So yoiu think the MotoGP riders of today are talented?

Originally Posted by davepreston

old riders were more ballsy ,modern day riders id say are more technical, they defenalty are talented id say more so than there predisessors, but the older day boys did more eg work on the bikes as well as ride them
just my humble opinion of course

You do get it

Riders of yesteryear certainly had great phyiscal courage.

If you see the barriers at old race tracks they were a few feet from the grass and tracks like the IOM and Nurburgring which were no where near as safe as today.

Plus bad brakes and plastic tyres and very poor helmets and poor leathers and you have to respect those guys as true sports heroes.

And to say I dont get it...WRONG

I have been watching GPs since I was a lad...you dont understand that.

[yorkie_chris]

The modern GP stuff looks like it takes a whole different skill-set with all the electronics involved.

The current crop of GP riders are undoubtedly more talented than I'll ever be, but the current GP bikes don't raise my pulse in the slightest compared to watching the 500s.

Look at modern completely composed M1 or something, then watch the 500s weave, slide, slap and wheelie their way round the place.

Originally Posted by yorkie_chris

The modern GP stuff looks like it takes a whole different skill-set with all the electronics involved.

The current crop of GP riders are undoubtedly more talented than I'll ever be, but the current GP bikes don't raise my pulse in the slightest compared to watching the 500s.

Look at modern completely composed M1 or something, then watch the 500s weave, slide, slap and wheelie their way round the place.

Back in the mid to late nineties Sheene rode a Fireblade on road tyres round a circuit back to back with his 500cc championship winning machine. He said the Fireblade was ultimately a faster bike, with better tyres, better brakes and better handling, but the 500 was evil in the way it made its power, didn't go round corners, had zero grip from the poor quality tyres and had no brakes to speak of. He was amazed he'd managed to finish a race let alone win a whole 500cc championship season on it.

He said if the stock mid 90s CBR600 had been developed in the early 70s it would have been winning GPs on what we would have regarded back then as normal road tyres. I remember riding on mid 90s normal road tyres like Dunlop D204s and Bridgestone BT57s and they weren't all that good, not compared to tyres like Avon Storms etc.

'scuse me, but HOW ****ING COOL WAS THAT?

Originally Posted by Scoobs

'scuse me, but HOW ****ING COOL WAS THAT?

Cooler than week old penguin p1ss, as my lil brother says.

[Bri w]

Wow! Narrow power band, no brakes and a frame that flexed like a rubber band.

And I remember having that yellow Yam jacket back then.

1979 GP500, Herzog, Sheene and Roberts. Sheene flipping Roberts the 'bird' with a few laps to go...

Didn't Sheene have a mega crash at Assen? Went over the brow of a hill at xxxmph only to find a bike laid on the track in front of him?

[fizzwheel]

Originally Posted by Bri w

Didn't Sheene have a mega crash at Assen? Went over the brow of a hill at xxxmph only to find a bike laid on the track in front of him?

I thought that one was at Silverstone...

It was Silverstone in 1982

[punyXpress]

Originally Posted by The Basket

Still not wiv ya.

By that logic...Geoff Duke and John Surtees are better than KR and Sheene.

And they were racing against Manx Nortons etc which were hard pressed to give more power that a fit SV!
Thanks for that one Lozzo - a real treat.