V11 Sport Rocks the Ozarks!

[dlaing]

I only ride at 70% on the street and probably only at 80% at the track

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It can be an awakening experience when you discover how close 70% is to 101%

If you think back to your last crash, you probably won't think it was 21% more "pushing it" that caused you to crash.

Last time I crashed, I had a good groove on and was riding as well as I ever had, taking turns quickly and making no mistakes, and then boom, out go the lights, broken shoulder and ribs. I have not been the same since.

I now ride slower, somewhat because I learned, but more because I am scared, and fear is not a good when paranoia pressures you to make mistakes. So, I have to learn all over again.

This weekend I made a mistake and pushed it beyond 100% and only a miracle and will power saved me.

Hopefully I will learn from it.

I love Guzzis and the riders it attracts, because we are in general a cut above in talent, passion, and maturity.

And without letting it get to our heads, I think we all know you can never have enough talent, passion, and maturity.

As Mike Stewart and others say, "keep the rubber side down"

 

PS OrangeOkie, I seem to recall reading about the accident on a differnent forum.

I hope everybody learned from that, but I seem to recall a feeling that it could happen again from that group. And didn't one guy just keep riding past the carnage? I recall he regretted not stopping.

Often we don't know how we will act until we are in that situation.

We all handle stressful situations in different ways. Some laugh, some cry, some run, some hide, and some stand up and do the right thing.

[Guest geno929]

OK, just to let you ALL know, I have done my time on the track. Raced a Honda 929 for a couple of years. Still do the occasional track day just for kicks and giggles. I never mentioned the speed or percent that I was riding. But I was generally going about 70% of what I am/feel capable of. The biggest issue was coming into any corner I was continually "brake checked" by inexperienced riders. Which I feel is much more of a dangerous situation than getting in front of them and setting my own pace. I would just as soon get away from riders who don't have the level of experience and familliarty with the roads south of Potosi as I am.

Also on the corner/road that the "fast guys" binned it on, it was the leader of the group that gave all of the riders a warning of that very corner that he went off on!

If anything I think I set a good example of how to properly negoaite a corner/road for some of the newer riders in the group. I showed them by example that smooth technique will get you there faster and safer than full accelleration on each straight and slamming on the brakes for each corner. And if you think that fast riding is only for the track, think of the speed that you drive on the freeway tomorrow or this weekend!

[g.forrest]

cmon guys most of us enjoy a fast ride otherwise we would all be putting around on cruisers or scooters if we only desired the wind in our face or rode motorcycles for economy. why own a decent bike with power and handling qualitys if we never use them or never take the challenge for a bit of a run. realisticaly i ride faster now than i did in my youth on a bike which has more power better brakes and handling than anything i've owned before and on which i feel safer than ever. you've just gotta know your limmits and know when to let some go when it feels unsafe to you. and as far as keeping it for the track the nearest track to for me is over 400 kilometers away. i'm afraid i get the desire too often for a planned organised event.

[dlaing]

OK, just to let you ALL know,

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The fact that you did not bin it with the three in the front after passing the 13 of 15 means you were likely the smart one...and I would take more pride in not crashing than in passing 13, so I guess that is where we differ.

Maybe if I could pass anything faster than an El Dorado, Gold Wing, or HD, I could relate.

[Guest trispeed]

idiots! the smart guy is the one who didn't mix it up with them, at all. I said racing on the street is for morons and that's exactly what he was doing. He says he was passing on both the inside and outside in corners!! This with unknown riders!!! Like I said, ....moron.

You have to stay away from guys like that to be safe; ride as fast as you want but when you mix it up with other riders, they don't know to expect you to run it up the inside and you stand an excellent chance of going down with them.

[Ouiji Veck]

" cmon guys most of us enjoy a fast ride "

Yup

In fact I've posted a few times that I've touched 130mph on the Guzzi

more often than on my Duc. This is particulaly true when I'm with my

Monster buddy...but it's doing 70 thru a posted 40 corner thats where the fun is.

It's the mix of adenaline and testosterone. When I'm alone I am real happy just puttin' around on the LeMans.

When I'm with my life long riding mates we go as fast as we can *without

touching the brakes* This to me is proper, safe, sport riding. It keeps the speed down

yet the challenge up...and the speeding tickets to a minimum. (never had one on a bike!)

So you've rolled up to 70mph on the staight and there's a 25mph curve comming

up and breaking is for squids? Thats when it's good to be on the big Guzzi. I love the "lumbering around" cornering of the LeMans. Shut it down and let the compression

do the work, Move to the outside of the corner, hang my ass off the inside... and look for daylight. The game we play, having to brake for a corner is half as bad as crossing the yellow line. Your over your head and didn't set it up well. Yea, you don't go as "fast"

as charging and braking hard but the challenge, fun and skill is as much.. or more.

And as the original post alludes to ...ya "walk" around alot of other bikes like this.

Competely in control and having a hell of a time. Get on some twisties and go as fast as you can without touching your brakes sometime if you have never tried it. It's a whole new world and you have the perfect bike for it. Kinda warm up to it though. ( this is probably old hat to many here.)

[Mike Stewart]

Riding at your comfort level is were it is at. Every rider has a comfort level which is a speed for a given road. What may be comfortable for me, may not be comfortable for another rider. I too have been riding with really smooth fast riders and know that their comfort level (70 %) is higher than mine. Riding at 70 % to me, means that I have 30% of error left to help me out if something should arise. This could be cresting a hill and not know if there is a sharp turn right after it, or there could be a fast decending radius turn that you have aproached too hot.

 

However, you can't forget that we are on two wheels and gravity will sometimes win. Heck, you could even find the pavement at 10% if the conditions are right (ice, gravel, oi, new tires etc.).

 

Mike

 

 

 

 

It can be an awakening experience when you discover how close 70% is to 101%

If you think back to your last crash, you probably won't think it was 21% more "pushing it" that caused you to crash.

Last time I crashed, I had a good groove on and was riding as well as I ever had, taking turns quickly and making no mistakes, and then boom, out go the lights, broken shoulder and ribs. I have not been the same since.

I now ride slower, somewhat because I learned, but more because I am scared, and fear is not a good when paranoia pressures you to make mistakes. So, I have to learn all over again.

This weekend I made a mistake and  pushed it beyond 100% and only a miracle and will power saved me.

Hopefully I will learn from it.

I love Guzzis and the riders it attracts, because we are in general a cut above in talent, passion, and  maturity.

And without letting it get to our heads, I think we all know you can never have enough talent, passion, and maturity.

As Mike Stewart and others say, "keep the rubber side down"

 

PS OrangeOkie, I seem to recall reading about the accident on a differnent forum.

I hope everybody learned from that, but I seem to recall a feeling that it could happen again from that group. And didn't one guy just keep riding past the carnage? I recall he regretted not stopping.

Often we don't know how we will act until we are in that situation.

We all handle stressful situations in different ways. Some laugh, some cry, some run, some hide, and some stand up and do the right thing. 

85698[/snapback]

[Steve G.]

So my buddy and his Kawasaki ZX10 and me and the V11 Sport, (stock and only 800 miles on her) hook up with 15 or so riders in the Missouri Ozarks on Sunday. Mostly the other guys were on Honda CBR1000's and Suzuki GSXR1000's.  Left south out of Potosi on route P to DD to 32 and on to Bixby for lunch!

Hung back to see just how the guys rode, having never ridden with them before. Well, after 2 or 3 miles of watching those guys ham fisted attempts at smooth cornering (breaking hard at corner enterance and full throttle accelleration at every straight) I started to pass them. Now, the V11 doesn't have much power compared to the Jap bikes. So what I find myself doing is avoiding the brakes on corner enterance, being smooth at apex and pass on the inside and outside with smooth accelleration. The V11 just rocked! Caught and passed 13 of 15 in the first 7 miles. Couldn't pass the really fast boys at the front, but kept right up with them all day. Until they all binned it on Hwy. C. Three down, no one hurt and they all rode home sans plastic! Oops!

The big Itallian twin really showed her stuff today. Easy turn in, mid corner stability, smooth accelleration, and good brakes when needed. She Rocks!

 

  YEAH!

85622[/snapback]

The events of this ride have more to do with your skill as a rider than the V11. It also sums up a couple other things I've held solid in my mind for years. 1, If you own a comparitavely underpowered bike, you learn to be a better rider in corners through the need of speed preservation, and 2, modern superbikes negate the need to be a good rider to keep pace, because it teaches the squids that proper riding is nothing but point and shoot, rather than the proper riding skill, namely "flow", or "flying on the ground" .

Someone who learns "flow" on a superbike is untouchable.

Ciao, Steve G.

[Steve G.]

I didn't want to use the word "moron," but riding as described with a "gaggle" of morons is exactly a recipe for disaster.  Lest any unsuspecting "new" V11 rider try to emulate this feat, it was one such "gaggle" that caused me to "buy the farm" on my aprilia when I came over a "blind hill/curve" in Loess Hills of western Iowa last Spring.  They were scattered all over the place and I had no where to go but the far ditch (which was 10 feet across and 8 feet deep.)  Result was a totalled SL mille and a broken left wrist for stupid me.

Here was my baby . . .

Here was the gaggle . . .

 

Here's what I saw moments before the chaos . . .

 

Here was the point of impact . . . (note brown stone just above the point of impact) . . .

 

Here was a memorial placed years earlier, just 10 feet from the point of impact . . .  Cop told me she was a passenger on the back of a Hardly that didn't make the turn . . .

Here was the result to my bike . . .

 

And here was the result to the "moron" who rode with the "gaggle."

 

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So tell me, is Repsol oil really that good, or were the stickers free?

Sorry, inquiring minds!

Ciao, Steve G.

[orangeokie]

He he he . . . good one Steve . . . I caught alot of grief over on AF1 forum for those stickers!

[staedtler]

All I know is that.....

 

 

GUZZI'S ROCK DA HOUSE!!!

 

 

PS:

 

[Guzzirider]

Looks like Rammstein have borrowed that fire farting Harley.

[dlaing]

However, you can't forget that we are on two wheels and gravity will sometimes win. Heck, you could even find the pavement at 10% if the conditions are right (ice, gravel, oi, new tires etc.). 

Mike

85730[/snapback]

Which excuse did you use for your last crash?

[antonio carroccio]

is this Sammy Davis jr. live???

[staedtler]

Looks like Rammstein have borrowed that fire farting Harley.

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