Having an audience

[KATWYN]

I was in the BP this evening and there was a brand new
Suzuki 250 with an L plate on outside waiting for the rider
to come out, it was literally in the doorway just crying out
for an audience,

And theres about 4 young employees (guys n girls) behind the counter talking
about "so & so" (employee) who rides the cool bike etc etc and i'm
quietly paying for my goods. Everyone stops to watch "so & so" get
on the beast ready for take off...you could see he's aware of the audience....and i'm thinking yea cool, good on ya mate. But he let
the clutch out too quickly as he took off and everyone starts laughing
but he's trying to regain composure on wet ground only to start snaking
it and nearly fall off as he tries to give a wave to his mates (as if to say
hey its cool i'm ok) - but in his defense as a strike of luck he stayed on!

I felt a bit embarressed for the poor guy, and wasn't laughing with them. I hope he doesnt get teased tomorrow by his work mates.

[Two Smoker]

OOOhhhh the audience, can give so much praise yet so much heart ache as well...... Personally i wont try anything unless i know i can pull the stunt proficeintly and with ease.... But then i dont always try and do it, although on a smaller bike (ie mine) you tey to push it harder to say "hey look at me, just because im small and sound funny doesnt mean i dont bite....."

[madandy]

That young fella will have learnt a new lesson in bike control

[KATWYN]

That young fella will have learnt a new lesson in bike control

And to forget about the audience, upon take off!

[Antallica]

That basically describes my first bin. Was coming out of my course's driveway and small group of class-mates going home. Me and my mate (with his FXR) revving out before we leave driveway, & I take out the clutch too fast, up she goes and down sideways along the road.

Broken mirror, windshield & pride. This was about 2 weeks after I got the FXR.

[Ms Piggy]

Yes performance anxiety can be dangerous & embarassing! I remember going to pull out of a petrol station and having to ride past a car load of young guys, I slipped (accidentally) into neutral & then of course twisted on the throttle & the bike just revved really high! Shame!! Lucky I can laugh at myself! I'm sure they were very amused!!!

[Motu]

Oh jeez - I still do that sort of thing...someone should tell him he won't grow out of it.

[KATWYN]

Its human nature I reakon. Lets face it, people luv a thrill
and motorcyclists can deliver it.....but they can also get
the biggest when it goes wrong. But what a buzz when it
goes all good!

[Motoracer]

For some reason, smaller bikes are looked upon as funny when things go wrong. If it goes wrong on a bigger bike, people are more shocked than anything else.

I was out in town on the FXR on Friday night. Did heaps of nice wheelies and shit infront of the car hoe's which was pretty cool.

Just once, a car pulled out infront of me while I was doing a wheelie. I put it down nicely and came to a stop in time after haveing a few front wheel skids. Since the tires on it are shitty, it made lots of screeching noises.

I didn't think that was a stuff up but man some of thoes stupid boyracers were laughing thier asses off hard out! What was that about?

[KATWYN]

Its extra cool when you control something that could go wrong
I reakon.

Funny what you say about bigger bikes. When I was in Westport
my bike fell over on top of me (with approx 30-40 kg pack on back-
who knows how heavy really)when I lost my footing

the publican guy that owned the place we were staying at saw it and was beside himself saying he had never seen anything like it before etc etc (like it was the biggest thrill he ever had) I was more and P***** of and just
wanted to "disappear" from all the fuss. It stuffed my leg and I had to try
and make it around the rest of the SI with a bad leg that trip.

[Jackrat]

Saw a girl come off trying to do a U turn at western springs once.
She was in front of about 200 other riders and the crowd went silent for a couple of seconds and then she got up an took a bow.She had the whole crowd clapping an cheering.
Wish I had the cool to do that.

[Motoracer]

It stuffed my leg and I had to try
and make it around the rest of the SI with a bad leg that trip

Damn, that would suck I guess your bike wasn't damaged at least. Some times with a bit of bad luck, its too easy to pop the brake/clutch leaver in the middle of nowhere.

[KATWYN]

Damn, that would suck I guess your bike wasn't damaged at least. Some times with a bit of bad luck, its too easy to pop the brake/clutch leaver in the middle of nowhere.

I feel like a real moron. but that day I dropped the bike twice. once on the
right side in Motueka trying to do a sharp U turn with the heavier load I wasn't used to it, was annoyed, bent the brake lever a little bit.......
then did it again on the left side in Westport the same day a few hours later (No clutch damage but scratched the fairing on the concrete)...I couldnt beleive it.

That day was not one of my better days. A few brandies in the pub later and I was good as new.

[Motoracer]

I feel like a real moron. but that day I dropped the bike twice. once on the
right side in Motueka trying to do a sharp U turn with the heavier load I wasn't used to it, was annoyed, bent the brake lever a little bit.......
then did it again on the left side in Westport the same day a few hours later (No clutch damage but scratched the fairing on the concrete)...I couldnt beleive it.

That day was not one of my better days. A few brandies in the pub later and I was good as new.

At least you had a legit reason with the extra weight etc (thats understandable).

After a good day's worth of thrashing the nuts off my Gixxer on the 23rd April track day I rested the bike next to the van at the pits. Since my bike doesn't have road stand, I left it there before packing up. I forgot the fact that my bike was just resting on the van and I went to open the side door.

The bike tipped over but no big deal other than a few smart comments from people nearby. I picked it up real quick and put it back next to the van. I went away and came back 5mins later only to do the exact same thing all over again!

Now THERE'S a moron for ya (me)

Note: For anyone who is concerned about the GSXR, it was unscratched all thanx to the wonderfull crash knobs.

[georgedubyabush]

I'll bet the guy on the harley who did the bodged burnout, and managed to take out the timing system at the drags a week or two ago felt pretty special. The whole thing had to be called off. Made plays of the week on three news so national coverage too.