Riding with sportbikes woes

[Sizzle Media]

Hi All.

just wanted some opinions on my recent riding experience.
I was out this weekend on my first group ride. I was on my curvy with friends riding R1's, a Ninja and a Yamaha FZR. Usually i enjoy a good flowing ride down country lanes heading out of town for a couple of hours and then hitting some speed back home on the motorway.

On this occasion, i led the way on a familiar road towards huddersfield and was surprised to find the R1's falling way behind through the twisties and then catching up very quickly on the straights. I dropped back to see if it was deliberate on their part but to my surprise these guys on road missiles genuinely did'nt understand their bikes potential and treated them as straight line tarmac torpedoes.

However on the way home, we decided to hit the motorway and the bigger bikes vanished into the horizon. After getting home and thinking about the ride and some of the mistakes i made trying to keep up with the supersports bikes, i actually realised that the SV650 is actually a phenominal all-around bike. The lads on the bigger bikes have been trying to get me to look at something faster (I am tempted by a Street Triple - maybe after another years riding under my belt) but i dont see the point. I can push my bike to the point where I can feel its limit getting closer, it can hit 120mph, its comfortable unlike the Ninja which was the first sports bike ive sat on and have decided they are not for me, and I think it looks pretty cool in a simple kind of way.

Whats your experience been in riding in a group where your SV is probably the least powerful/fastest bike.:confused:

[Runako]

Same. It can be quite scary riding woth the more powerful bikes and finding that your outcronering them and have to get on the brakes.

[Elliott]

I find my little bike pwns in the corners, and because of the people I rode with (not exceeding around 100mph) I never get left. The only lad that has the same sort of handling is a mate with a Vvtr1000 (poss my next bike)

[Bibio]

to an extent its not the bike its the person in control of the bike.

[L3nny]

I have ridden a few different litre sports bikes and every one of them has suspension and handling 100 times better than an SV.

However I have been owned by guys on minitwin bikes on track days when I have been on a Fireblade.

It's 100 % down to the riders, not the bikes.

[davepreston]

rule 1 ride for yourself not the group

do you like your bike?
do you honestly think you need a bigger/ different style bike?
does your bike suit your current ability?
does pulling up at the service station 5 mins after your mates have, effect you deep inside?

answer the above and i'll get back to you :)

dave

[NTECUK]

Watch you licence on the motorway jogs.
If your mates are pulling away from you when your wound on at 120 mph your likely to get the racing on a public highway if you kept up with them as well as a ban just for the speed.
The speed triple is a very nice next bike.

[maviczap]

rule 1 ride for yourself not the group

do you like your bike?
do you honestly think you need a bigger/ different style bike?
does your bike suit your current ability?
does pulling up at the service station 5 mins after your mates have, effect you deep inside?

answer the above and i'll get back to you :)

dave

Watch you licence on the motorway jogs.
If your mates are pulling away from you when your wound on at 120 mph your likely to get the racing on a public highway if you kept up with them as well as a ban just for the speed.

+1 to both

[Sizzle Media]

rule 1 ride for yourself not the group

do you like your bike?
do you honestly think you need a bigger/ different style bike?
does your bike suit your current ability?
does pulling up at the service station 5 mins after your mates have, effect you deep inside?

answer the above and i'll get back to you :)

dave

Yes
No
Yes
Errrr.. I'll get back to you on that one.

I think SV strong point or flaw whichever way you look at it, is because its not über fast, you come in and out of bends more smoothly and not slamming on all the time because you've over cooked it.

Definitely need to watch my speed on motorways, hence my moment of reflection. It's was definitely fun maxing out my bike but is not worth losing my license. Mines a naked with small fly screen which only seemed to do its job effectively after Ton up. I might just take it off.

Triumph street triple is definitely my top choice at the moment, purely for the looks. It's got all the curves in the right places :-)

[davepreston]

in that case my dear man do this
save £4000 of your hard earned and dont buy a new bike, spend £500 total on new front springs and a gucci rear shock (can be done for a shed load less but wth live a little)
take your straight line merchant mates to a trackday and make them look like muppets by banging in some top laptimes on your "dinky" little engined bike

may i suggest the three sisters in wigan
then sit back and point out the differance betwen skill and bhp after youve stopped for petrol 5 mins after they have pulled in for a refuel at the allotted station :)

[NTECUK]

The good thing with the SV is its pretty forgiving.
Grab a handful of throttle on an R1 and your on your arris.
Likes been stated,up the suspension and your laughing.
Motorways are for Pan's , Harley's trucks and little old ladies.

[AkiraSV]

I prefer to ride on my own most of the time if I'm honest. There are too many people out there who see it as a big competition; what normally happens is what you describe - they get to a straight and they're gone. I usually stick to the speed limit on straights as I just don't see the point in gunning it and probably getting nicked.

That doesn't mean to say I haven't been, ahem, spirited in my riding at some point; I gunned along a straight once, got to a triple figure, then realised it was actually quite boring riding in a straight line at that speed and that I'd rather keep my license.

The fun is in the twisties if you ask me.

[Sizzle Media]

I prefer to ride on my own most of the time if I'm honest. There are too many people out there who see it as a big competition; what normally happens is what you describe - they get to a straight and they're gone. I usually stick to the speed limit on straights as I just don't see the point in gunning it and probably getting nicked.

That doesn't mean to say I haven't been, ahem, spirited in my riding at some point; I gunned along a straight once, got to a triple figure, then realised it was actually quite boring riding in a straight line at that speed and that I'd rather keep my license.

The fun is in the twisties if you ask me.

I agree totally. I went out for ride with my brother yesterday in the glorious sunshine back over my favourite road the A640 Hudderfield Rd. Its a good hours route from Rochdale to the top of the A640 and back home again. Great mixture of bends and open roads, and a greate ice cream stop at the top. The SV is great over these roads but I have started to notice the forks not holding up on some of the fast bends, almost feels like their bottoming out. I had the fork oil replaced a few months ago to a better oil according to the machanic but i think the standard set up can only take so much, I don't know, I'm still relatively new to biking.

I also prefer riding on my own but I have broken down once with a flat battery and now feel a bit uncomfortable going too far out of Rochdale on my own just incase it happens again.

Theres definitly plenty of fun years left in my current Curvy and will hold on to it till next year atleast. Can anyone suggest what I can do to improve the suspension on roads - with instruction. As I said I'm not that familiar with the terminology around bike suspension and settings, but i learn fast. So plenty of would be a real help, so when i go to a mechanic I don't feel like a complete newbie.
:confused:

[acting_strange]

I went to my first "local" meet last meet....lovely 84 mile ride on the A158...nice and twisty in places.

Well over a hundred bikes there of all shapes an sizes but what ticked me off was over hearing two guys who arrived just a short time after me bragging to each other how they had done "180" "170" on the ???

Whats ticks me off about this is the name they give us all...and my increased insurance...

Now I have no trouble with people wanting to go fast....but if you do then do it on a track day where there are the facilities and everyone is going the same way...

[shonadoll]

Yeah a lot of people on sports bikes can't handle them. I once rode with someone on a gsxr 600 who couldn't corner to save her life then did numerous unsafe overtakes nearly taking out another group in the process.

I live for the bends, getting them as right and as smooth and as flowing as I can, but since having the street triple after the sv my riding is much better, more confidence but not stupid with it. Never noticed how bad the suspension on the sv was until I got my triple, and didn't see the point in upgrading the SUVs suspension as I felt the build quality was poorer than the triple and personally I wouldn't buy an sv that had been done by the owner unless it was from here and I trusted their ability.

I've got the triple r with adjustable suspension and love it.

[Sizzle Media]

The Triumph Street Triple is in my opinion one of the most beautiful bikes on the market at the moment. I can't imagine riding any faster than I do currently on any bike but from when the first pix came out, It jumped to top of my shopping list. I just need to be patient. Is yours the 2011 with new headlights or the previous version?

[yorkie_chris]

This is pretty much the reason I've fallen out with going out for a ride on sunny weekends and evenings... Mainly the increased police presence that lots of power rangers riding like c***s creates.

Solution is to either ride where it is too twisty and you can really show the litre bike heros who's boss or not bother.

[shonadoll]

The Triumph Street Triple is in my opinion one of the most beautiful bikes on the market at the moment. I can't imagine riding any faster than I do currently on any bike but from when the first pix came out, It jumped to top of my shopping list. I just need to be patient. Is yours the 2011 with new headlights or the previous version?


Mines the 2010 version with the original round headlights and graphics, black with gold wheels. Don't like the new uns.