Just a guess out of my butt but, I would bet that very few people on this website have ever driven a 1000cc bike.
What's the fastest you've gone on your Ninja SX 1000 and how do you balance the fear of dying/getting into an accident/danger?
What's the fastest you've gone on your Ninja SX 1000 and how do you balance the fear of dying/getting into an accident/danger?
As a taller person I find I feel way safer on a big bike over a small one. Theyre more comfortable (less hunched over, better for my back), more stable, have more grip due to more weight on bigger tyres, yet have the power to punch your way out of a sticky spot or overtake someone in a split second if needed. It’s all personal preference but I’ve ridden everything from 250cc to 1300cc and way prefer the upper end of the scale.
Plus they just put a stupid grin on your face and make the commute a happy part of the day rather than a boring one.
In saying that I’m far from your typical big-cc rider. I’ve never done stupid speeds or raced anyone and just love the feeling of vehicles with some oomph.
I find I feel way safer [in a car]...
I took my guy friends a few times too (and atleast 10 girls over the years), and one interesting thing I noticed was that guys would be shaking enough for me to feel when we hit the stoplight at the top of the 13. Women never did. They almost never thought it was too crazy, while my guy friends thought it was a crazy insane rush and thrill they'd talk about for days.
My first purchase as a grad was a sports car, followed a year later by a cbr1000. And I don’t mean first big purchase. I literally took my employment contract with wet ink to the bank for a loan.
Fastest was/is about 175mph, but that is rare (and really uncomfortable on a naked bike). Most dangerous encounters are inner City during commute times when theres lots of "angry" drivers and the same on highways. When the road is empty, there is less danger. What I am uncomfortable with are tight bends with fear of approaching traffic that may cut corners, lane splitting is also not for the faint of heart and dirt in corners. And "idiots" that try to challenge me.
Edit: Also, my most used bikes (Ducati & KTM dualsports bike) have all the latest electronics, which makes a huge difference in dangerous situations (eg. slippery corner, emergency braking)
Edit2: what helps against fear? For me: Riding more, thoughout the year and security training on a closed track to keep a feeling for edge cases and not lose it when there's e.g. minor slide. After I kissed the tarmac in 2019 I did exactly that (got a new bike with latest electronics and kept riding, took some 3k miles to fully overcome the fear). Also: I only ride in full gear (helmet, gloves, riding suit with full set of protectors and motorcycle boots)
A Japanese, inline-four that is that smooth, tuned to feel like a torque-y V-twin is unusual. I always wanted a fireblade for similar reasons though I hear Aprilia makes a 400 V-twin which is more to my lightweight expectations for most things.
My purchase of the liter bike was a transitional stage from my dearly-beloved SV650 to my equally dearly-beloved 310cc BMW GS world-beater.
The aside to other MPG commenters here is that indeed, the SV got 60 MPG, while the SX got maybe 40 on a good day.
I'll answer your primary question by chortling gently and saying speed was never the goal. Rather, acceleration was.
The numbers speak volumes: 0-60 MPH ~ 3 seconds, 100 MPH ~ 6 seconds, optic nerve compressed as the eyes approach the PFC, check.
The fun part is that 6 seconds go by quickly when your consciousness is overwhelmed by shifting 3 gears in six seconds without assistance.
Your second question is best answered by saying, "I've been lucky."
LSS: read both David Hough books, take whatever classes you can get cheap (in my state they're underwritten by the state - YMMV). Then, read the David Hough books until you've survived a dissertation committee's murder-board on the details.
Consider the implications of riding full-time with two fingers on the brake lever, and the FPS-downstream implications of that choice's improvement in reaction time to the cage pulling out in front of you, and you have a rough idea why the classes, while good, are not enough, given MPH and survival's inverse relationship in motorcycling.
The subtext is that I'm paradoxically hyper-vigilant, over-trained, and fearless; in other words, I'm a human robot. That included 20 years of urban summer commutes, 80 miles per day. Not the million miles I've traveled by cage, but still.
Be safe out there!
The risks of sudden-stop collisions are better controlled on the track than the street. In addition, traction control has greatly reduced the risk of high-side crashes. Airbags inside the leathers have greatly (almost completely) reduced the risk of torso injuries if you do crash. Helmets are a bit safer than they have ever been (FIM certification). Traction control, ABS and cornering ABS have reduced the risk of dumb crashes while learning, probably by 2/3rds. ABS eventually gets disabled when you get more experienced, but at that point it’s not really needed. Traction control is adjustable on the fly and doesn’t really ever get in the way because of that.
High-level racers have many crashes in their pursuit of faster lap times. The airbags have made an incredible difference in injury rates. I’m just a normal middle aged guy with a family and I find the risks to be acceptable with a fast bike on the track. I understand that most people may not, but then again most people don’t seriously consider the risks they take on a daily basis anyway.
Airbags weren’t fully mandatory in Moto2/3/GP until 2018, but you can see from the 2013-2017 data that it was already safer than you would expect given the high number of crashes. To be fair, some riders were using airbags prior to 2018. Also, crash rates while pushing the edge of the envelope racing are vastly higher than crash rates at track days.
I was curious what the corresponding data would be for brain injuries, and found the below, which is also surprisingly low.
Musculoskeletal injuries represented the vast majority (88.43%) of the 191 encounters registered in the acute setting, while concussions were diagnosed in only 1.57%. The most common orthopedic motorcycle injuries were upper extremity contusions while the most common anatomical area for fractures was the hand.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S09493...
The Bonfire X (and our UNU, a lesser moped) is definitely a hackers motorbike.
To me, this seems like a no-brainer for any techie to get into ..
Job wise we spent years and hundreds of millions of kilometres draping the ground at 70 m/s (252 km/hr | 157 m/ph) with ~80 m ground clearance dodging birds and power lines so that's always seemed like a comfortable speed.
Sold it as I was becoming increasingly complacent and it was only a matter of time before something serious happened.
Indeed - I've had cars with smaller engines.