How do you stay legal?

**avgas** · 30th August 2008, 09:14

When i was young dumb and full of.....rum i changed my bike so i wouldn't ride in the dangerzone.
GB400 top out at 150kph however you sound like you need a lower speed again, can i suggest a 120kph GN125?
Seriously, if you cant handle the jandle and control youself try different shoes. Its all a part of growing up.

**R1madness** · 30th August 2008, 09:18

Set brain to 100kmh. Ingague wrist lock. try to maintain 100 around every corner without letting the speed drop. even the ones posted at 45km. Have fun its not as easy as you would think.

**Subike** · 30th August 2008, 09:31

How do you stay legal? Self control and an EGO that is held in check!

Originally Posted by R1madness

Set brain to 100kmh. Ingague wrist lock. try to maintain 100 around every corner without letting the speed drop. even the ones posted at 45km. Have fun its not as easy as you would think.

Self control

Agree that this is the "safe" way of having heaps of fun.
Setting the pace and sticking to it is good for group rides, with a good road captain, nobody needs to speed. Not easy to do either.

If you want to go fast, then select the roads, times conditions. A full moon on a warm summers night way out in the country can be a lot of fun.
Which are the best roads to scooter on. Which farmers drive you can dissapear up if needed. If you live in a Rural area, you soon find out when the local cop is off duty.
Not a garrentee to safty, but a good indicator.
Speeding within and around Urban zones is just asking for trouble, a ticket or worse,a bin.

If you have trouble controling your speed, then ride as the Tail End Charlie on group rides, you dont get the ticket, well not as often, and you learn self control.

**slimjim** · 30th August 2008, 09:37

ours is set to years of riding started way way back 1965 and yet i still feeling that young when riding, aren't speed ... its the freedom of riding ,

**oldrider** · 30th August 2008, 09:46

The most dangerous speed on a motorcycle is that little bit between stop and go or go and stop.

There are more offs in that range than at any other speed

and mostly they go unrecorded statistically.

A motorcycle in true motion and perfectly balanced for the conditions is safer than any arbitrary speed limit.

Motorcyclists constantly seek that sweet spot and it is not necessarily within the confines of the law but it is generally "safe" for the rider and other road users.

There is generally greater consequence for motorcyclists that don't stay alert and concentrate than there is for for other road users.

The objective is to stay free and ride forever!

The law is just one of the obstacles that you are required to negotiate, just like road conditions, other traffic and weather etc.

How you manage it is just another individual riding skill and getting caught speeding is just like getting it wrong and hitting a pothole etc.

(IMHO) Cheers John.

**CookMySock** · 30th August 2008, 13:51

Originally Posted by Irontusk

I hope it's not a blind corner! Speeding is bad

Naw its not blind. It's one of those awesome smooth-surfaced corners on the perfect camber that you can see riiiite around..

DB

**Irontusk** · 30th August 2008, 14:04

Originally Posted by DangerousBastard

Naw its not blind. It's one of those awesome smooth-surfaced corners on the perfect camber that you can see riiiite around..

DB

Perfect! There's a 180 degree bend on an onramp round here, apparently that's quite fun but I havn't been on the motorway yet

And I think there used to be a 270 degree offramp (curved around back over itself and crossed the motorway as a bridge) but that's been gotten rid of or something.

**Dare** · 30th August 2008, 14:56

Originally Posted by avgas

When i was young dumb and full of.....rum i changed my bike so i wouldn't ride in the dangerzone.
GB400 top out at 150kph however you sound like you need a lower speed again, can i suggest a 120kph GN125?
Seriously, if you cant handle the jandle and control youself try different shoes. Its all a part of growing up.

Haha, while I haven't been on bikes all that long I have been on the roads for about 5 years now, and personally I have my mind tuned to sit at 60 all day long for town riding, although im still not 100% on where 60 actually is on my speedo! Knowing all the speed traps helps. And having been on the same roads for said 5 years I'd like to say I have a pretty good idea of where things go wrong and where things are generally safe to do what you want within reason

Needless to say, when I'm on unfamiliar roads I take things a bit more carefully! I'm naturally pretty cautious.

Originally Posted by DangerousBastard

You don't need to go fast to have fun on a bike. I am cheeky as fuck on a bike, and I will zip through any gap and pass anything whatsoever - legally! Mind you, I have about 35,000 hours as a commercial driver (non-motorcyle) so I can read the traffics mind really really well, so this is not a newbie thing to try. Also I know the law really well, and I know precisely where I can legally pass and where I cannot, AND I'm prepared to tell the cop hes full of shit when I KNOW he is.

Having the traffic side sorted has been a great help as i've been learning to ride, and on a fairly regular basis I can take evasive action just before something happens that makes it look like I just read minds. I think that is a skill far more useful than emergency action when you have already got yourself in trouble. Not that being able to avoid that person that thought you didnt exist and just u-turned infront you is a bad skill to have! But at the same time as saying that pretty much everything is risk management, even minding your own business miles from everything carries risk, the way I see it it's more a case of balancing fun with risk and keeping the consequences of it going wrong this side of lethal/breaking the bank!

Originally Posted by Oldrider

A motorcycle in true motion and perfectly balanced for the conditions is safer than any arbitrary speed limit.
Motorcyclists constantly seek that sweet spot and it is not necessarily within the confines of the law but it is generally "safe" for the rider and other road users.
There is generally greater consequence for motorcyclists that don't stay alert and concentrate than there is for for other road users.

The objective is to stay free and ride forever!

Well said! I really could not add to this

One thing both my dad and I have noticed is the huge inconsistencies in NZ road regulations. So while it is one thing to get up on your high horse and say obey the law it is worth remembering that the signposts are there to cover asses not to save lives.

For instance near my house there are several give ways that I would not even think of running through, dashed lines that I would not DARE overtake on and sections of road where parking makes the roads considerably more dangerous than they would otherwise be. And yet conversely there are stop signs with 200m sightlines in both directions, double yellas on long straights and there is a 60k section just over the upper harbour bridge where the road is literally about 6 lanes wide (although it isnt divided up).

It is simply the case that NZ law works in retrospect, if there are enough crashes then there will be a stop sign. If houses have been subdivided to buggery then people can park on the roads regardless of whether it is a main artery to the bridge (i'm looking at you onewa) If a bus lane is used literally once every ten minutes then bikes are not allowed on it (bus lanes on the motorways around Auckland.

And to this speeding nonsense that gets trotted out, cars in the UK cruise at 80-90mph in the outside lane and it is SAFE because there are no numptys that sit in the outside lane doing 20kmh less than everyone else. Similarly the Autobahn experiences fewer crashes than most of the rest of the world, the speeding issue is more about the design and upkeep of the roads and the skill of the drivers (and riders

) in question. And from what i've seen it is FAR to easy to get a drivers license in NZ getting one in a packet of weetbix would be practically more effort than parrot learning some questions and steering your car around bits of browns bay, even the extra risk reduction course was useless.

It's madness I tell you!

**justsomeguy** · 30th August 2008, 15:26

Save for track days. If you're broke and the itch is too strong wait till the sun sets, then head out to the country. Not many cops on duty between 12am to 6am, just possums and hares.

**Hidalgo** · 30th August 2008, 15:35

Escort X50

+ No Motorways

= Njoy the Roads

**Forest** · 30th August 2008, 22:20

A few years ago I was introduced to the idea of riding back-roads.

They aren't fast roads ... but they're almost always more fun than the state highways.

**Mikkel** · 30th August 2008, 22:28

Staying legal is easy - just find one of those roads where you wouldn't have a hope in hell of keeping your vehicle on the tarmac if you sat at the speed limit 100% of the time.

Been on a couple of those today and will be spending the first half of tomorrow on such roads. ...they are out there.

**98tls** · 30th August 2008, 22:39

Originally Posted by DangerousBastard

You don't need to go fast to have fun on a bike. I am cheeky as fuck on a bike, and I will zip through any gap and pass anything whatsoever - legally! Mind you, I have about 35,000 hours as a commercial driver (non-motorcyle) so I can read the traffics mind really really well, so this is not a newbie thing to try. Also I know the law really well, and I know precisely where I can legally pass and where I cannot, AND I'm prepared to tell the cop hes full of shit when I KNOW he is.

And corners ! No slowing below the speed limit ! My favourite 90 degree corner I can now take at the speed limit - yay!!

Watch the traffic and learn to pick cops and speed cameras - they are dead obvious USUALLY. Get a radar detector, not that I have needed one - I just seem to get away with it.

I guess I will still get bitten one day, but until then I don't really care.

Steve

was a wind up wasnt it......