Wilsons Sandbox

***i know i'm not

>immortal, and i have a healthy respect for death. yet for all my >sensibleness and skill and care, i still think i could easily kill myself >on >a fast bike. i demo'd an aprilia falco and a triumph sprint st in the last >few weeks, and that much power just invites you to do dumb stuff. > >i think it's insane to allow people to ride big bikes without doing their >time on small bikes. we as cyclists know this, and i doubt many of us >would***

While I realize that this makes logical sense, I can say that personally I'm not sure if I agree because not everyone is tempted by shear power. Because I was financially strapped, my first bike was a Yama FZ750... (rat-bike hand me down) no straight line slouch... truth is I was so terrified of the thing that I never wrecked cause I drove like a snail(which pissed off my hot-rod buddies, course most of them have permanent metal rods in some part of their body). Then a freind(and die-hard speed/stunt freak) let me ride his old xt600 so he could ride my rocket. He did things on MY bike that I didnt think were possible and really could care less about. Well I liked his xt so much that it became routine for us to swap when we rode. Truth be told, around town he was no match for me when I was on his xt. That old dp bike was so EASY to handle and so confidence inspiring that following him and my fz was childs play... he revealed to me that most light dp bikes are easy to ride for a novice and it was not to any skill on my behalf, course i knew that... he was a former semi-pro racer so he could trash me at a whim...BUT for all his mettle and with all my fz750's acceleration, the cute little xt600 humiliated him every time and in every corner in the city. I guess these experiences resulted in me ultimately buying a new klr... which i love... BUT cause it "appears" so easy to ride compared to other crotch rockets i've had in the past... i sometimes think i have to be even more respectful of the klr because its so amicable that i sometimes get carried away... I dropped my new klr already and never ever wrecked a crotch rocket(even after commuting daily on a kz1000 in big city traffic... rain or shine). I think that all these machines demand total respect, as much as you can muster, especially the "small bikes", cause if you are stopped short on a small bike or a big one, your gonna hurt just as bad, and for some of us... the small bikes are deceptive in that we may think were safer but I dont believe we really are. sorry so long-winded, stay vigilant and respectful, there are no old bold riders oj a15 _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at http://profiles.msn.com