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the non family friendly boredom thread for Rich

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richkrt99:
So back when I was younger and foolish, I decided a motorcycle was a good idea. I bought a used Kawasaki Ninja 600R.  Not my first bike...I had a Honda CBR450 (I think) when I was younger.  The 600R is not super big for those who are crazy riders, but definitely a crotch rocket plenty quick enough for me and more than enough bike to get you into trouble. I was no daredevil on the thing, but it had enough power to pucker you up if you hit the throttle too hard.
I had been riding it pretty much daily for about 6 months when I was cruising along some winding back roads near where I grew up one day and decided to test my skills and nerve on some nice turns and such.  Everything was fine until I gave just a hair too much throttle as I crested (what I did not know was a slightly steeper hill on the other side).  Came over the hill and the front wheel came up and I was pretty much weightless and doing an unintentional wheelie for about 100 yards.  Did not know I had so much pucker power in my backside, but that's pretty much what held me to the damn thing.  Scared the living bejeezus out of me.  Lucky for me there was a straight stretch for a bit and I eased the wheel back down.  Thinking about it afterward, I could have just tapped the rear brake a bit and it would have brought the nose down but at the time I was just hanging on for dear life.
So being young and foolish, I did NOT learn a whole lot that day and many days later after being fully confident in my riding skills, I decided to see just how fast this thing would go.  I was on I-66 out past Haymarket (which back in the 90's was pretty barren at night).  It was about 10 at night and I hit 80 then 90, then 100 like it was nothing.  Tucked down really low, chest on the tank and head down behind the very minimal windscreen and hit it.  I was doing 120 like it was nothing.  Although I could really hear the wind and feel the road.  I topped out about 130 and although the bike probably had a little more in it....I DID NOT.  I let off the throttle and started to "slow"
SO, let me tell you something I learned that night and will never forget:  If you are brave (foolish) enough to ride a bike at that speed on an open highway, here is something you should never ever ever do at that speed.  DO NOT lift your head, even a tiny little bit.  Which I did.
The wind, which had previously been roaring over the windscreen and my empty head, smacked me in the face shield like I had been hit by a baseball bat.  Physical dynamics being what they are, the snapping back of my head lifted me higher and when the wind hit me in the chest it very nearly jerked me off the bike.  I mean my arms grew longer and I very nearly let go of the handlebars.  I was at the extreme edge of grip at the tip of my fingers when I slowed enough for me to lower myself back down.  I was about 25 and a very active athlete at the time, and had I not had a pretty solid core, I am 100% certain I would have launched from that thing and altered my life forever.  I had already let off the throttle and started to slow - I would guess somewhere around 110 when I relaxed and lifted my head.  At 130 or or even 120 I'm sure I would not have held on.  I just wasn't thinking.
That was a lesson I Did learn from and never made that mistake again.  Pretty sure God was telling me in both circumstances that I did not have quite as much control or power as I thought I did.  I did take these lessons to heart and managed to survive my Ninja days with only laying the bike down one minor time and suffering no real injuries.  I had the bike for 4 or 5 years and then met my current wife, fell in love and forgot the bike.  Had her on the back of it ONCE when we were dating.  She did not enjoy it, and I didn't either.  It's not really meant for 2.  I kept it and rode it off and on until she got pregnant with our twins and decided I better be around to help raise them.  Gave the bike to a friend who had been a rider his whole life.  Although he was more of a Harley guy at that point.


I see guys riding these monster rockets like 1000cc racing bikes wearing tank tops, shorts, and flip-flops and think...."how stupid can you be"  I was young and dumb, but not THAT dumb.


Anyway, true story.  Lived through it, don't need to do it again. Sometimes I think a nice cruising bike would be nice, but meh...my knees and back hurt enough already without a life altering bike incident.


Pretty sure my Ninja was an '86.  I owned it in the mid-90's.  Think I paid like $3k for it and it did not have a lot of miles on it (maybe 30K).  I did enjoy it, and rode it almost every day (NOT in Dec - Feb).  I think I put 30k miles on it myself, so got my money's worth and lived through it.
Rode it with a buddy down to the "Honda Hoot" in Asheville, NC (sometime in the light 90's) where they used to have an annual week long Honda rally there.  My family is from down there, so I know the area and it's beautiful place to ride.  I only got minor grief for riding a Ninja there.


I see the 2015 Ninja H2 will go 209mph.  Yikes. 130 was too much for me.


found a pic online of what mine looked like...it was red/black (not the Kawasaki green)

ArJunaZ:
Loved the motorcycle stories. I have a crap load miles under my belt on motorcycles, both dirt and street.

Two stories I will partially tell.

Sorry, make that three.

I had a crazy accident on my just one week prior upgraded Kawasaki 550 LTD. Had it bored out to a 615cc, re-jetted, and a Kerker header installed. I was going to work a few blocks from the White House.  I was heading east on G street NW about to cross 20th street. Traffic on 20th was one way going north and was backed up in two of the three lanes, but no one was blocking me from crossing.  I made eye contact with the drivers who were stopped and ready to enter the intersection. In front of me the right lane of G street was blocked due to construction and a black man was standing there with a flag to wave drivers around. I started across the intersection.  As I was about to cross the 3rd lane (which had no cars on it except a couple parked ones further up 20th) I heard the most horrific sound of a car braking in full panic mode. I did not even have to look, nor did I ever look. I immediately jumped into the air off my bike as hard as I could.  I heard and felt the impact of the car hitting my bike. The impact caused the handlebars to spin at high speed, which caught my left shin and took a chunk out of it (seen to this day).  I miraculously landed on my feet not a foot away and face-to-face with the guy waving the flag.  He said, "Holy Shit!!!".  I looked to see a large sedan and my bike smashed to shit on the north side of the intersection.  The woman driving was driving  like a moron. Some guy behind her pulled up immediately and began chewing her out. He was head of some government agency and gave me his card offering to be a witness to the woman's idiocy.  The woman that hit me it turned out also worked at the World Bank, though in a different building than me.  She later that day offered to buy me a nicer bike.  I was fine except for the tiny piece missing on my leg.  So I got a brand new Kawasaki 750 LTD from her.

About a month later I was coming home at midnight.  I had been carefully following the break-in procedures for a month and my odometer just passed the 1000 mile mark indicating the break-in was complete. There was NO ONE but me  on the road. I decided to open it up. Next thing I know I am going 130mph (no windscreen BTW). Moments later I look in my rear view mirrors and see a state trooper 3 feet or less behind me.  REALLY CLOSE.  He had no light or sirens on. I mean not even headlights. Totally dark.  My exit is coming up and I was trying to figure out what to do. He was not trying to pull me over. I waited to the the very last second I could and I swerved over from center to right lane and slammed on my brakes to slow down for the cloverleaf exit and i took that turn scraping the foot pegs most of the way.  I heard a loud crash behind me and I stopped at the top of the exit to look back.  The silly officer thought he could follow me.  Well he failed.  He had taken out road signs and skidded all the way into the overpass wall of solid concrete.  I immediately went to a phone booth and called 911 to report his accident. Anonymously.  I should mention that my 30-day tags were at least half missing from a fair amount of riding in the rain.

The baddest street bike I ever rode was a Kawasaki KZ1000R.  I could be going 90mph barely straining the engine in 3rd gear. Without using any clutch I could pull the throttle back at 90mph and the front wheel would come up as high off the ground as I dared. And I dared.  That was some crazy power. 160+mph was not a problem.

OK, a 4th story, and I have many.

I used to race motocross for a while and I bought a 1994 Kawasaki KX250 from a guy who owned a race prep shop.  This was his personal bike and was as totally souped up as you could get it. Holy shit!  Coming from a stock Honda CR250 to that thing was a shock.  As strong as I was if I hit the throttle too hard it would rip the bike out of my hands.  One time at Budd's Creek during a race I was coming to the tallest drop on the course, which was just after a double which again rose up and then dropped steeply around 30 feet.  I was out of sync after the double and the landing caused me to rip the throttle, which launched me straight up as the hill went straight down. I came off the bike and watched it tumble end over end down the hill jamming tons of dirt in my tailpipe. I then landed HARD on my ass about 2/3 way down the hill. I couldn't even sit for months. That was the day I discovered Aleve, which did a damn good job on the pain.

Alright, a 5th story.

I was in the Navy and had some leave. We were at the time in a shipyard in Alabama in dry dock.  I was driving home going across the Florida panhandle at night in a heavy rain. I was going about 70mph and could barely see a thing but the white line on the road.  I suddenly hit a 4"x4" laying across the highway. My teeth almost got knocked out from the jolt, but I managed to keep it under control and was surprised the bike (Kawasaki 550 LTD) suffered no damage.

Ozzies09tc:
Watching ana vs det wcqf from 03 and i gotta say....fuck the trapezoid

alta:
my first street bike was a '94 YZF750, I got it because it wasn't the cookie cutters that every else had, and ive only seen three others in this region. One day I went for a ride with a couple friends that were a couple, she had a CBR600, he had a ZX10. We went up rt 9 to Charlestown, it's realy twisty. Him and I kept having to stop a good wait wait for her. One stop I told him I'm about running him over in the corners and could easily pass, he says go ahead. So in the next set of corners I pass him, and as soon as we get going straight he just blows me by. After a stop in Charlestown for a break, he asks if I'm ok with the speed(lots of triple digits at this point), I say yup, he says you lead then. We hit 340 east, there is about zero traffic, after the last stop light out of town we just pin the throttles. I'm tucked in as far as humanly possible and topped out indicating about 150-155. I'm thinking holy shit is this fast and enjoying the shit out of it. He pulls up next to me, looks over, and I can see the shit eating grin through the helmet. He opens it up and leaves me in the dust. Now I'm thinking holy shit is 150 fukin slow.


My second bike was a YZF1000, as it sits it should do 170. But I've only had it up to 140. It was built when the liter class sport bikes were bigger, and more comfortable with a passenger. The 750 sucked when 2 up. One day while just cruising I got caught at a light next to some asshat with a pretty blonde in a new vette. I wasn't planning on racing, but after he floored it, I did too. I went by him like he standing still while on one wheel. I look back in my mirrors and he's putting along at the speed limit. Had a similar experience with a guy in a new 911 that thought we was fast. One night I had a guy test me, he had a Honda S2000 that obviously had some work done, he kept pace with me all the way to 140. I had to back off then because I was needing a new front tire, it was vibrating just a tad. Wheelies are fun but they eat up the sprockets quickly.


I didn't get the 1000 to race, i got it for 2up comfort and its big enough to hang saddle bags on for weekend trips. If you've got a woman that needs to learn to pack light, get a bike and take a four day trip.


That 750 was taken out from under me by someone turning left from the right lane, is still have the 1000 but don't ride nearly as much because of the dog, first Jack and now the new one, Butters.

ArJunaZ:

--- Quote from: alta on Sunday June 07, 2020, 05:50:32 PM Eastern ---my first street bike was a '94 YZF750, I got it because it wasn't the cookie cutters that every else had, and ive only seen three others in this region. One day I went for a ride with a couple friends that were a couple, she had a CBR600, he had a ZX10. We went up rt 9 to Charlestown, it's realy twisty. Him and I kept having to stop a good wait wait for her. One stop I told him I'm about running him over in the corners and could easily pass, he says go ahead. So in the next set of corners I pass him, and as soon as we get going straight he just blows me by. After a stop in Charlestown for a break, he asks if I'm ok with the speed(lots of triple digits at this point), I say yup, he says you lead then. We hit 340 east, there is about zero traffic, after the last stop light out of town we just pin the throttles. I'm tucked in as far as humanly possible and topped out indicating about 150-155. I'm thinking holy shit is this fast and enjoying the shit out of it. He pulls up next to me, looks over, and I can see the shit eating grin through the helmet. He opens it up and leaves me in the dust. Now I'm thinking holy shit is 150 fukin slow.


My second bike was a YZF1000, as it sits it should do 170. But I've only had it up to 140. It was built when the liter class sport bikes were bigger, and more comfortable with a passenger. The 750 sucked when 2 up. One day while just cruising I got caught at a light next to some asshat with a pretty blonde in a new vette. I wasn't planning on racing, but after he floored it, I did too. I went by him like he standing still while on one wheel. I look back in my mirrors and he's putting along at the speed limit. Had a similar experience with a guy in a new 911 that thought we was fast. One night I had a guy test me, he had a Honda S2000 that obviously had some work done, he kept pace with me all the way to 140. I had to back off then because I was needing a new front tire, it was vibrating just a tad. Wheelies are fun but they eat up the sprockets quickly.


I didn't get the 1000 to race, i got it for 2up comfort and its big enough to hang saddle bags on for weekend trips. If you've got a woman that needs to learn to pack light, get a bike and take a four day trip.


That 750 was taken out from under me by someone turning left from the right lane, is still have the 1000 but don't ride nearly as much because of the dog, first Jack and now the new one, Butters.

--- End quote ---
Fun stuff.

My 1987 Kawasaki 750 LTD ended up destroyed by a woman pulling a left right in front of me with no one on the road but us.  I was not speeding. I went into a skid and realized I would not avoid her; the timing was just too perfect. So I straightened it back up and jumped over her car landing on a sidewalk head first between a guard rail and a fence. Happened right at the 395 south exit of Little River Turnpike going east.  The woman was driving a K-Car and my bike took her entire front end off.  She told the police officer, "I did not see him officer, I only saw his motorcycle."  A buddy of mine that worked at the gas station right there knew it was me and thought I was dead.  I refused any help from the ambulance and I felt just a little sore.  My feet hurt because they hit last and slapped the ground. My very expensive Simpson helmet took the bulk of the impact and was a loss too. I had good leather on, but lazily put on sneakers that day.  That evening after the adrenaline wore off I was in a ton of pain from various bruises.  I decided no more ridding on the road after that because traffic was increasing and people that drive cars are idiots that pay little attention to what they're doing.

I remember how great it was back in the `70s and `80s riding outside the beltway. It was wide open and beautiful.  Too many damn people now.

It would be a blast for us to get together and ride. I wonder who rents bikes these days.

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