Small pleasures in life
Discussion
125er on a L plate scooter; Tail-gated through a long village for doing the speed limit today (30mph but one of those places no-one observes it; as a CBTer with a mere 6 points to play with I can ill afford that), as I came up to the NSL sign the car decided to try and overtake me. You can only begin to imagine the amount of room I suddenly had behind me, as I showed him that the bike he'd taken for a 50cc moped was actually capable of 60mph and a bit less round the next bends (I knew the road, the other driver obviously didn't taking them at a pedestrian pace, he'd have been holding up a cyclist if one was there) Any other L platers get a small amount of joy out teasing other drivers into thinking you're a 50cc and then boom - leaving them for dust on the straights.
revvingit said:
125er on a L plate scooter; Tail-gated through a long village for doing the speed limit today (30mph but one of those places no-one observes it; as a CBTer with a mere 6 points to play with I can ill afford that), as I came up to the NSL sign the car decided to try and overtake me. You can only begin to imagine the amount of room I suddenly had behind me, as I showed him that the bike he'd taken for a 50cc moped was actually capable of 60mph and a bit less round the next bends (I knew the road, the other driver obviously didn't taking them at a pedestrian pace, he'd have been holding up a cyclist if one was there) Any other L platers get a small amount of joy out teasing other drivers into thinking you're a 50cc and then boom - leaving them for dust on the straights.
Its over 35 years (i think( since I had L plates.Sorry what was the question.
revvingit said:
125er on a L plate scooter; Tail-gated through a long village for doing the speed limit today (30mph but one of those places no-one observes it; as a CBTer with a mere 6 points to play with I can ill afford that), as I came up to the NSL sign the car decided to try and overtake me. You can only begin to imagine the amount of room I suddenly had behind me, as I showed him that the bike he'd taken for a 50cc moped was actually capable of 60mph and a bit less round the next bends (I knew the road, the other driver obviously didn't taking them at a pedestrian pace, he'd have been holding up a cyclist if one was there) Any other L platers get a small amount of joy out teasing other drivers into thinking you're a 50cc and then boom - leaving them for dust on the straights.
Don't think it stops when you get on a big bike - I stick to 30 and 40 limits and in this weather, tip-toe around roundabouts (had a nice little 2 wheel slide this evening on a new roundabout by work...) and regularly get idiots tailgating. Come the next NSL limit or semi straight road off the roundabout and they strangely seem to disappear from the rear view mirror... 
Wait until you're on a big bike, then you'd know what 'leaving them for dust' means
My old CB400 would do 0-60 in 5 seconds, that's Golf R (300bhp) level, OK above 70-80mph it started running out of puff but it was enough to do the job.King Herald said:
Jazoli said:
Its even more fun with a 1000cc bike, most people don't realise just how fast they are, I feel it is my job to educate them.
When they realise that no mass production car on earth can out accelerate you up to 100 mph or more. Muaahahahahaaaaa. 
Edited by Tall_Paul on Wednesday 6th December 22:01
Biker's Nemesis said:
Acceleration of !000 cc bikes don't feel that fast to me anymore.
My 1200 Bandit scared the crap out of me whenever I tried to ‘give it the berries’ big time. Not sure if I ever hit the red line going through the gears, just shifted when I thought it needed it.However, it has about half the power of top of the range modern projectiles, so I dread to think how big a trail of poo I’d leave riding one of them.
Lack of practise I reckon, older, wiser, a lot more scared/aware of the consequences etc.
Biker's Nemesis said:
Its over 35 years (i think( since I had L plates.
Sorry what was the question.
43 years since I had mine, but that was on a 250 with, allegedly, the best part of 30hp so able to mix it with most of the 'sporty' motors of the time - MGBs etc. Before that I do recall my SS50 getting its ass handed to it by a couple of young lasses I was trying to impress in what I assume was their dad's Cortina. Oh the indignity - I don't think I've ever got over it...Sorry what was the question.
Jazoli said:
Its even more fun with a 1000cc bike, most people don't realise just how fast they are, I feel it is my job to educate them.
It's even more fun with an 1800cc chrome and leather adorned bagger, most weekend warriors don't realise how fast they are, I feel it is my job to educate them.
Prof Prolapse said:
tvrolet said:
It's even more fun with an 1800cc chrome and leather adorned bagger, most weekend warriors don't realise how fast they are, I feel it is my job to educate them.
I think we all know they're nearly 80bhp and 380kg before a middle aged man sits on it.
And as a yoof my 'fastest thing pennies could buy' z900 was meant to be 82hp.
But yea, you're about right on the weight...and I'm reassured to be considered in the middle aged bracket, and not a lardy old git.
Enough grunt and clearance though to bait the point-and-squirt weekend warrior brigade - but of course no match for anything sporty ridden even remotely well.
Same sort of perverse pleasure I get in the (Hemi) Grand Cherokee with not-so-great 'sports car' drivers on the open road. It'd be no fun staying large in their mirrors in the Masser, but it's fun in an SUV. Same with the bagger, I get much more pleasure trying to make an unwieldy thing go well to the best of its abilities rather than riding a sports bike where I'd never come anywhere near its capabilities. So I can see the fun in trying to get the best out of a 125 as per the OP.
tvrolet said:
Well mine's 90hp and 115ft/lb (dyno'd)...where's the cock-waving smilie?
And as a yoof my 'fastest thing pennies could buy' z900 was meant to be 82hp.
But yea, you're about right on the weight...and I'm reassured to be considered in the middle aged bracket, and not a lardy old git.
Enough grunt and clearance though to bait the point-and-squirt weekend warrior brigade - but of course no match for anything sporty ridden even remotely well.
Same sort of perverse pleasure I get in the (Hemi) Grand Cherokee with not-so-great 'sports car' drivers on the open road. It'd be no fun staying large in their mirrors in the Masser, but it's fun in an SUV. Same with the bagger, I get much more pleasure trying to make an unwieldy thing go well to the best of its abilities rather than riding a sports bike where I'd never come anywhere near its capabilities. So I can see the fun in trying to get the best out of a 125 as per the OP.
I'm only teasing, as my wife likes to reassure me, "it's what you do with it that counts". There's many a chunky middle aged bloke on this forum alone who's a sAnd as a yoof my 'fastest thing pennies could buy' z900 was meant to be 82hp.
But yea, you're about right on the weight...and I'm reassured to be considered in the middle aged bracket, and not a lardy old git.
Enough grunt and clearance though to bait the point-and-squirt weekend warrior brigade - but of course no match for anything sporty ridden even remotely well.
Same sort of perverse pleasure I get in the (Hemi) Grand Cherokee with not-so-great 'sports car' drivers on the open road. It'd be no fun staying large in their mirrors in the Masser, but it's fun in an SUV. Same with the bagger, I get much more pleasure trying to make an unwieldy thing go well to the best of its abilities rather than riding a sports bike where I'd never come anywhere near its capabilities. So I can see the fun in trying to get the best out of a 125 as per the OP.
t load faster than I will ever be as well. So the ADV vs Sportsbike vs Cruiser thing is moot unless you're ignoring the rider.I dunno about relevance being a factor, it's an old argument isn't it? At the moment I feel fortunate I that I have recently been able to keep a foot in both the "bimbling along" and "power ranger" camps. It's very different experience. Even if I can't use every ounce of power, I enjoy the precision and focus of the GSXR, and I am childish enough to enjoy pretending I'm doing a road race when I'm travelling at 60mph (well maybe a bit over, I do see the shift light every now and again). I also think sportsbikes are beautiful looking machines, but appreciate that's subjective.
That said, I am increasingly enjoying doing slower runs, "dug-dug-dugging" along with my sandwiches in my pannier on the Uganda Twin and enjoying or mutually local scenery. So I am increasingly understanding the "cruising" thing a bit more. I'm away the Hebrides in spring hopefully, a mate is doing some sort of photography thing so a relaxed pace is much better given the stop/start nature of it all.
King Herald said:
My 1200 Bandit scared the crap out of me whenever I tried to ‘give it the berries’ big time.
Scared by a 1200 Bandit
My Hayabusa surprised me even after having owned a few litre bikes over the years, its the only thing I have owned that has felt seriously quick from 4000rpm, other stuff has required a lot more revs to accelerate at the same rate, what was even more surprising was the power of the 6 pot brakes, there isn't any!
Edited by Jazoli on Thursday 7th December 11:18
Jazoli said:
King Herald said:
My 1200 Bandit scared the crap out of me whenever I tried to ‘give it the berries’ big time.
Scared by a 1200 Bandit
My Hayabusa surprised me even after having owned a few litre bikes over the years, its the only thing I have owned that has felt seriously quick from 4000rpm, other stuff has required a lot more revs to accelerate at the same rate, what was even more surprising was the power of the 6 pot brakes, there isn't any!
Edited by Jazoli on Thursday 7th December 11:18
You could have replaced Hyabusa with <Insert Bike here> and 90 percent of people would have guessed it was a Hyabusa. Because fastest ever / massive balls / elite speed god here.
supercommuter said:
That is such a hyabusa rider comment above.
You could have replaced Hyabusa with <Insert Bike here> and 90 percent of people would have guessed it was a Hyabusa. Because fastest ever / massive balls / elite speed god here.
Last time I was at the nurburgring was August 2006, I posted at the time how me on a 2005 R1 and mate on a K5 1000 doing 2nd, all the way through to 6th plus top speed runs You could have replaced Hyabusa with <Insert Bike here> and 90 percent of people would have guessed it was a Hyabusa. Because fastest ever / massive balls / elite speed god here.
The Busa lost every time
Prof Prolapse said:
That said, I am increasingly enjoying doing slower runs, "dug-dug-dugging" along with my sandwiches in my pannier on the Uganda Twin and enjoying or mutually local scenery. So I am increasingly understanding the "cruising" thing a bit more. I'm away the Hebrides in spring hopefully, a mate is doing some sort of photography thing so a relaxed pace is much better given the stop/start nature of it all.
Who says chugging along. I can be revving the nuts off it all the way to it bouncing off the limiter....at 5400rpm.
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