What is "Fast"?

[TS99]

Fast is what feels good for you.

It's all been said before, it really is just:
- when you break out in a mad grin from ear to ear inside your helmet
- when you're smooth and not breaking loose
- when you're a little quicker on the same corner, than you were yesterday

Enjoy it, stay ON your bike & stay upright!

[Kittyhawk]

Its an image thing. You can look very relaxed and smooth going into a corner and be doing double the speed limit. Or you could be to tense and slow right down to accomodiate the corner not bin it and look uneasy about it all.

It's all about judgement. What the bike can and cant do, the riders comfort zone, and conditions of the corner.

[toycollector10]

There's painfully fast when you crash.
There's lethally fast when you crash.
There's wickedly fast where you crash and live but someone innocent dies.
There's stupidly fast where you try to keep up with your mates and die.

Then there's tragically fast when your relatives and family and the people who love you bury you.

What a boring old fart I am.

To all you speed racers out there, leave it for track days where you can hone your skills and get to know your bike well. Because, (1) there aren't any cages coming the other way, (2) everyone is going in the same direction, (3) you know exactly what the surface you are riding on is, (4) there aren't any walls, gutters, drop-offs or lamp posts on a track and (5) it's safer than being on the road.

And before you start flaming me off I'll tell yet that I would rather be old and boring than young, pretty and dead.

[avgas]

Knee scraping is overrated.
Getting your helmet down is the new black.

Nah , thats for nana's. Scraping the plate, and the brake light and having the front in the air is the way to do it.

[Freebird]

Milk, milk is fast its usually ‘past-your-eyes-ed’ before you see it

[skidMark]

you did what with a gerbil?

[skelstar]

What a boring old fart I am.

Suspect age has nothing to do with it...everyone just has different reasons why they ride.

[Ralph]

Usually you could double the speed of any of those "recommended" speed signs and be safe but every now and again they mean what they read.
Personally I think reading the road is a better idea than reading the sign.
After all you can only as fast as your comfortable as it's all down to the rider I believe.

[Ralph]

What a boring old fart I am.

Nothing wrong with having an opinion, We all probably think it.
Agreed track days are a great way to upskill.

[Macktheknife]

Fast... why? I would rather get there and go "DAMN that was fun!" You don't need to do light speed to get that feeling.

[NighthawkNZ:Me]

Usually you could double the speed of any of those "recommended" speed signs and be safe but every now and again they mean what they read.

1. Depends on the bike and its cornering abilities... (Sports bike will out corner a cruiser.)
2. Depends on the rider and their corning abilities...

[aff-man]

Speed is all relative...

Some would consider me fast...some would consider me slow.

As previously said.. there is always someone faster.

It is ok to go that little bit extra to try and increase your speed BUT the part that most people (and especially new riders from my experience) tend to miss is that you need to realise when you are trying to force it, and then pull back. If you try and force extra speed by accelrating hard/ braking hard all you are doing is unsettling the bike more and heightening your chance of something going wrong. Riding with someone a little faster than yourself and following lines / braking points etc is a good way to learn how to go fast.. and the track will get you to know the limitations of your bike.

[R6_kid:Me]

Alright i'll put it like this:

some people i ride with think i am fast...

I see people that i ride with that i think are fast...

These people know people that they think are fast (compared to themselves)

Now, these people go and race... they come in the top 5 at a local level... then there are people faster than them.

These people race at a national level and come in the top 5 at National Race meetings... the dude who is winning is 'fast'..

Now the top 3 of these guys will get bored of racing in NZ after a while... they go race in Australia and run mid-pack. The guys up front - they are fast.

These guys go and race in superstock racing and are 'fast'... at he end of the season the guys at the front move up and run mid-pack in Superbikes... teh guys up front of this they are fast.

Then these guys will go and race in MotoGP... their luck will vary... but the dude at the front - He is the fastest in the world.


Kinda puts it into perspective. Truth is, at the end of the day, you will probably never see 'fast' on the road as these guys will have the sense to not be on the road. However you will ALWAYS find someone faster than you, if you can't you either aren't looking hard enough or you are the new MotoGP World Champion.

[yungatart]

1. Depends on the bike and its cornering abilities... (Sports bike will out corner a cruiser.)
2. Depends on the rider and their corning abilities...

Umm, you need to come to Hawkes Bay and ride with us, one of our guys will show you what a cruiser can do!

[McJim]

You want a definitive answer on this one.
Hit M1CRO up for a double next time he is down your way. We often chuck people on the back of his bike with him to demonstrate what a bike is capable of.

He is down your way quite frequently of late.

If you get the chance to sit pillion with M1CRO please wear bicycle clips or tuck you trousers into your boots - don't want the shite running down the fairings!

I'm not fast BTW - I'm just happy to have a motorbike!