2020 Panigale vs K5 GSXR

[Seeker]

15 year old, 55,000 mile Suzuki versus a 2020 V4 outrageous horsepower Ducati

https://tinyurl.com/y458ns84

on a side note, these are the roads I used to ride on and I stil miss those blue skies (just not the earthquakes and fires).

[SV650rules]

Suzuki doing OK in BSB as well, beating Ducati

[Adam Ef]

I watched that the other day. I think I'd prefer to have the GSXR too.

[Dave20046]

Where are they, Cali?

I'm more stunned that's a 15 year old bike that they consider old. It's still current in my head!

[Seeker]

Originally Posted by Dave20046

Where are they, Cali?

yes, southern California. The mountain road was possibly Angeles Crest Highway which is a popular biker road and a good place to meet the CHP! Buttonwillow track is near Bakersfield which is north of Los Angeles and the start of the Central Valley where a lot of US crops are grown. It gets miserably hot in the summer.

[Dave20046]

Originally Posted by Seeker

yes, southern California. The mountain road was possibly Angeles Crest Highway which is a popular biker road and a good place to meet the CHP! Buttonwillow track is near Bakersfield which is north of Los Angeles and the start of the Central Valley where a lot of US crops are grown. It gets miserably hot in the summer.

How'd you end up there? And more to the point, why did you come back? I'm not sure I could ever get sick of a hot climate...but guess I've never lived in one!

[SV650rules]

Originally Posted by Dave20046

How'd you end up there? And more to the point, why did you come back? I'm not sure I could ever get sick of a hot climate...but guess I've never lived in one!

We lived in South Africa ( 5 years ) and Australia ( 9 years ) and trust me you do get fed up of hot weather and long for some cool weather and rain ( after literally years with non ), you also get fed up of bush fires, ticks ( tick bite fever ), spiders that can kill you, snakes, cockroaches, mosquitos ( denge fever and Ross river fever and maybe malaria) that bite you through clothing and not being able to sleep at nights, Oh and also it being too hot do do things in the daytime as well. many people don't believe it but we are blessed in UK with our weather - it really is Goldilocks weather. Oh and you miss the green colour of the countryside and plants, the plants that live in hotter climates are normally silvery ( or probably brown from lack of water ). The green in UK really does hurt your eyes when you come back for visits. Did I mention flooding and duststorms - and the flies that go in your ears and up your nose and under you sunglasses, and skin cancer in people as young as 20.....

The sun in places like Australia is about 10x as damaging as UK sun, so if you are wise you end up covering up with long sleeves, proper trousers and a large hat, and you do not see many soft-top cars in Aussie as you would be like a lobster after 20 minutes, Soft tops are the preserve of temperate countries / area like UK.

Once you got out of cities many roads except for national trunk roads were dirt roads that used to acquire a real washboard surface, in a car you would do 60 down the straights to only hit the tops of the bumps and keep thicng smooth, but if you didn't slow down for the corners you vibrated off the road ( and many vehicles belonging to tourists did ) - flying stones as dust a real hazard and forget it in wet weather, the roads were horrible, a clue is that tarmac or concrete roads were called 'all weather roads'. The vast distances don't help either, you need a bike with a big fuel tank because the last thing you want to do is run out of fuel on a lonely desert road, where you could tick the passing vehicles off on a calendar.

[Seeker]

Originally Posted by Dave20046

How'd you end up there? And more to the point, why did you come back? I'm not sure I could ever get sick of a hot climate...but guess I've never lived in one!

I had always wanted to live there I don't know whether it was because of all the US bike mags I would read (most SoCal based) or the late 60s/70s music or the innovation - it seemed exciting to me. When I left the RAF, I applied for a job as a field engineer - 6 months in UK factory followed by transfer to SoCal. The company reneged on that but a US company advertised for a field engineer on the same product (high end drum scanners) - they sponsored me and my wife. I ended up working for Scitex, Creo and then Kodak.
Why did I come back after 23 years? I lost my job in financial crash and my Dad developed dementia. My kids are American so they could sponsor me to go back although Trump wants to stop that (chain migration) but the appeal for me to return has waned. My social security payment (pension) comes from the US so Trump's threats to defund it is a bit worrying. It's predicted to run out of money in 20 years anyway since successive administrations have been robbing the kitty.

My favourite ride would be to Lake Elsinore, here's my 919 (900 Hornet) at "The Lookout" (cafe and rider meeting point)


This picture is about 2000 ft above the lake, then onto Perris, Hemet which were in the desert with temps in the low 100°s (Summer) and then climb up into the San Jacinto mountains to Idyllwild for breakfast (5400 feet - much cooler). Ride along the mountain ridge (Palm Springs was on the other side) and back towards San Diego and home in Lake Forest (about 200 miles total).

Another great ride was to the Mt Palomar telescope, very twisty mountain road but the locals were tired of bikes and at one point oiled the road (there were arrests). I lost interest after that!

[Dave20046]

SV650rules - get what you're saying about the heat , and too hot to do anything. I can definitely imagine that in Oz

Originally Posted by Seeker

I had always wanted to live there I don't know whether it was because of all the US bike mags I would read (most SoCal based) or the late 60s/70s music or the innovation - it seemed exciting to me. When I left the RAF, I applied for a job as a field engineer - 6 months in UK factory followed by transfer to SoCal. The company reneged on that but a US company advertised for a field engineer on the same product (high end drum scanners) - they sponsored me and my wife. I ended up working for Scitex, Creo and then Kodak.
Why did I come back after 23 years? I lost my job in financial crash and my Dad developed dementia. My kids are American so they could sponsor me to go back although Trump wants to stop that (chain migration) but the appeal for me to return has waned. My social security payment (pension) comes from the US so Trump's threats to defund it is a bit worrying. It's predicted to run out of money in 20 years anyway since successive administrations have been robbing the kitty.

My favourite ride would be to Lake Elsinore, here's my 919 (900 Hornet) at "The Lookout" (cafe and rider meeting point)


This picture is about 2000 ft above the lake, then onto Perris, Hemet which were in the desert with temps in the low 100°s (Summer) and then climb up into the San Jacinto mountains to Idyllwild for breakfast (5400 feet - much cooler). Ride along the mountain ridge (Palm Springs was on the other side) and back towards San Diego and home in Lake Forest (about 200 miles total).

Another great ride was to the Mt Palomar telescope, very twisty mountain road but the locals were tired of bikes and at one point oiled the road (there were arrests). I lost interest after that!

That looks amazing. I've not been to america but spent time in Canada, I liked the distinct seasons - i.e pretty much guaranteed belting days in the summer, great for riding (though the roads are a little straight) and crisp in Autumn. Less said about winter the better. I can get a bit annoyed with the grey drizzly blur that spans the UK for all but 3 (not usually consecutive) weeks in 'summer'...I think being cooped up in lockdown is making me want to get outside of the UK at probably the worst time in history.

[shiftin_gear98]

Yeah, bring on the old GSXR. Just goes to show, shiny and expensive isn't always better.