it, but they have no actual skills beyond that. Unfortunately, that is typical of the vast majority of motorcyclists. They don't even know which way to push the bars to turn the bike or how to use the brakes correctly. Just like in the video, they often target-fixate and steer directly into the object that they are trying so desperately to avoid. Falling down is often accompanied by ridiculous stories about how they "had to lay 'er down", as if slick chrome sliding randomly across pavement had a higher coefficent of friction than a rubber tire under braking. I see it all the time. The Cruiser operator going 25 mph that locks up his rear wheel and leaves a squiggly 100-foot long black stripe from his rear tire all the way into the exact center of the rear bumper of of the car that slowed to make a left turn, never steering or touching the front brake. Or the Cruiser operator I saw the other day wobbling down the road with his elbows locked, attempting to steer by twisting at the waist, and nearly running off of the outside of curves at 10 mph under the recommended posted speeds. |
I agree with what you both have to say, but it's pretty obvious that YellowWolf has great riding skills. I don't have track experience (due to living 300-500 miles from the nearest one), but I've spent enough miles and years on my crotch rocket in the twisties here to recognize riding skills when I see them. Anyone who can manuevre a GoldWing like that (and not crash) gets my respect. |
He certainly does have skills, and is a very fast rider. He would be even faster with a proper motorcycle for the job. I know I couldn't get a wing through Deal's Gap nearly as quickly as he can. |
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There is no question that Yellowolf is a hell of a rider and what you see in the video is his skill. I know I am no match for him. At the same time I think a lot of people are confused about just how much of a sport bike the GL1800 is. Most seem to think it is a Over Dressed Heavy Cruiser,(AKA Geezer Glide) it is not, It is a giant sport standard bike. Everything about it, from the seating position , suspension, low center of gravity and incredible drive train (it easily walks away from my punched out tweaked air cooled V-Twin Cruiser) make it far superior to the current batch of production air cooled V-Twin Cruisers . The only real peer the GL1800 (IMHO) has is the BMW- LT. Anyone who enjoys riding owes themselves a couple of hours on one. |
I live in MT. I ride a ZX-6. I put 11K miles on it the first year I had it. We have some serious twisties around here and that's as close to a track day as I can get. One set of them is about 7 miles long and only a few miles from my house. I haven't been as good this past year about getting out and practicing on them, but I used to ride them several times a week every week. |
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What year and model ZX6? Where in Montana? In order to get some track experience, you may need to either travel to a class that supplies bikes, or load up yours in the truck and make a weekend out of it. Either way, it's an important part of developing your skill set- there are things that you need to know how to do that are not safe to practice on public roads. |
Right in the middle of MT and it's an '03 E model (not the R model). I agree that track days are great for the skill set. I'm not sure why we're getting bogged down in this discussion in this thread. Suffice it to say that I don't put many miles on my bike any more because other things in my life are more important. If I had a bike that was more suited to two-up riding, that would fit my current needs better. Which is why I stumbled on to the video that I posted a link to. I used to ride a heavy, fully-faired Kawi KZ-900 two-up and can't imagine riding that pig like the rider in this video rode the GL1800. I am impressed... both with the rider's capabilites AND with the bike's. |
+1 to that, and I couldn't have said it any better. Yeah, it's big, with all the plastic and cargo storage, but with it's low center of gravity, and all that torque available at relatively low RPMs, the overall bulk of the bike really disappears on the twisty roads. No, I cant, and/ or don't want to ride like Yellowwolf, but I have to admit to scraping a footpeg around some familiar corners here in town. Though the highway rides are very nice on the new big bike, the curves and the quick departures from the traffic lights are the most fun. |
Beartooth Pass, right? 11,000 ft has got to zap the power right out of your bike. I live in Missoula and we have a small private track but it's highly technical and my skill level has increased ten fold. I'm planning a trip to Miller next summer to get on a "real" track. |
Stole this one from GD, but THIS is a display of MAD skillz  :www.youtube.com/watch?v=klteYv1Uv9A |