916 sps. Scared me every time I used it. Would wheelie off the throttle in first 4 gears at about 2k revs. Sheer mentalness.
A test ride I will always remember when I was 22 with 1 year riding experience. Yam 1200 V-max.....no brakes...shit suspension and no cornering abilities Got one of my own now !
Cagiva WMX125 when I'd never ridden a proper motorcycle before and I thought I was going to die as I shot off the sea wall back home in Essex. FZR1000 Genesis flat out in top down the A610 with my mate on his ZX7R flat out behind me unable to overtake - the adrenalin must have taken an hour to leave our system (stupid and would get jail time nowadays).
Not ridden many scary bikes but I took an MV Brutale out for a test ride after a few weeks riding my 600 monster which still felt quick to me at the time. I was accompanied by one of their test pilots who was an absolute nut bag and I felt obliged to try and keep up. That was scary. I very nearly bought it on the spot when we got back but I had a text offering a go on a mates 748, I bought one of them instead, which also felt mental. Rode it back from Oxford to Southampton and didn't stop laughing once.
Maybe not scary but silliest I rode was a Buell XB12R with lowered gearing, "race" exhaust and ECU. Whenever you touched the throttle it tried to lift the front wheel, even when leant over going around roundabouts!! Was a proper giggle... Also silly was a BSA Victor Jnr, get up to 30mph and the entire world went blurry with vibrations.... Big high compression singles have come a long way since the sixties.
I think I've crashed most of my early bikes through some sort of stupidity. Like someone else said they feel fast until you get used to them. I had a carb urban tiger blade, I did not find it fast at that time (after an R1) but the handling was so bad (something was wrong with it) A few times it started shaking it's head (just a little) mid way round fast sweeping corners and I remember thinking, can't back off, can't brake. Please get round. The R6 had a tendency to shake it's head on exit but it was not random the front wheel was probably getting light. The early R1 felt slow when I got it, but silly speeds in 1st and 2nd. I remember turning right from a stand still, thinking it was in 2nd (it was in 1st) gave it some encouragement with the clutch, stood up fast. I think I was too stupid to be intimidated in my early years. Now I have a GSXR1000 K6 Race engine making about 200 - ish bhp at the crank, no retarded ignition or top speed limiter etc... The motor belongs in a race car. I can't Imagen riding a bike with it in. Considering it can push a car chassis round like it does.. Has no issue spinning up 10" wide (sticky) slicks out of hairpins or off the line. It makes the Tuned R1 03 engine look tame that was in a similar car. I can not see how it can be that advantageous to have all that power without anti wheelie sensors and traction control in a short wheel base bike until you can crank it up. When we had a GSXR1000 at the Northwest, the team were doing things to the set up to reduce wheeling at the circuit in Ireland before the road race. I've seen Hybusa Turbo cars struggle at hill climb because they have to feather the throttle so much. It's a little strange too, you think you'd need the torque in a car, but round the circuits the higher, faster revin motors do well, probably because they don't slow down (on 4 wheels) Off road I like a two stroke MX bike, I had tuned KX250 and that was awesome, just wish I knew how to ride it.
My 1975 Z1 900 Kawasaki - in it's 1st turbocharged guise in 1984 with 1197cc low comp turbo motor circa 185bhp - 130 section rear tyre (over-tyred from a 120!) 110 front tyre, standard single piston callipers, standard forks and frame with minimal bracing. Basically a 2015 Superbike Power but like a 2 stroke power delivery in a mid 70's chassis. Scary? Yes
My dads blade on an airfield when I was 16. I've got it on video somewhere. My mum was always against me having a bike and you can hear her asking where I am as I'm flying down the runway in jeans and a rab. That was the point she realised my dad had been teaching me to ride for a while.
The R1 I sold last year had basically had so much work done to it over the years it wouldn't have been out of place in a race paddock. It was an 07, so screamer rather than Big Bang. It was scary fast!
I had one of these for about a year and it was a nightmare in every way. And this didn't do me any favours but it was lovely :cry:
gsxr 1100k, near killed myself on every outing, don't believe there much out there that could handle as bad, maybe if I was 6' 5" and 20 stone it would have helped
think the only bike that scared me was a mates Honda cr500 aged 15 I couldn't touch the floor on gravel tracks it was mental it wheelied and spun the back wheel at the same time at the time the biggest bike I had ridden was a yz 125 lol
A friend came over on his RG500 back in the 80's. He let me take it out for a spin and SH*T what a hairy ride but such a thrill that I went out and bought my own. The power delivery was just epic, nothing will ever match the adrenalin rush that bike delivered. Overall scariest was my KH400 with Girling "upgraded" rear shocks. They were so stiff and longer than stock, that the bike became a massive handful and a liability in the wet.....handled much better two up but I didn't understand why at the time.
Two bikes stick in my mind from back in the day, the first was a Suzuki GSX1100 Warlord (a Katana without the bikini fairing), it was 1981/2 if memory serves and a very brave friend let me have a go on his new super bike when I was seventeen and only used to a 50cc trail bike (Gulp)........ I think I'm actually ready to admit now that a little bit of poo did actually come out before I manage to hand it back to him in one piece but shaking like a leaf :coldsweat: (double GULP). The second one a few years later was again a friends bike when we were green laning and I had a Gas Gas EX250 stroker and he gave me a go on his breathed on Honda XR650. After I eventually got the bastard kicked up .........JEEEEZERZ it proceeded to wheely through the first three gears and then tried to flip me in fourth !!! HAPPY DAYS :smiley:
Yam 350lc, way way to fast for a spotty teenager, when i was 15 i took a mates Air cooled rd400 around the block, good times :Cigar:
I do like the common theme in these posts. 'bike X...wasn't mine....nearly killed me....I want one" We're a clever lot us bikers haha. I am now convinced I'm buying a 1098 though, an R if funds allow.
Suzuki TL1000R mildly breathed on by PDQs out at Taplow. Mentally quick in a straight line but a real handful muscling it round anything remotely like a bend. Didn't shake it's head like the TLS but required 100% concentration. First bike I knowingly took above 150 mph which wasn't bad for 1998. Andy
