Games we play

My wife and I enjoy a good game, and there are many we play while riding our R1s. Here's one that will help you stay awake if you have to be on the freeway.

Set the throttle at a speed your bike can safely reach in every gear. We use 65 or 70 on our bikes. Then run up and down through every gear from 1st to top and back again, keeping the speed constant. The idea of course is to not feed any input into the chassis and create any suspension loads...keep it smooth. The only sensation allowed is a change in engine pitch. We don't stop until we get it perfect in all gears twice in a row.

What games do you play?  

I play a little poker, cribbage, MotoGP3, D2:LOD, and some other games....  





Chris  

I slowly increase our speed until she starts to pound on my shoulder.    

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I slowly increase our speed until she starts to pound on my shoulder.  

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I need to try that sometime...  So when does she start pounding on your shoulder?



Chris  

The fastest she has let me get to with her on the pillion is 105. Subtract for speedometer error and it's probabley 95 mph.  

sounds to me you and you're wife should sell you're bike's and stay off the streetz  

Please tell me you don't really downshift into first going 65 MPH!!??? Sorry but that's one of the dumbest things I've heard in a while.
I do play a few "games" that will get you excited.Find a big tractor-trailer and pull along side it.Tuck in and ride under the trailer from one side to the other.Works well on a big freeway with lots of lanes and vehicles.  

you cant possibly be serious? i would rather DS into 1st at 65 than try that stunt ANY day of the week. (won't do either though)  

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My wife and I enjoy a good game, and there are many we play while riding our R1s. Here's one that will help you stay awake if you have to be on the freeway.

Set the throttle at a speed your bike can safely reach in every gear. We use 65 or 70 on our bikes. Then run up and down through every gear from 1st to top and back again, keeping the speed constant. The idea of course is to not feed any input into the chassis and create any suspension loads...keep it smooth. The only sensation allowed is a change in engine pitch. We don't stop until we get it perfect in all gears twice in a row.

What games do you play?

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Congratulations, you and your wife have just won the oscar for being the biggest idiots in the motorcycling community.

HAHA.  

This is beginning to be fun. I have a question for George. You didn't tell us what your lovely companion uses to pound on you...hopefully just her hand.

It seems some of you are concerned that we are abusing our bikes. Rest assured that we are not. My '05 R1 has stock gearing and is good for just short of 100 in first, and of course we are not just cruising along in first gear. However down shifting smoothly at 5 digit engine speeds is a challenge. I know of a young man who botched this exact maneuver on the track and snapped the chain...not nice. An even bigger challenge is to run in first on a tight road for a bit. If you can be smooth taching 10k plus on a liter sport bike in first gear in the twisties, you can lay claim to good throttle control. By the way , my last R1 had 75k when I sold it and it was running great.  

It's more than a game because it forces you to focus on your skills and rider input.  The rule is that you can't go any faster on the straights than you are able to maintain through the corners.  This also eliminates any squids that are new to the group because the straights are the only things they are riding for.  For an experienced rider wanting to improve his skills this requires him to very carefully evaluate his skill and comfort level as each section of roadway is approached since he's gotta know ahead of time how much speed he can safely handle.  The goal of this exercise isn't to see who can ride the fastest through the corners just to maintain that speed on the straights.  The goal is to get the rider to focus on skill, terrain, traffic, and all those other factors that have to be considered when riding a street bike.  By taking all of those things into consideration he can then make a reasonable decision as to how much speed he can allow himself on the straights and safely maintain that through the corners.

This is how my father taught me to ride the twisties and it made a world of difference in my skill improvement as a teenager on the mean streets.  It also made riding more fun because we stayed together in a tighter group than we did when it was a free-for-all.  

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This is beginning to be fun. I have a question for George. You didn't tell us what your lovely companion uses to pound on you...hopefully just her hand.

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Just her fist, but as you guessed it is lovely.  

I gave your little drill a try the other day, admittedly at a much lower speed, and it is a challenge! I obviously need to practice more throttle control. Thanks for the free lesson Pete.  

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My '05 R1 has stock gearing and is good for just short of 100 in first, and of course we are not just cruising along in first gear.

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I saw that you had an R1 in your sig...  Didn't know the year...  My 10R is similar, it'll indicate about 105 in first gear.  I know 10k rpm is 80 mph.  So 65 or 70 is no big deal.  Just have to watch the throtle, or up she comes.    

I don't have any problems with falling asleep on the bike, but I might have to try that this Spring.  Just to see if I can do it smoothly.  I know I won't be trying to change lanes under the semi trailer like that other clown claims to.  They probably saw that in Biker Boyz..    In my best comic book guy 'Worst... movie... ever...'


Chris  

Torque & Biker Boyz both suck the producers, script writers & directors on those movies should be lynched and dragged on the road by a motorcycle as punishment!