Featured Is There Any Point In Having A Fast Bike Anymore?

I don't even get the bikes out this time of the year. Now that the retail business has had thier holiday, and people are sobering up, I might get out there on a nice winter day. I usually go in to hibernation at Halloween, and come out after New Years. ...J.D.

 

I was always told it was Gods country....

 

Love my Daytona but the Yam XT I bought a few weeks ago is far better suited to country lanes, especially in Winter. Puts a smile on my face, even though I’m riding half the rate I do on the Tona!

 

It was a scotsman who said it

 

Well, the UK contingent need to fill me in on just when that one week of summer occurs so that Mr. Sandi and I can plan our UK riding trip accordingly.

 

I've never even heard about average speed cameras here in Arizona. How do they work?

 

Oh come on now, @BonnieCat. I suspect you a long way off from retiring to a mobility scooter! But, hmmm, there must be some way to turn a mobility scooter into a little hotrod.

 

It’s just as the name suggests Sandi, there’s a series of cameras over a stretch of road and they record your speed as you pass them and take an average speed which needs to be the posted speed limit or less.
I’ve never found out if the system works between two cameras only or over all the cameras you pass.
It’s a real pain though, you can’t really overtake anyone for fear of going over the average speed.

 

I think it is easy to ride the same routes over and over and wonder why it becomes stale. Get out in the countryside and fall back in love with it. Where you ride has a mahoosive impact on how much fun you are having if restricted to owning only one bike.
I am fortunate to have a few toys, and am longing to get an 1160 Speed Triple and an Aprilia RS660 if ever any shop ever sells them, but I avoid town riding as much as possible and rarely commute.
I do agree it is getting harder to safely ride fast, but then that is really what trackdays are for, making progress on the roads is always possible on the right roads though!

 

My understanding is, you can go as fast as you want for some of the distance, but then, you need to reduce speeds below the limit to compensate, or even park on the hard shoulder (If there is one!) for a few minutes because your engine overheated .
Ken.

 

The problem with that is, you need a computer and the correct equations handy to work out how long to stop for.
On the bright side it woupd take me so long to work it out I could then drive the next five miles at 88 MPH

 

Aye they're sneaky bastards those average speed cameras and there's no beating them. My understanding is that your registration plate will start the timer the moment you pass the first camera and then that is referenced and reset after each subsequent camera which are at a set distance apart, obviously. They are also sly in the way that, unless you know the road, you don't actually know when they finish so you keep your speed down for several more miles until you pass an entry slip without a camera then you know you're free to go.

 

Thanks @Sandi T.
You could drop in an R1 engine which would make for an interesting ride.
I’ve done the same downsizing with my car. I’ve gone from a BMW X1 2 litre down to a tiny Toyota Aygo and you know what, I don’t miss the Beemer. I was over in the UK at Christmas and the little car was perfectly fine driving along the motorways. (Even going over the M62 between Yorkshire and Lancashire). It uses a fraction of the petrol the Beemer used.
It’s impossible to safely and legally drive fast vehicles anymore what with speed cameras and speed bumps all over the place (including here in Europe).

 

Wow, what a bummer @freck. That camera system does sound like a real pain. I think I'd find myself doing a lot of math in my head while I was riding. That and a lot of fast-slow-fast-slow-fast-slow...... But, hey, I do love torque so as I've said before, there's always a silver lining in there somewhere. Even if you have to look REALLY hard.

 

Sounds like you are making some good downsizing moves, Nikki. The older I get the more I think about doing that with my car and motorcycles--even my shoe collection. At this point, though, I'm only thinking and not doing. One of the biggest problems around Tucson is that the road quality has gotten so bad and there are so many potholes that it's quite difficult to drive at all in some places much less to drive (or ride) fast. I guess those potholes could be considered "reverse speed bumps".

 

I'm not sure that's entirely correct. Average speed camera locations can be configured to "link" a number of cameras so they can be configired to work in pairs or larger groups. Your average speed between the first and subsequent, then a chain of others, can be measured so there wouldn't be a "reset" after each ..... as far as I know. You'd be well advised to keep a low average for a LONG time on the A9!

 

Jeremy Clarkson said you can do a ton as long as you slow down enough after.
Pretty sure he didn’t say it had to be between just 2 cameras.
Ken.
PS.
If what you say is right, I must be one lucky sob.

 

Yes, you're right, having now looked it up. They are paired but you don't know which is paired with which.

 

I think there is less point in having a fast car than bike to be fair. I have a fairly highly modified Subaru which is almost as fast as the ST3 off the line but 80+ considerably faster. I have pretty much given up driving it because
1 - £485 per year tax
2 - 8-9mpg when playing 25mpg when steady, 32mpg when driving like miss daisy
3 - it is pretty much impossible to "make progress" in a car with all the traffic these days even on motorways.