Anyone looking to buy my bike?

[Gman]

I agree completely.  I personally think high performance sportbikes are the safest bikes to ride.  They stop turn and go faster, all of which can help you miss what you do not want to hit.  I also like the riding position on sportbikes because they put you in the best position for control.  Sportbikes are "Form Follows Function", cruisers.............not so much.

I agree with Danny, and agree with this as well. For defensive riding/driving, nothing outperforms a good sport bike, especially in braking.  I rode dirt bikes from single digits age right up to about now, as well many sport bikes from my first VFR 750 in 90 or so, and every Honda sport bike along the line, the first CBR 900 as well many others, and got into cruisers in the mid 2000s and rode a Harley Fat Bob as well as a Harley Ultra Classic.  If I was in a crisis/emergency road situation, I'd take a sport bike any day.  Only possibly a dual sport dirt bike is more maneuverable and quicker to stop on pavement, and that's even debatable.  



I really like the Vtwin in a sport bike combo, I haven't ridden a Buell in years, when they first came out at "Harley Days" I think, but one of my favorite bikes, one of the few I've kept when "trading up" for the new model year, is my Honda Firehawk.  I've had a 98 and a 2004, one of the last model years, and kept the 04, although I usually ride either our VFR or CBR1000 when sport biking about, I still really like that 1 litre v twin Honda motor for longer range rides when I have no passenger (wife) and don't want to ride a heavy cruiser/highway bike.  Something about the torque and how the motor likes to hum along at about 110km/h or 70 ish mph...like I said, it isn't as nimble as the many other sport bikes I've ridden, but it has bundles of torque to spare.

Don't quit street riding Joeacheem, I too started out on sleds and dirt bikes, and went from my CR250 right to the first year Honda ever built a VFR 750 for my first road bike.  Just "be aware" and watch for cars turning left in front of you, and you'll be fine.  Do what some others suggested, and try a different style bike - I always found Buell to have an odd riding position - many suggested 600 sized sport bikes, and I too agree with that, they're prefect for your size/weight.  IMO you'll truly regret giving it up, one single 10 minute ride shouldn't decide the rest of what could be a long life of riding in that open air.

[Zoney]

Gman, i hear ya on V-Twin sportbikes mate.  I had a RC51 back that was a bit overweight but the handling and the torque more than made up for it.  The sound it made with some pipes and those gear driven cams was just a dream come true.  Hotter than hell when stopped at a light in Phoenix but once you were rolling again the sweat quickly evaporated.  Early VF R's also had gear driven cams, very disappointed they didn't bring them back with the 2014 VFR 800's but it is an expensive system.

[icepac]

Guys might want to check the swept area of the rotor a single large rotor vs two small ones.

You might be surprised.

Also.......rotor diameter has a big effect on braking ability.

Do the math before slagging.

I made the same decision long ago after owning a H2 widowmaker, an r5, and a rd400.

I just don't feel my thinking patterns mesh well with motorcycles.

Don't think I don't have the stones to bike because I surely can ride and I doubt anyone here has driven a car within 50mph of my highest speed driven.......which could likely be pushed up another 40 or 50mph in a few months.

[Swoop]

I don't understand, I owned a Honda Blackbird, ZZR1100, ZZR1200, CBR1000, I have ridden Hyabusa's, all of which are.controlled by throttle,clutch, gears and brakes. The throttle sets the power, the clutch sets how.much.power.makes it through to the final drive. I don't see how you could be more scared on one than the other. Every aspect of performance is controlled by the.rider. A Hyabusa will do 5mph, as easily or more easily than it'll do 185

I agree completely.  I personally think high performance sportbikes are the safest bikes to ride.  They stop turn and go faster, all of which can help you miss what you do not want to hit.  I also like the riding position on sportbikes because they put you in the best position for control.  Sportbikes are "Form Follows Function", cruisers.............not so much.

3rded.

Oh sorry, 4th...no 5thted.   A modern superbike is the pinnacle of motorcycle technology, built to handle, stop and go as well as possible.  I tour on a superbike.  I commute on a superbike.  Pootling along at 30mph in traffic is perfectly safe and I haven't had a bike decide to leap out of my hands in many years.....just remember not to run over a speed bump in first gear and you'll be fine.


Ice, I'm willing to bet I've ridden a bike well within 50mph of your car top speed....  

And re: diameter.  Of course disc (it's a disc, not a rotor, helicopters have rotors - must be a Yank thing) diameter makes a difference, hence why I state a single large diameter disc will provide as much braking force as 2x320mm discs.  However, twin discs will dissipate more heat than a single, therefore the single disc setup will work as well as a twin once....after the first corner the twin has the advantage.

[danny76]

Hasn't the rim disc a greater surface area or at least an equivalent surface area to each standard disc?
Two discs will surely cool down at the same rate as one disc or 10 discs, bearing in mind thatthe separation between them.

[MiloMorai]

I guess those bikes are nice if one likes humping a 'gas tank'.

[Swoop]

Hasn't the rim disc a greater surface area or at least an equivalent surface area to each standard disc?
Two discs will surely cool down at the same rate as one disc or 10 discs, bearing in mind thatthe separation between them.

Brake cooling is all about air flow, there's no such thing as liquid cooled brakes on a bike. .  Two discs get around 1.5x the airflow a single disc gets, so even though the total surface area of a large single disc may be the same, the cooling isn't.

[Swoop]

P.S.  Of course, this is kinda academic if the bike is never used on a track.  Normal daily riding won't cause enough brake heat to cause fade anyway....unless, of course, you're a complete nutter.

[BuckShot]

i don't see what's very crappy about this bike...

I worked for a Honda, Ktm, yamaha, Kawasaki, dealer for over 2 years.
You should she some of their stuff. 

I know. I like Buells. I was looking at them last year and was surprised at how well they hold their value.

[Swoop]

That's interesting.   One fella saying how a Buell will lose way more value than a Honda over the same period and another saying how well he sees Buells value holding.

One of these people hasn't got the right facts....but which one?



Tune in next time folks for the exciting conclusion to "My bike's better than your bike cos it's got more discs - o'rama"

[oldskool65]

Right i,ve done the science i wont bore you with details (most of you wouldn,t get it any way )
Swoop is right (through gritted teeth) 2 discs have a larger surface area whilst having the same mass therefore dissipate heat more efficiently
So unless it is a ceramic disc Big bike + single disc = smelly brown stain pants for all the wrong reasons 

[danny76]

Right i,ve done the science i wont bore you with details (most of you wouldn,t get it any way )
Swoop is right (through gritted teeth) 2 discs have a larger surface area whilst having the same mass therefore dissipate heat more efficiently
So unless it is a ceramic disc Big bike + single disc = smelly brown stain pants for all the wrong reasons 
[/quote]

Swoop was also correct when he said that he was referring to track use only, not to road riding, I have ridden bikes of all sizes but mostly large capacity sports bike for 20 years and the number of "heroes" that ride bikes increases exponentially year on year, I had some numty tell me that he got his exhaust down in a right hand corner on an RVF750!!!!

Personally I grind down my footpegs, kneesliders and exhausts so i look like i know that i have a vague concept of what I am doing

BTW Marquez learned everything about elbow sliding from me (I did it once at Donnington Park, albeit the bike was on top of me and the tires were higher at that point than my very warm arse, but still

[icepac]

Swoop........you will have to have gone over 200 to get within 50 mph of what I've done in a car.

If things work out and I get to drive our fastest car the next time we run it, you will likely need I have gone over 250 on a bike to be within 50 mph.

You guys are probably right about the twin disc having more surface area but it I don't see anyone here who has addressed the fact that a larger diameter disc requires less from the pads to supply the retardation to the wheel as a smaller diameter disc.

How are the buells doing in racing with the single disc?

[danny76]

Right i,ve done the science i wont bore you with details (most of you wouldn,t get it any way )
Swoop is right (through gritted teeth) 2 discs have a larger surface area whilst having the same mass therefore dissipate heat more efficiently
So unless it is a ceramic disc Big bike + single disc = smelly brown stain pants for all the wrong reasons 

Why not try us, we dribble on ourselves occasionally but are a reasonable learned lot in the most part

[danny76]

Swoop........you will have to have gone over 200 to get within 50 mph of what I've done in a car.

If things work out and I get to drive our fastest car the next time we run it, you will likely need I have gone over 250 on a bike to be within 50 mph.

You guys are probably right about the twin disc having more surface area but it I don't see anyone here who has addressed the fact that a larger diameter disc requires less from the pads to supply the retardation to the wheel as a smaller diameter disc.

How are the buells doing in racing with the single disc?

Well I've seen the limiter on a ZZR1200 so not too far off, driving fast in a straight line can pretty much be accomplished by a 10 yr old, that's not to say you're not amazing