Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

[skelstar]

I have been riding for about a month now and am getting more and more confident on my bike. I notice now that I am riding more aggresively on my bike than I ever have in my car (in the last ten years anyway). I went for my first 'organised ride with other motorcyclists' last Sunday and observed that all (besides myself) were travelling WELL above the speed limit. So this begs the question(s):

Do you ride your bike far faster than you would a car?

Why is this the case? Surely its not soley the extra performance?

My father has owned several 'fast cars' (at least 150kW+) and I have had the pleasure of driving the often. I can categorically say that I initially enjoy the thrill of planting my boot and giving the car a 'bit of welly', but I end up driving it fairly conservatively. This is clearly not the case when it comes to riding my bike.

Anyone care to comment?

[Beemer]

I don't know about riding it faster than I would drive a car, but I have more fun on the bike. When I see a row of cars, instead of thinking "bugger", I think "playtime!"

I think the fact that a bike is so flickable through corners and past cars is a real buzz and I do tend to want to overtake things just because I can!

And winding on the throttle is quite exciting because the bike instantly responds. I can't speak so much for riding in groups because I tend to do most of my riding alone (the advantage of working from home and being able to head off for a ride whenever I like!), but I have noticed most riders in groups do go a bit faster than the speed limit.

Perhaps the conservative factor kicks in with a car because you don't have the same margin for error because of its size - if you plant your boot and come around a corner to find a traffic jam, it's not like you can filter up the middle! And people do tend to notice when a car is going fast and comment on it - with a bike, most of them think they are caning it even when the rider is keeping to the speed limit so it's a bit more subjective.

[bugjuice]

good point, and was thinking about this earlier..
I am guilty. I do ride faster than I drive. My bike is way faster than my car. My car is auto so slower anyway. My bike stops faster than the car (altho no excuse). My bike handles better than the car and is smaller, so I find more 'manageable' on the road as there's less of it. My bike out-accelerates a lot of other vehicles, so I can get away from danger better. I can't get my knee down in the car. The car doesn't wheelie as well. Bike speed seems to have a different perception than car speed. Bikes can scrub off speed quicker. Just some points that come to mind. Don't know why I do, but I do.
In fact, I feel more guilty about doing 130 in the car and generally don't go above 110, where as on the bike, 110+ isn't much of an issue.. strange but truuuuuuuuuue

[Pancakes]

I ride a gn250 so it's not the performance! I have ridden proper bikes (without motors) extensively too and I love ripping out on 2 wheels. I recon it's cos you have so many more options for getting out of trouble and can take any one of them so mach faster that you'll try things that would have been not so safe in a car. To put things in perspective, how fast would you drive if you had 3 lanes to yourself? See ya speed limit.

[skelstar]

...I recon it's cos you have so many more options for getting out of trouble and can take any one of them so mach faster that you'll try things that would have been not so safe in a car...To put things in perspective, how fast would you drive if you had 3 lanes to yourself? See ya speed limit.

Your are right about your first point, but I dont think thats the rationality behind doing it. I dont think 'damn this is thrilling because I can get out of trouble a lot easier than in a car!'.
If I found that I was on a motorway with three empty lanes I would be wondering if I wasnt in Central Otago and not Wellington. But seriously, I dont drive faster than 110km/h anymore. I thought I had grown up and just didnt need to speed anymore. I was clearly wrong.

[Lou Girardin]

I travel faster on the bike, but generally not MUCH faster. It just that there's more opportunities on the bike.

[Keystone19]

Yep, I'd agree with all the ideas posted previously. I am finding that I am riding way faster than I would drive but on the other hand, am also finding I am driving a bit faster now too...

I Don't think it's an age thing by the way...

I thought I'd grown up too, then I bought a bike...

[pyrocam]

youve driven a car?

[vifferman]

Dunno.

I think it depends more on the road and conditions at the time, than whether I'm on the bike or in the car. I'll speed if I feel like it, and if circumstances allow, regardless (but generally don't, of course.) There's other things too, like if I'm driving the 205GTi, it's a bit of a hooligan, and is continually saying, "Go faster, go faster!!" so it's hard to ignore that, as it's so insistent. And if I ride the bike with the spud out of the Satantune, the same thing happens.
There are some roads that you just have to go fast on too, like the western side of the road over the Kaimais; if I'm going up there in/on anything, it's "warp speed 9, Cap'n!". And there are roads that it should be mandatory to drive fast on, because they're so friggin straight, safe and boring, like the Canterbury Plains, the roads through the MacKenzie country, the Hauraki Plains, the Southern motorway, parts of the Desert Road (esp. in summer).

[justsomeguy]

Naaa - not me I'm just a useless rider. I can easily drive wayyyyy faster than I can ride. Cars allow you to have much higher corner speeds taking a 25/35 corner at 100 is a LOT easier in a car than a bike - to me at least.

[Smorg]

WTF???!!
Go and wash your mouth out. Mate if you cant ride round a 30k corner on your bike quicker than a car I think its time you reconsidered your options here. You cant be a fence sitter, you're either a boy racer or your ride bikes, not both.
And whats with all this missing out on rides to go with your gay car club cruises?
Something not right here. Dont get me wrong, you are a good bloke JSG, but cars faster than your bike round corners.. sheesh. If your name was Sebastian Loeb I would say yeah no worries... but it aint.

Well said that man!

I definately ride my bike faster than i drive my car i'd like to see my crusty roller corner as fast as my bike does out Riverhead ways

[Oakie]

I have been riding for about a month now and am getting more and more confident on my bike. I notice now that I am riding more aggresively on my bike than I ever have in my car (in the last ten years anyway). I went for my first 'organised ride with other motorcyclists' last Sunday and observed that all (besides myself) were travelling WELL above the speed limit. So this begs the question(s):

Do you ride your bike far faster than you would a car?

Why is this the case? Surely its not soley the extra performance?

My father has owned several 'fast cars' (at least 150kW+) and I have had the pleasure of driving the often. I can categorically say that I initially enjoy the thrill of planting my boot and giving the car a 'bit of welly', but I end up driving it fairly conservatively. This is clearly not the case when it comes to riding my bike.

Anyone care to comment?

Two points
1) In an organised ride I guess there can be a bit of a 'herd mentality' so those who want to stick together will naturally go at the speed of rider going the fastest in the group.
2) Dammit, riding a bike is just more fun. Going somewhere in a car is just about the destination ... going on a bike is about the journey. Hellishly hard even on my daily commute not to wind the throttle open much more than I need to just to pass a slow car on the road that curves along beside the Avon River.

[skelstar]

Yeah, I think you are right about the herd mentality. I would have to say that whilst I was travelling at 95km/h (learner and running bike in sorta) with a 'tailend charlie' behind me, as soon as TE-charles passed me for a bit of a rattle I was running along at 110km/h. Nice straight peice of road bypassing Masterton.

When I was young driving my car was a very pleasurable experience and it was more than a journey, but yeah I do REALLY look forward to riding my bike now. I sit at home at night wondering which relatives I havent 'popped in on' in the last couple of days .

[FEINT]

I definitely ride faster than I drive. Probably because you can fit anywhere. 120km/hr down the motorway is possible, where as in a car, you would have gotten held up by the nanny in the right lane.

I don't think my bike stops as quickly as my previous car (don't have a car anymore, sold the car for the ZX6! )

[zadok]

I agree with you Oakie. In a group you don't like to think you're being left behind, although in reality you wouldn't/shouldn't be.
Riding is not just about getting from point A to point B, unlike the feeling when I get in a car.