That's Fully comp insurance for ya mate.
;)

...or years of practise and a VERY strong self preservation instinct coupled with lots of good quality training, both Advanced on road and on the track.

There are about 10 people in my bike club and all but one are originally from my local IAM bike group and all are of a similar standard and some can *nearly* keep up on far inferior equipment. When a friend of mine started riding with us (he's a top rider BTW, lots of natural talent and big nads ;)), he was blown away that a friend of mine on his Pan could almost keep us with us, he on his 'Blade, me on my 'Ace.

If you ever get the chance to ride with a Traffic Bike cop, their ability, speed and smoothness will blow you away!!!!! :):):)

Ride well, stay safe :)

Matt :)

P.S. Gooser, I've never claimed from my own insurance and only once on someone else's (the only proper bike crash I've ever had). This is with several hundred thousand bike miles (I was a courier when I left college) and these days, every ride is a B-road balls out thrash :D:D:D

Absolute, if you are smooth, progresive and stay on the throttle all the way round a bend, you very rarely have any problems, even when it's really slippery. It took me years to get the hang of ignoring my instincts which is the cornerstone of fast riding :)

Matt :)

I know mate, I was only leg pulling. As we're getting the right weather at the moment mate, I'll try ignoring my instincts on the way home. Bet it takes some getting used to. Only on right handers though - coz that's the side I dropped the bike on this morning. :(

I have absolutely no confidence in bike tyres in the wet whatsoever. Especially with the 207's I got at the moment, they twitch enough on bone dry roads as it is :eek: (I hate Dunlop tyres), going round corners in the wet on them is worrying so I take it very easy. Probably due to the fact I high sided in the wet several years ago and it wasn't a particularly nice experience :eek:

Now I have no way of getting past my natural instinct when on the bike in the wet. Unfortunately its the other extreme in the dry, I have no fear whatsoever and thats not good. Perhaps some advanced rider training would do me a hell of alot of good.

Personally for me:

Road = Scooby, Only because Ive lost too many mates riding too quickly on the road, plus its a nightmare with all the idiot drivers out there, but on a whole i'd rather be on a bike only because its still a quicker a-b mode than a car.

Track - Bike all day long, wet or dry because for me I am faster and have more fun on the bike, wheras I admit I am no where near as quick in the Scoob on the track as I am on the bike.

Bravo,

Am suprised at your comments on 207's I used to hate Dunlops myself, but have frequently run 207 GP *'s in the wet (Yes left my wets at home on race day before...durrr!), I think they are quite a stable tyre, tho they do go off very quickly, 59s at Brands indy on a GSXR600 with 207's in the wet aint too shabby I dont think!

Maybe for you its a psychological thing, esp after highsiding in the wet? I know the feeling, for me the only way to get over crashing at Silverstone at Copse in the wet, was to duct tape the bike and get right back on it again.....

Its because they are so twitchy in the dry that I wont give it any in the wet. In the dry its easy to catch it when it twitches but I don't want to try catching it in the wet cos I will be high siding again!

Maybe I am giving it too much welly too early coming out of corners but my previous bike was a cbr 400 tri-arm with pirelli dragons and that thing cornered like a god :D The zx6r just cant get anywhere near the same handling capabilities as the 400 and altho i wouldnt expect it to be as good i wouldnt expect it to be as far away from the 400 as it is. I think maybe the 400 did all the work for me and the zx6r actually needs me to do some work as well as just the bike. The other strange thing is that I find it far easier to hang off the left side of the bike than the right, I cant roundabout surf at all :( :p ;)

Bizarre, what model of 207 are they? there are 3 types if mem serves me correctly, if they are the harder type then maybe that could be the problem?

Why not try a set of Rennsports or Supercorsas? - More rounded profile on the tyre, am genuinely suprised that you find the ZX twitchy with 207's on :o

Lol, Tri-Arms, ahhhh I was in love with the Gull Arm but I bought an RGV instead, I know the old Dragons were the doggies doo da's!

I tell you the dragons on the cbr made it the best handling bike on the face of the planet :eek:

I did over 30k on that bike and im 6'3" and never had any problems with it. It never drank a drop of oil, didn't service it for 10k and the oil still came out that golden colour :eek: :eek: :eek: Also outdid old blades on it on twisty stretches and they were not impressed. I have never known a bike to handle as well as the honda sports 400 range :D

It was probably the best bike I will have ever of owned and I am damn gutted I sold it. I love my kwak but i still miss the cbr massively.

The 207's are the original tyres that came on the kwak. My ex boss who track races a cbr600 in the rookie series reckons i could do track racing but I just havent got the confidence. On the road im a tw@t at times and reckons on the track it would be far more beneficial and safer! But I just got this thing you put me on a track I am gonna freeze :(

Bravo,

Lol the days of 2-stokes and 400's my best mate had a FZR400RRSP Exup jobbie, that was stunning, I love riding something that can do 125 top whack and embarrasing other big bikes esp thru the twisties :D

Exactly what I used to think, funny really, I got nicked and banned for speeding when I was 19 (Headbanger years on my CBR6), then when I was 24 my best mate got killed (Volvo hit and run him :( images/smilies/mad.gif), i'd done a few track days and got to what I thought was an acceptable level (those days 56-57secs @ brands), my dad used to do proddie racing so I thought feck riding on the road (Hardly ridden on the road since), i'll go racing........:D grin factor 10 mr sulu lol, I used to cack my pants esp when going to scrutineering looking at all these headers with their tricked up bikes, I would still get nervous on the grid now, once you are out there its like a manic track day with a bit more attitude, its so much fun and you come home thinking "Cant believe i'm doing this!" - There will always be someone slower than you you'd be suprised how many cr@p riders are racing hehe, since racing I can now scrape my way round brands in a respectable low 50's 51s now.

I personally stopped racing this year after 4 seasons, its expensive, and also after a good friend of mine got killed on the start line at brands, then my other mate got smashed to bits again at brands and now is still walking on crutches, the expense is high, but imho, Its an experience that i'll never forget, and I would do it again if money was no object. :)

I had the cbr right off the clocks and almost back to 0 again :D :eek:

Had the old derestricter box on it and a full JMC race exhaust system. Was estimated it was topping out at about 140mph :eek: I loved every minute of that bike :D

I am very sorry to hear about the loss of ur mates :( Its also another reason why I wont go near the track altho I know full well the road is even more dangerous most of the time.

I dont have the money for bike racing anyway, I do want to get into the Stock Hatch series tho with an XR2 but still havent got the money as I have been made redundant. Looks like it is gonna be some way off b4 I can go car racing. 4 wheels on a track isd much more appealing to me and a lot cheaper apparently :D

Toby.....Funny how much quicker you were once you retire....Know my lap times seem to be getting better now ive stopped!!!:D:D

lol I know what you mean, I had nice Suzuki Kit pipes and ignition on my road RGV hehehe, aaaah the good old hooligan days :)

Such is life m8, unfortunately the saying is true "sh1t happens....." not a lot you can do bout it :(

I have to say car racing is very appealing tho I am pants behind the wheel compared to how I can ride, bike racing was v v expensive, before tyres and spares it was the best part of £200 - £300 inc fuel, but then you have the bits you break (inevitable) especially like my 2nd season where I fell off at least 10 times :rolleyes: ;)

TB the caging inside the pipe came away on my cbr and all the wadding got blown out the back, sounded like a shotgun going off and scared the sh!t out of the people behind me LOL

The best bit was the noise tho once all the wadding had finished blowing out. My god I will never have an exhaust that loud again, it was a dream to listen to :D :D :D

If I could buy that bike back again now I would.

lol @ Bravo :D hehehe

The best noise for me was my RC30 which I got one of 5 I think worldwide Rumi Honda (Team Fred Merkel used to ride for in the early 90's in WSB) Twin exit Termignoni exhaust (1 up each side aka RC45 in WSB), hate to admit it but the noise is so much nicer than even my STI-V with a hiper :D

Very nice TB :D

After having that noise on the cbr I had no choice but to get full decat on the scoob just to make me comfortable being on the road :D

Got a scorpion on the ZX6R which isnt that loud but makes a nice lot of popping sounds when shutting the throttle off and gets lots of looks in town ;) Still waiting for some totti to come up and ask for a ride tho ;)