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Fast vs Slow

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What do y’all think?

  • Is it better to ride a slow bike fast?

    Votes: 27 79.4%

  • Is it better to ride a fast bike slow?

    Votes: 7 20.6%
  • Total voters
    34
Blue Flash said:
Maybe a definition of "fast" is in order?
To me, fast is when it feels fast to me.
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I agree, the KLR'er flat out with a tail wind will do 92 mph but this does not feel fast it feels horrible with a death wobble possible at any moment. Taking curves at speed (40+55 mph) on back roads feels fast and is super fun. When I lived at the McDonald Observatory, we had a group that road once a week on a large variety of bikes. (KLR, Vulcan 1500, V-Max, HD) and we never had to stick together as we were mostly matched between the straightaways and the curves. The slower bikes could not keep up on the straightaways and we would generally catch up and pass on the Twisties.
 
Exposed to bikes [and myself] to the road yesterday.
A 1200 GSA was first.
[immediately followed by]
A 250L.
Both were enjoyable rides.
Each has their own purpose.
Each produces their own kind of enjoyment.
 
Last year, I traded my FJR for a NC750x. I dropped ~85 hp. I do enjoy riding the NC750 more than the FJR in the mountains of east TN.
 
I like a big single usually 2-4th gear. I have several curvy roads in my area I like to see how fast I can go and just use the engine and transmission for corner breaking. Some days you just feel it others I have to tap brakes occasionally to stay on paved and gravel secondary roads. No electronic rider aides
I like a slow bike getting all the potential I can out of it, and that's not much in my case. I like to pretend Marc Marquez is trying to get around me but I keep boxing him in :thumb:
 
I have a mustang GT. I can tell you it is not fun to drive slow. Get it on a good curvy road and it is a blast. As I think back on all the bikes I have had in the last 50+ years I enjoyed the smaller iighter bikes a lot more then the ones with a lot of horsepower.
When I was a kid I had a forty horsepower VW. We used to have drag races with the Hurst cops behind us at a stop light. Didn’t exceed the speed limit, the cops didn’t know we were racing. Lot of fun. Same way with a bike.
I don’t think I was ever that fast on a motorcycle. However I have left a lot of bigger faster bikes in the tight twisties on a slower bike. And I did it with 50/50 knobbys/trials tires.
Slow is fast.
 
Windmill said:
I like a big single usually 2-4th gear. I have several curvy roads in my area I like to see how fast I can go and just use the engine and transmission for corner breaking. Some days you just feel it others I have to tap brakes occasionally to stay on paved and gravel secondary roads. No electronic rider aides
I like a slow bike getting all the potential I can out of it, and that's not much in my case. I like to pretend Marc Marquez is trying to get around me but I keep boxing him in :thumb:
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Forgot to mention the Marc comment is humor. The rest is just a game no brakes I bet is tough on clutch and trans plus skids the rear tire on downshift to 2nd.
All my life I hardly ever shift to first unless stopped. Back in the day the old bikes wouldn't shift to first while moving without some R's and double clutch and a clunk!
 
I am not as fast as I used to think I was. So me thinks I ride them all slow.
 
Depends on the traffic and location. If you're in a high traffic area in a fast car every young want-to-be RacerX in a slow car wants to be in the lead. It gets to the point where they will slow down to entice you to "try" to pass them. What sucks is that when you do blow their doors and sunroof off, they won't take that for an answer. Then they may drive like a psychopath and do anything possible to get and stay in front of you. Where they will of course slow down again. It makes it hard to drive a fast car fast in the Houston area. Nowadays there's so much traffic I don't even know if that's possible as much anymore. Because of all of this I like to drive a fast car that looks slow, bikes too.

Vernon
 
A fast car slow. I like to know its there and available when I want it. I don't have to go fast all the time. I am over that, but I do like a "kick" every now and then!
 
Oh yes, it is a nice feeling. I love to go through the gears. I chose all the performance options that Ford offered. Yes I know the automatics are faster but they are not as much fun, and I don’t mind driving it in traffic. Been driving a stick shift since I was eight years old.
 
Mechaniac said:
Depends ... in a fast car every young want-to-be RacerX in a slow car wants to be in the lead ... What sucks is that when you do blow their doors and sunroof off, they won't take that for an answer. Then they may drive like a psychopath and do anything possible to get and stay in front of you.
Vernon
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LoL 🤣
Reminds me alot of when one of these wonna be heros tried that on a twisty back country road. He tried everything to prove that his Camaro was faster in the turns than my CBR. Was really funny when he disappeared in the turn from my rearview untill he reappeared and the front end of his Camaro was covered in grass and mud.
 
Rdslvr04 said:
LoL 🤣
Reminds me alot of when one of these wonna be heros tried that on a twisty back country road. He tried everything to prove that his Camaro was faster in the turns than my CBR. Was really funny when he disappeared in the turn from my rearview untill he reappeared and the front end of his Camaro was covered in grass and mud.
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We could probably pull up some bar stools and keep each other laughing for hours. I'm early fifties and have been a hot-rodder since forever. I've got stories just like that. It's always hilarious when someone pulls off one of those bone head maneuvers and gets their ticket punched. I've totaled a few in my time but it was always just me making a mistake or having an equipment failure just doing my thing, I've never chased someone into it. I drive a lot of older stuff that isn't worth a ton of money but it's fun to own and tool around with. Every once in a while, someone has tried to cut me off with malice or similar and I've knocked them off the road or let them eat cowboy bumper on my truck. Don't start none won't be none is my motto. I had a boss years and years ago witness me drift a Ford Granada across a four-way intersection at high speed after work one night (I didn't know he was behind me), it was impressive work, never lifted and slid all the way to the curb but pulled it out clean and straight and kept flying. The next day at work he told my younger self that "You're a menace." LOL, good times.
 
Ultimately depends on the company I’m keeping and the environment. I have a KTM RC390 and a Ducati Multistrada 1200 Pikes Peak. Both scratch different kinds of itches.
 
Mechaniac said:
We could probably pull up some bar stools and keep each other laughing for hours. I'm early fifties and have been a hot-rodder since forever. I've got stories just like that. It's always hilarious when someone pulls off one of those bone head maneuvers and gets their ticket punched. I've totaled a few in my time but it was always just me making a mistake or having an equipment failure just doing my thing, I've never chased someone into it. I drive a lot of older stuff that isn't worth a ton of money but it's fun to own and tool around with. Every once in a while, someone has tried to cut me off with malice or similar and I've knocked them off the road or let them eat cowboy bumper on my truck. Don't start none won't be none is my motto. I had a boss years and years ago witness me drift a Ford Granada across a four-way intersection at high speed after work one night (I didn't know he was behind me), it was impressive work, never lifted and slid all the way to the curb but pulled it out clean and straight and kept flying. The next day at work he told my younger self that "You're a menace." LOL, good times.
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How the heck did you drift a Granada? We’re you on ice? I had one of those. I bought it new. Had it until I got tired of trying to make the pig go fast. Eight to one compression, sorry heads, no room to fit good exhaust no cam. Changed intake and carb out, put on headers and best flowing exhaust with out converters I could fit under it. I removed all smog crap and remapped spark curve and it was still a pig. You would of had to pull a complete engine swap. Which I could not do because it was my wife’s car.
 
I had over an eighth of a mile to build up speed, and a empty green light at a big four way, so I just threw it into the turn and rode it all the way up to the guard-rail. The car was so slow you learned how to take all the corners and turns you could without lifting.
 
OldTLSDoug said:
A dedicated hooligan can achieve great things...
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I have been one since 1955 when dad bought his first v8 Chevy with power pack and overdrive transmission. Zero to 60 in a whopping 10 seconds flat. No more six cylinders for us. I used to drag race my Whizzer against all the fast boys on their English racers. Two and a half horsepower, they didn’t stand a chance.
 
mr72 said:
All it takes is really bad tires and/or very bad suspension setup and you can get anything to drift. Stiff enough springs and an 80s diesel VW Golf will drift just fine with all its 65hp glory.
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I had one of those too. Didn’t have it long enough to wear the tires or suspension out. Some a— hole ran a stop sign and totaled it for me. Of course he had no insurance.
 
Mechaniac said:
I had over an eighth of a mile to build up speed, and a empty green light at a big four way, so I just threw it into the turn and rode it all the way up to the guard-rail. The car was so slow you learned how to take all the corners and turns you could without lifting.
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:lol2::lol2:
 
piglet said:
I had one of those too. Didn’t have it long enough to wear the tires or suspension out. Some a— hole ran a stop sign and totaled it for me. Of course he had no insurance.
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With the torsion bar rear suspension, it's routine for those Mk1-Mk2 Golf/Jetta to lift the inside tire on hard turns. If you put a big sway bar on the rear and keep the front soft enough then it'll oversteer like nobody's business. I had an '88 Jetta GL that was a normal suburban small family car and then an '89 GLI 16V with race car type suspension that was an absolute go-cart on the street. Hugely underappreciated cars.
 
Not sure the difference between drifting and power sliding but after growing up watching dukes of hazard and the ATeam. I would take my 1977 F100 long bed with a 5 cylinder V8 out and have a good time throwing it sideways ever chance I got. Sometimes you got to dance with the girl ya brought
 
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