My apologies, I didn't mean to be sniffy with my "not necessary" comment - I meant it more as a self-defence mechanism for not being a 'knee down' rider. I know that the sports bike world is full of machismo bollocks but it is none-the-less difficult to not feel defensive when one rides a sports 600, as I do. It is fun, I agree, but, in all honesty I have to ask myself; is the road the place to have "fun"?
These days, I take a greater pleasure in being smooth, measured and consistent (still, um, 'swift' shall we say) than I do in scaring the crap out of myself by being just a bit too quick into a bend. I get the occasional pillock in a hot-hatch (or the like) come steaming up behind me into a bend. Perhaps they think they have to prove they can be faster than a motorbike through bends, dunno, but whatever, they might well be quicker into a bend (them invariably having superior braking power helps there) but they're certainly not faster out of it. That's mainly because they read the bend all wrong but also they're not thinking of going 'around' the bend... just being as fast as poss to a turn point.
Btw, the "chicken strips" thing always bugged me. It's actually quite easy to get a bike leaned over, and at quite slow speeds too. I remember MCN doing an article on that very point.
I remember coming back from a track day and stopping at a motorbike shop on the way home. One of the guys outside the shop surveyed the bits of rubber hanging from my chewed up tyres and gave me a thumbs up and a smile - yet I was always one of the slower riders on the track. Conversely, I've seen very quick riders who barely get the bike over (in comparison).
As I say, these days an enjoyable ride for me is more about not being noticed than generating sparks. Each to their own eh?
These days, I take a greater pleasure in being smooth, measured and consistent (still, um, 'swift' shall we say) than I do in scaring the crap out of myself by being just a bit too quick into a bend. I get the occasional pillock in a hot-hatch (or the like) come steaming up behind me into a bend. Perhaps they think they have to prove they can be faster than a motorbike through bends, dunno, but whatever, they might well be quicker into a bend (them invariably having superior braking power helps there) but they're certainly not faster out of it. That's mainly because they read the bend all wrong but also they're not thinking of going 'around' the bend... just being as fast as poss to a turn point.
Btw, the "chicken strips" thing always bugged me. It's actually quite easy to get a bike leaned over, and at quite slow speeds too. I remember MCN doing an article on that very point.
I remember coming back from a track day and stopping at a motorbike shop on the way home. One of the guys outside the shop surveyed the bits of rubber hanging from my chewed up tyres and gave me a thumbs up and a smile - yet I was always one of the slower riders on the track. Conversely, I've seen very quick riders who barely get the bike over (in comparison).
As I say, these days an enjoyable ride for me is more about not being noticed than generating sparks. Each to their own eh?
