Feb 03 2011
Sportbikes – The Dangers of a Passion
Sportbikes are made for speed and designed for agility. Their power combined with their light weight require a rider to be experienced in performing precisely and fluidly at very high speeds. Ask any rider and they will tell you that those particular qualities can make for the ride of a lifetime, or, alternatively, end in tragedy. The margin of error at 150 mph is extremely narrow.
Sportbikes are best suited for the race track even though most production bikes are used for street riding, canyon carving and even daily commuting. Safety should be every rider’s number one priority. With all of the elements we face daily on public roads, street bike riders suffer from general disadvantages on many levels to begin with. Cage drivers (car drivers) often don’t see us, we don’t have seat belts and/or airbags to help protect us, and to top it off, we are essentially straddling 400 lbs. of machine that can be thumped off the road by a wayward piece of gravel. Ultimately, we choose to ride finely-tuned, tightly-wound, twitchy performance machines with power-to-weight ratios that make even the most responsible riders prone to pull idiotic moves…. I’m guilty!!
The best thing we have going for us is amazingly innovative, easily obtainable and extremely affordable protective gear. For most motorcycle riders it is not a matter of if you go down, but a matter of when and how bad – some can even toss in “how many times”. Protective gear like a helmet and leathers certainly can’t guarantee your survival in the case of an accident, but they will definitely increase your odds.
Follow the examples of the professional sportbike racing icons we have all come to respect and admire. You would never see MotoGP riders Valentino Rossi, Nicky Hayden or Casey Stoner rocketing around the Twin Rings of Motegi in jeans and a t shirt without a helmet.
Whether you choose to ride a small displacement supersport bike like a CBR600RR, or a performance geared, liter-class super bike like the Honda CBR1000RR and the Suzuki GSX-R1000, or even a hypersport bike like the Hayabusa or Kawasaki ZX-14, repeat, repeat and remember…. learn it, respect it, live it, love it, GEAR UP and ride!!
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