PacerX

Welp, I've had an epiphany of sorts...

After owning some decently fast cars I have come to a conclusion...

I think I'm going to put my "speed money" into motorcycles.

$10,000 in the right, basically stock, motorcycle = 9's. $10,000 in my Camaro has gotten a very involved project on a $26,000 (OTD) car has gotten my project there 75% done.

Just doesn't make much sense to me anymore. Since my funds are not unlimited, and there just isn't enough time in my life to do everything I want to do (start building houses, learn German and Spanish, get a truly custom electric guitar built just for me, keep feeding my new computer habit - I've built my first one and am going to build computers for the rest of my family now...), something has to give.

It seems that the car is that thing.

I guess I'll have to debate keeping it or not now.

Even my dream of buying a new Vette and taking museum delivery has faded a bit.

Here's the basic fact of the matter...

For less than $10,000 a Hayabusa can completely satisfy any need I have ever had to go really, really fast.

I still love cars, I guess I just love motorcycles more right now.

DaxsZ28

Call me old or a wuss or whatever, but bikes scare me and fast bikes really scare me!! It's not really the bikes, it's all the other idiots on the road.

95GRNZ

Sounds like Lounge material...

Mutiny32

My reason for not having one is that I really don't feel like dieing.

I've known of far too many people dieing on streetbikes than in their 'Vette or Stang.

PacerX

This is where I post, and the part of the community in which I truly identify.

The lounge just ain't my thing, and since I feel that I have a personal relationship with many of the folks here, I posted it here.

Big Als Z

eh, I guess thats your style. If you want pure speed, I guess you cant beat a stock 9 sec bike. I also would be scared out of my mind flying down 1/4 at 9 sec with nothing but a fiberglass shell around my head, and a leather jump suit. But I guess whatever floats your boat. I guess im to die-hard into cars to really care about a sport bike. I think that one day Ill get some sort of cruser, but my speed fix will probably still be in cars.

PacerX

I guess it's just my style too.

I came to the conclusion that it is more the feeling of speed than the speed itself.

The fastest I've ever FELT I was going was 75mph on the water in a Donzi ski boat (I guess it was a ski boat... I know little if anything about small boats...) anyhoo... it FELT like you were going warp 10 at 75mph. It sticks in my mind even more than the feeling that the bike gives me now (I actually rode last Friday in Michigan, believe it or not... 53 degrees it riding weather in Michigan... especially in December).

I guess I just wanted to share a significant shift in my perspective... which I have decided has more to do with perception of acceleration than the actual numbers themselves... even though the numbers themselves on a bike are there.

This leads back to the T-top discussion and their necessity for the next generation. They allow a perception off speed and performance that a hardtop just doesn't have even though they sacrifice a small bit of it simply by being installed.

I would submit that a quarter mile blast 1/2 slower in an open T-top car has a better chance of imprinting itself on a person's mind than a quicker run in a hardtop car.

Thoughts?

falchulk

How often do you think you might hit those 1/4 mile blasts? For the rest of the year you are the most uncomfortable you could ever be while riding on a motor vehicle. Think maybe that you might do 10 runs a year? Thats a minute and a half of good times.

95GRNZ

Sure, and then everybody else follows your example and this section will be turned into Lounge #2 where most of the posts have nothing to do with the 5th Gen F-body or future vehicles.

Oh well...

PacerX

Erm...

Who elected you post-****?

If Jason or Chris would like to move it, they can feel free to do so with no heartburn on my part.

Magnum Force

oh, man!! don't i know THAT feeling! Museum delivery of a new corvette has been a dream for what seems like decades now (I like to read the threads of the people that do it over on teh vette boards)...I'm not really into bikes, but I do think the fortunes will smile on me so that i can finally get a fast car of my own before gas is 5 bucks a gallon

PacerX

You can make a somewhat reserved (relatively speaking...) blast at every corner if you would like, and scrub off the speed hella-quick to save on expensive run-ins with the law.

Understand though, that a full quarter-mile on that machine would result in a trap speed in excess of 143mph, and you are most assuredly correct in the idea that that type of run is something I have never done on the street with a bike.

That being said, just pinning it through first and second gets you well over 100mph on a Busa or any of the 1000cc repli-racers, and it happens in a REALLY big hurry.

Now, I'll never admit to having broken the law on my bike, but I can tell you with some measure of confidence that a run to 150mph on a high performance motorcycle from an onramp on a clear interstate might change your whole perspective on life.

Like everything in life, speed on a motorcycle is all about managed risk. It's just that the consequences of a bad choice or an unforeseen problem are so much greater.

I think that everyone here, to some measure or another, makes choices on managed risk every time they get in their car.

Bob makes such a choice in his racing endeavors for sure. They make sense to some, but not to others. My father would never understand the risks he takes, and does not understand the risk I take merely riding a motorcycle.

Let's face it ladies and gents, we, as the buyers of what can resonably be called very high-performance cars are wrapped up in the "managed risk" aspect of our personalities. We make those choices every time we give our Camaros or Firebirds or Corvettes (errr... and Mustangs too...) a good kick with the right foot.

I guess one thing that comforts me about the bike is that truly no one else takes that risk with me on a motorcycle since there is a great deal less danger of hurting someone in a car by running into it with a motorcycle.

PacerX

By that time you'll have your own hydrogen generator in your garage. Don't sweat it.

Bob Cosby

It's not Hayabusa fast (and almost certainly never will be), but I just installed a KB on my 04 Cobra, and after a few other mods (live axle, exhaust, and gearing), I'll have a good enough power-to-weight (6.5:1 or so) to cover the 1/4 mile in 130+ mph. Enough for me.

Though I do yearn for T-tops - the one thing I really miss about the old T/A I had.

Z28Marcus

Each to their own, and good luck... but I bet you'll be back if GM ever get's it's colective a$$ in gear and gives us a new f-bod . One thing though... you can't really go cruising in the traditional sense on a crotch rocket and you gotta wear a helmet (unless you're plain nuts). Plus pulling into the parking lot at Culvers next to all the other cars and popping the hood just isn't the same on a bike . I'd love to own a bike but just don't want to play the odds.