Motorcycling
My friend Harman was the first person amongst those I know well to possess a motorcycle. He had a Honda CB750 Nighthawk. He rode all the time — rain or shine — since he did not have a car. Once he started working for my company, several people got interested in bikes. I think Ted was the next guy I know well to get a bike. Chris and I followed, leading to a rather ostentatious spurt in bike-acquisition at my work place. Ted and Chris both got 2000 models of Suzuki SV650: blue and red respectively. I got the yellow/black 2000 Honda CBR 600 F4 pictured. Along with accessories, it set me back by close to $10,000. I also installed 2 Brothers Titanium exhaust that sounded better (not louder — simply better, as though it had a higher bass setting in audio terms). Here is a picture of my Honda jacket containing me. Eventually, the bike was stolen. A nice page on the CBR600F4 is here.
The Risk
Motorcycles are risky, sure, but so are cars. Nonetheless, it is shocking to note the number of accidents (many leading to fatalities) on popular biking routes, such as Skyline Boulevard in Silicon Valley.
Speed
If you've got a stable head on your shoulders, and it works, you should be fine, theoretically. Fate does play a role in survival I guess. Talking of stable heads, the fastest I've been on my bike was between 132 and 135 mph (couldn't look long enough at the speedometer). No, I'm not boasting about something which is obviously imprudent, euphemistically put! This is hardly fast by motorcycle standards, anyway. For the benefit of the speed freaks, the fastest motorcycle speed ever (not on a production bike though) is 322.15 mph! The fastest land car clocked 736.035 mph (sounds less jolting when you know that it had twin Rolls-Royce turbo afterburners producing 110,000 hp!) On the contrary, the fastest production car is only 240.28 mph. The fastest production motorcycle is the Suzuki Hayabusa GSX1300R at 194 mph (this is according to the Guinness Book). Somebody might have clocked faster speeds with modified Hayabusas producing 300+ hp!). Actually, somebody claims he attained 198 mph on a Kawasaki ZX9R in a motorcycle shoot-out. The highest speed at which an individual has crashed a motorcycle and survived is an estimated 200 mph by Ron Cook (1998) and Russ Montgomery (2006).
The California Driving (and Surviving) FAQ makes some interesting and useful points.
It is also fruitful (as Harman pointed out to me once) to browse through the relevant sections of the California Vehicle Code (if you are in California, of course). You might even want to look at California Law in general, for random daily-life issues ...
The Training
The MSF (Motorcycle Safety Foundation) course is very useful, and might even be mandatory if you find that you keep flunking the painful DMV test. They make you ride in a circle with a rather small radius, the idea being low-speed control. However, a typical sports bike is not too great to control when ridden in a small circle at a very low speed. Consequently, you might put your foot down once. Incidentally, that means you fail. I failed the first time at the DMV and decided to get my license the sure (and safe) way: the MSF.
If you are anywhere close to the Bay Area (and you ride), you are extra lucky because Dr. Wong is accessible to you. I recommend attending his lectures and group rides. The rides are especially useful, as I found. A friend of mine attended one of his track sessions and found it to be extremely useful as well.
Advanced cornering techniques happen at the California Superbike School. The school director is Keith Code. He has a page of his own: Keith's Corner, which always has useful stuff, as in his books and videos.
The Master Strategy Group has a large collection of motorcycle tips and techniques, case studies, people opinions and comments, and other useful information.
The Bikes
Honda is the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer. The following are some of the major motorcycle manufacturers:
Miscellaneous
Lots of motorcycling links here.
The Theft
On Friday the 13th (no kidding), my friend Ted's friend borrowed Ted's bike and kind-of smashed it. On the same night, my bike was stolen. Here's the scoop. I will update this page (maybe) with the research I've done on anti-theft measures bike owners might take. Anyway, I am considering getting either Honda's 2001 CBR929RR, or the fuel-injected 2001 Honda CBR600F4i, pictured below.
