Do you ever envy those rocket ships with 1WD?
Discussion
Cyder said:
Well no s
t, I thought it was a fetish thing.
I quite like not having to wear bondage suits or Kevlar bulletproof clothes in order to survive the merest of journeys to the shops.
Go on then, I'll begrudgingly admit that sometimes it would be nice to sneak through a traffic jam or jump the queue at traffic lights.
Neither do i, nor most people that i know who ride bikes. That's why trips to the shops/pootling about are conducted in whatever i'm wearing at the time (usually jeans, trainers, and a hoody/t-shirt), plus a helmet and gloves. It's not difficult. t, I thought it was a fetish thing.I quite like not having to wear bondage suits or Kevlar bulletproof clothes in order to survive the merest of journeys to the shops.
Go on then, I'll begrudgingly admit that sometimes it would be nice to sneak through a traffic jam or jump the queue at traffic lights.
lostkiwi said:
ZX10R NIN said:
It's easy to ride a bike or drive a car to do it well is much harder to do on\in both, end of.
^^^ Exactly ^^^.lostkiwi said:
All you do is press pedals and turn a wheel? You need to learn how to drive and not just be an operator.
so you still won't tell me what else you doIn traffic I envy the ability to filter, otherwise no. Fast cars have more than enough performance for the road, any more would either never be used or lose me my license. I drive barges nowadays anyway as the majority of UK driving is so crushingly dull, doing it on a bike would just add discomfort, danger of death and much faffing around with leather romper suits to proceedings for no real advantage.
The safety aspect is also enough to put me off. You can be as good as you like but it's more or less inevitable that at some point someone will do something stupid that you can't mitigate or avoid and bad things will happen to you.
Also bikes don't really do anything for me from a mechanical point of view. To me they all look the same, none of them sound very good and there's just no lust factor whatsoever.
The safety aspect is also enough to put me off. You can be as good as you like but it's more or less inevitable that at some point someone will do something stupid that you can't mitigate or avoid and bad things will happen to you.
Also bikes don't really do anything for me from a mechanical point of view. To me they all look the same, none of them sound very good and there's just no lust factor whatsoever.
Hugo a Gogo said:
lostkiwi said:
ZX10R NIN said:
It's easy to ride a bike or drive a car to do it well is much harder to do on\in both, end of.
^^^ Exactly ^^^.lostkiwi said:
All you do is press pedals and turn a wheel? You need to learn how to drive and not just be an operator.
so you still won't tell me what else you doBored now.
lostkiwi said:
Hugo a Gogo said:
I've been off bikes for a couple of years now, but it's not even about speed or acceleration
it's such a tactile thing, tiny movements of fingers and toes, natural shifts of body weight for instant response, like an extension of yourself - whereas in a car you are wholly separate from the movement of the car, all you can do is press the pedals and turn the wheel
oh and wheelies, definitely wheelies
All you do is press pedals and turn a wheel? You need to learn how to drive and not just be an operator. it's such a tactile thing, tiny movements of fingers and toes, natural shifts of body weight for instant response, like an extension of yourself - whereas in a car you are wholly separate from the movement of the car, all you can do is press the pedals and turn the wheel
oh and wheelies, definitely wheelies
A bike IS an extension of the rider, because it reacts to *every* movement of the riders body. That's what hugo was getting at.
A car doesn't.
ZX10R NIN said:
It's easy to ride a bike or drive a car to do it well is much harder to do on\in both, end of.
I'd disagree with that. I'd been driving for 15 years before I did my bike test and have been riding for 6 years now and I'd estimate 40k miles.Its much easier to be confident in a car because you can explore the limits, understeer / oversteer, on an empty wet roundabout is no problem. Equally you can drive in snow and feel the car move around. This all brings experience. On a bike do pretty much any of those things, at least without skill, and you are likely to fall off. IMO it therefore takes much longer to get the feel of a bike and understand how it reacts. You also need to be a lot more precise with inputs on a bike than in a car.
Of course part of this is the massive performance available on a bike and if you compare a car with similar performance its likely to be much more comparable.
TurboHatchback said:
In traffic I envy the ability to filter, otherwise no. Fast cars have more than enough performance for the road, any more would either never be used or lose me my license. I drive barges nowadays anyway as the majority of UK driving is so crushingly dull, doing it on a bike would just add discomfort, danger of death and much faffing around with leather romper suits to proceedings for no real advantage.
The safety aspect is also enough to put me off. You can be as good as you like but it's more or less inevitable that at some point someone will do something stupid that you can't mitigate or avoid and bad things will happen to you.
Also bikes don't really do anything for me from a mechanical point of view. To me they all look the same, none of them sound very good and there's just no lust factor whatsoever.
Fair enough, not everyone likes the same thing. The safety aspect is also enough to put me off. You can be as good as you like but it's more or less inevitable that at some point someone will do something stupid that you can't mitigate or avoid and bad things will happen to you.
Also bikes don't really do anything for me from a mechanical point of view. To me they all look the same, none of them sound very good and there's just no lust factor whatsoever.
And as a biker I do see your point with most sports bikes. More of a custom/classic man myself.TurboHatchback said:
Also bikes don't really do anything for me from a mechanical point of view. To me they all look the same, none of them sound very good and there's just no lust factor whatsoever.
LOL. You need to be sat on one with the throttle pinned at 13k. Its utterly electrifying. Have you heard a RSV4?Hugo a Gogo said:
lostkiwi said:
Nope. If you don't know whats involved in DRIVING a car as opposed to simply operating it its not my place to teach you.
Bored now.
yeah, I thought so, you have nothing to sayBored now.
Its hard to soar like an eagle when you're working with turkeys after all.
What seems to surprise car drivers is how cheap a decent performance bike cost forget the 1000cc bikes for a minute 600cc bikes like the R6/ZX6R etc will pretty much blitz everything up to a 911 GTS, the 1000cc bike will pretty much deal with everything else & all from around 4K.
As someone who has & enjoys both I know that there are days when I'm in the car, a bike will come past & I feel that tinge of envy as I know what I'm missing out on.
gsxr renegade said:
Neither do i, nor most people that i know who ride bikes. That's why trips to the shops/pootling about are conducted in whatever i'm wearing at the time (usually jeans, trainers, and a hoody/t-shirt), plus a helmet and gloves. It's not difficult.
If 'most riders you know' don't wear safety gear that's a little worrying.When I'm in the car I miss the sheer performance, traffic filtering and exhilerating connection to both the bike and the environment. When I'm on the bike I miss the practicality, the 'surefootedness' of the performance as it were i.e. bigger safety margins and an inherently stable box with wheels, and the greater sense of occasion that cars tend to bring. Certain bikes are pretty things which garner admiration, but certain cars garner adoration instead - a small but important difference.
I'm glad that I get to enjoy both in equal measure frankly - wouldn't trade either for anything
lostkiwi said:
Hugo a Gogo said:
lostkiwi said:
Nope. If you don't know whats involved in DRIVING a car as opposed to simply operating it its not my place to teach you.
Bored now.
yeah, I thought so, you have nothing to sayBored now.
Its hard to soar like an eagle when you're working with turkeys after all.
Hugo a Gogo said:
lostkiwi said:
Hugo a Gogo said:
lostkiwi said:
Nope. If you don't know whats involved in DRIVING a car as opposed to simply operating it its not my place to teach you.
Bored now.
yeah, I thought so, you have nothing to sayBored now.
Its hard to soar like an eagle when you're working with turkeys after all.
trickywoo said:
ZX10R NIN said:
It's easy to ride a bike or drive a car to do it well is much harder to do on\in both, end of.
I'd disagree with that. I'd been driving for 15 years before I did my bike test and have been riding for 6 years now and I'd estimate 40k miles.Its much easier to be confident in a car because you can explore the limits, understeer / oversteer, on an empty wet roundabout is no problem. Equally you can drive in snow and feel the car move around. This all brings experience. On a bike do pretty much any of those things, at least without skill, and you are likely to fall off. IMO it therefore takes much longer to get the feel of a bike and understand how it reacts. You also need to be a lot more precise with inputs on a bike than in a car.
Of course part of this is the massive performance available on a bike and if you compare a car with similar performance its likely to be much more comparable.
Learning your craft by jumping straight on a 600cc is harder because you have more access to high performance.
ZX10R NIN said:
Learning your craft by jumping straight on a 600cc is harder because you have more access to high performance.
Thats maybe where I went wrong. First bike was a V Twin 1000 Tuono.A properly set up bike that gives you confidence makes all the difference - I never got on with the front end feel of the Tuono.
trickywoo said:
ZX10R NIN said:
Learning your craft by jumping straight on a 600cc is harder because you have more access to high performance.
Thats maybe where I went wrong. First bike was a V Twin 1000 Tuono.A properly set up bike that gives you confidence makes all the difference - I never got on with the front end feel of the Tuono.
Your first bike was Tuono a bike known for lack of front end feel, plus the constant battle to keep the said front end in contact with the tarmac in the first place lol.Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff