Twisties? Who needs 'em?

[Norm]

We all live for the twisties, don't we? But there's more fun to be had with a bike like the FZ1 than just some leaning left and right and a few countersteers. Here in Florida we ain't got no stinkin' twisties.

What we do have are long straight roads. Atop a bike that'll crack 160 MPH we practically see, if only in our mind's eye, signs everywhere saying "Go as fast as your guts can handle it." Add to that long 2 way straights with broken yellow lines for passing everywhere and now you're ready for some fun.

Eric and I came back one day with 2 of the most mischievous childhood smiles you ever want to see. Why? Because we just crossed half the state, chasing down the perimeter of Lake Okeechobee. And we passed everything in motion or standing still. In fact everything in motion looked like it was standing still from our vantage point.

Semi's? No problem. Mustangs? No problem. Fancy Mercedes and Beemers...just a spec in our rear views. We passed them so fast and in such narrow spaces with cars bearing down the other side you'd have to be in a coma not to feel the adrenaline. We passed two and three at a time. We came up behind people so fast they pulled over or slowed down figuring we must be cops...or nutjobs; either way it worked for us.

At one point we were going so fast it was Wednesday and when we stopped to eat it was Tuesday...something about time/warp continuum. So we had an extra day to ride and, as Bill Murray would say in "Caddyshack": We had that going for us.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Being Wile E. Coyote atop an Acme Rocket can be as fun as twisties, don't let anyone fool you.

(Thanks Gurock1 for reminding me about the Wile E. Coyote thing)

[Maggie]

Reminds me when Pete and I were going across HWY 44 from Rapid City to the Badlands.  Once we left Scenic it became even more sparse.  The Badlands were on both sides of us, North/South.  I quickly saw there were no ingress/egress roads and increased my speed slightly.

Even though Pete and I have the Scalas there are times when we just ride and take it all in.  I saw a huge herd of Buffalo off to the south, I said into the Scala wow look at all those Buffalo.  No response.. I look in my rear mirror, No Pete, no headlight.  My heart skips a beat, I come to a dead stop wondering how long had he not been there.  About a 15 seconds goes by and I see a headlight coming. 

Pete pulls up and I say, everything ok?? He said Yup, all good.  I said well why so slow?  He said Umm I wanna see things, you left blazing at Scenic.  I honestly didn't know it.

I like the speed but it's hard to beat a twisty road for me.  I take an extra 2 miles to work just to ride the urban twisties.

[SilverBullet]

I love the twisties. Brings out the little boy in me. 

[John Backlund]

Sometimes I think that you haven't lived until you feel your overpowered motorcycle's rear tire break loose as it crosses a yellow painted centerline stripe while performing a 'military pass' on a nice two-lane.

Norm is now, by his own admission, officially a motorcycle hooligan.

God speed, Norm!

[The Scootist]

Norm, your story made me smile.  It is funny, but when you blow past people on the freeway when you are travelling at more than twice their speed, invariably, their first reaction is to look at their speedometer to see how fast they are going.  It is an amazing rush, but the slightest mistake will cost you dearly.

[Dan]

It is an amazing rush, but the slightest mistake will cost you dearly.

I had that chance with Norm and his Hooligan buddies when he lived here in New England.  Chasing down a BMW, FJR and Norm zipping past on his Concours I had wrung out my CB650 to it's limits trying to keep up on the highway.  Not my style of riding but it was a rush... and very memorable.

[Norm]

No question that room for error narrows mightily. That's part of the rush I guess.

[Strompilot]

Norm,

I'm flabbergasted, but tickled, just the same.  Every once in awhile ya just gotta do something like that, just so you can say you did it and survived.  What a rush!!  My personal best is only a mere 135 mph on my ST1300 as I exited the interstate in midst of what turned out to be a kidney stone attack!!  I didn't know you could hurt so badly and still live.  I was really anxious to get off the bike, and I was showing 135+ as I exited I-84.  I probably will never go that fast again, but boy!  It was something.  Oh, and the fastest I've gone on a motorcycle while having fun was 128 on my first 1800 Gold Wing.

[Norm]

Greg, I can't believe you were riding with a kidney stone! Some docs say it's the worse pain you can have while remaining conscious.

[Norm]

http://www.fz1-forum.com/forum/fz1-general-discussion/13832-twisties-who-needs-em.html#post101832

[DaveO]

We here in the St. Louis area we have a choice if ya want twisties you stay west of the mississipppi river if you want to ride the grid you cross the river into Illinios, but you are right ya just gotta crank on it every now and then, I pegged the speedo on the Helix today it runs every bit of 74mph if ya really keep after it, and it takes a bit for it to get there.

I had my own little thrill today and I was glad there were no twisties where I was, we were on a straight section of road 5 of us guys from the SLSC went riding today and I was leading going about 50mph when all of a sudden I didn't know what hit me I think I might have even blacked out for a second or two my ICD gave me a shock, stopped first chance we got and told the others what had just happened (1st time ever for it to go off) and decided to just ride on home (50 miles) and call the Dr. all is fine now and life goes on I guess   

[johnp]

I love twisties and here i can find loads. Makes biking more fun instead of sitting up and just going straight which is boring.

[Maggie]

We here in the St. Louis area we have a choice if ya want twisties you stay west of the mississipppi river if you want to ride the grid you cross the river into Illinios, but you are right ya just gotta crank on it every now and then, I pegged the speedo on the Helix today it runs every bit of 74mph if ya really keep after it, and it takes a bit for it to get there.

I had my own little thrill today and I was glad there were no twisties where I was, we were on a straight section of road 5 of us guys from the SLSC went riding today and I was leading going about 50mph when all of a sudden I didn't know what hit me I think I might have even blacked out for a second or two my ICD gave me a shock, stopped first chance we got and told the others what had just happened (1st time ever for it to go off) and decided to just ride on home (50 miles) and call the Dr. all is fine now and life goes on I guess   

Glad you are ok, Pete was very concerned!

I heard you guys road some very back roads

[DaveO]

Glad you are ok, Pete was very concerned!

I heard you guys road some very back roads

Yes I'm fine I guess, only 1 call from the Dr's office confirming it and no follow up so I guess it's just when will it happen again.
and yes we rode some very back roads in W.Co. that none of us had ever seen, but we were begining to think it was Pete's ride to nowhere, but in the end he got us to Labadie

[billg]

See Norm, riding in Fla isn't so boring.

[Strompilot]

Greg, I can't believe you were riding with a kidney stone! Some docs say it's the worse pain you can have while remaining conscious.

Well, at the time I didn't know that's what it was, but as the pain increased in waves, I suspected as much.  Since I've never had a kidney stone before, I wasn't sure.  Not a lot of fun, that's for sure.

[Norm]

Greg, I can't believe you were riding with a kidney stone! Some docs say it's the worse pain you can have while remaining conscious.

Well, at the time I didn't know that's what it was, but as the pain increased in waves, I suspected as much.  Since I've never had a kidney stone before, I wasn't sure.  Not a lot of fun, that's for sure.

I think you're basically unkillable Greg. Heart attacks and kidney stones while riding, not to mention your engagements in Vietnam. You're one tough son of a gun. I think a bee bite on my arse would be enough to get me off the bike and cry.

[masscoot]

At one point we were going so fast it was Wednesday and when we stopped to eat it was Tuesday...

I love it, I've got to get a little notebook and write this stuff down you crack me up! 

Riding the twisties or chasing the horizon kinda like the same thing.  Fastest I've been was 20 minutes after I drove of the dealer lot.  Everything I read said the SW could do 108mph.  I was on the hwy and decided to test the specs, well, 10 seconds later at 109 my thought was i knew it would go faster.

[SilverBullet]

Brings back thoughts of my younger daze when I was first divorced (The first time  ) I was dateing a girl who lived on HWY T in Portage county. This road was is loaded with 15 to 35 mph curves. I used to time myself to see just how fast I could get through it on my GoldWing.
Thinking back I must of been on a suicide mission. This road is also loaded with deer!

[Norm]

At one point we were going so fast it was Wednesday and when we stopped to eat it was Tuesday...

I love it, I've got to get a little notebook and write this stuff down you crack me up! 

Riding the twisties or chasing the horizon kinda like the same thing.  Fastest I've been was 20 minutes after I drove of the dealer lot.  Everything I read said the SW could do 108mph.  I was on the hwy and decided to test the specs, well, 10 seconds later at 109 my thought was i knew it would go faster.

I love it Paul! Kinda like "We don't need no stinkin' break-in period!" I baby the bike off the lot but I bet the modern bikes really don't need it.

[Strompilot]

Greg, I can't believe you were riding with a kidney stone! Some docs say it's the worse pain you can have while remaining conscious.

Well, at the time I didn't know that's what it was, but as the pain increased in waves, I suspected as much.  Since I've never had a kidney stone before, I wasn't sure.  Not a lot of fun, that's for sure.

I think you're basically unkillable Greg. Heart attacks and kidney stones while riding, not to mention your engagements in Vietnam. You're one tough son of a gun. I think a bee bite on my arse would be enough to get me off the bike and cry.

Well, lately I don't feel so tough.  It's been rough all this packing stuff up, eating at restaurants, sleeping in motels and driving to Seattle.  Sheesh!

However......in your case, it's "Back to the Future!"  YeeeHaaaa!!!!!!!!!!    Never stop or old age will catch up with you.
I'm doing my best to keep it at bay.

[Kiwiscoot]

I need the twisties - straight roads make my wheels go flat.:(

[Norm]

Just for the record, I like twisties too. The thread is about what you do when there are no twisties. Check my tires. Even in Florida there are no chicken strips on either bike. Whenever I can I'll lay that bike as close to the ground as I can. Keith can tell you when he visited me recently.

[kb.bear]

This guy. He definitely needs the twisties

Aprilia Scarabeo 250cc 2007 Scooter Motorcycle Ride Review

[Norm]

Always makes me wonder what their true speed is. Everything looks fast on these bike mounted cameras, esp. when they're mounted low, like in this video.

[Kiwiscoot]

I think they must be going only about 100-110kph/65-70mph.
Just for reference this video of mine was done at 100kph/65mph

900miles/day Lake Wanaka

[Norm]

Yep

[kb.bear]

I was impressed by the lean angles

[John Backlund]

Always makes me wonder what their true speed is. Everything looks fast on these bike mounted cameras, esp. when they're mounted low, like in this video.

The bike-mounted cameras almost always use a very wide-angle lens too, which adds greatly to the impression of speed...not to imply that they aren't actually going fast, but it's certainly a factor. I've noticed that the 'Go-Pro' camera videos almost look like they use a fish-eye lens.

Kiwiscoot's video a few posts up looks about right, not too distorted by goofy lenses.

[gurock1]

At one point we were going so fast it was Wednesday and when we stopped to eat it was Tuesday...something about time/warp continuum. So we had an extra day to ride and, as Bill Murray would say in "Caddyshack": We had that going for us.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Being Wile E. Coyote atop an Acme Rocket can be as fun as twisties, don't let anyone fool you.

 

Remember Norm that the Wile E. Coyote idea was yours and I only borrowed it without permission.

I've been following this thread from it's start, but was unable to comment because my dad passed away and I was in San Diego for the last two weeks.  When I'm in San Diego I can read this board, but I can't seem to log in.

It's good to see you have some fun.  That Wednesday to Tuesday thing is great and I'm going to have to remember it.  I couldn't agree more that once in a while you need to shake loose the cobwebs and challenge the road to it's end.  In the twisties is great but high speed on the right road is another way.  I just got done paying for one of those indiscretions to the State of Missouri in the form of $220.00 for a speeding ticket I got last July on my Silverwing.  I was on Missouri 79 south of Louisiana, MO where it turns straight and for no reason opened up the throttle.  I was going 98 MPH on the speedometer when the state police caught me.  They gave me a very hard time about how I could get killed, then told me that they would give me a break and only write the ticket for going 84 in the 60 zone so the charge would be normal.

There were a couple of times in the late summer when my BMW buddy and I would ride from Chicago to near Wisconsin on I 94 and US 41.  We would start out calm and sedate until one of us raised the challenge.  Soon we would be going faster then Wile E. Coyote on that Acme Rocket and weaving through some slower traffic.  Twenty minutes (and god knows how much adrenaline) later when we would get off the highway and stop the two of us would be blaming each other for who egged the other one on and how we could have been killed.  None the less a great time. 

It’s just a variation on the theme of going through the mountain twists scrapping the center stand.  If I was in your position, Norm, I’d consider finding a sitter for Yogi every here and now packing up a bike and finding some twisties for a few days.  Keith’s ride in Georgia could be one of those days.  On your C-14 the trip to Georgia is a hop, skip and jump.  Pack up a weeks worth of clothes, the right gear, your I pod with good music for riding, a couple of credit cards, and sufficient emergency cash and let your C-14 show you what it can do cross country.

Great story, great metaphors, and thanks.