That's typically what happens if you actually want to learn how to ride quickly.
You have to push the limits of the tires each time- when you do that and don't crash, you understand how to feel grip at that lean angle, based on those conditions
Keep doing that and eventually you'll surpass that grip limit and crash.
Then you get back on the bike and push back to the comfort zone, and then try and try again to push to the limit.
-_/
That's why you go to the track - so you can find the limit and slide into some grass instead of another car or tree or a ditch.
But the thing is, once you know the limits, you can comfortably bump up to them and have fun riding fast. Whether people like that people can do that on the street is another story, but that's the idea.
If you're not crashing you're simply not riding fast enough to know what the limit is.
Anybody who rides dirt knows this from week 1.
Yea man it’s you just don’t throw accountability away but truth is none of us bought a sport bike to go slow. Get as good as you possibly can get in the meantime and over time thru mistakes and experience you’ll learn your real tolerance 🙏🙏. The end of the day we’re humans and are monkey/lizard brains take over but don’t beat yourself up to hard or you’ll overthink being on the road. Any normal person all it takes is a couple consequences to tighten up but until
Then you’re brain might think you’re invincible
Serious question. How old are you? Not in a dickhead rude kind of way but seriously, how old? I'm 29. My brothers friend, who also rides/rode with me and my brother, who is 21, literally just went down today going too fast in a corner and couldn't see the sand ahead. Broke both femurs when his body hit a stop sign, which he bent. I just got back from the hospital from seeing him. But I can tell you he owned that motorcycle for less than 30 days. I told my brother the first time I rode with him, "I'd bet my last dollar he's in an accident before August." Remember, your body is squishy, and concrete is not.
My thing is I'm 29, which isn't old quite yet, but I have 3 kids and a wife at home. I need to get back home to them. If I die because something is out of my control or whatever that's life. But I will do my damnedest not to die on a motorcycle, and it is my own ignorance that takes me out. You are young, and I know you've got someone who wants to see you get home. Whether it's your mom, SO , or dog. Be safe, dude. For real. And I absolutely watch some videos. Going fast is fun, only when you make it home.
before I bought first bike in my late 30s i used to watch crash videos for like a half hour. i told myself, if i was okay with buying a bike after that I would. it took 15 years and my brother dying before i feel comfortable with the idea of going down and never getting up again.
i bought a 300 and drove it around after he died, just to clear my head. after a year i bought a 600, and three years after that a 1200.
i rode my 600 flat out. all armored up, but absolute hooligan shit. one time i was riding with my partner and sucked her in on the curves. she was a talented rider but she low sided. the feeling you get when look in the rear view mirror and your love's not there? that isn't a good feeling.
i take it easy on my 1200. i don't ride where the cars go. i don't ride at night.
now i'm approaching 50 and when i watch crash videos i'm a lot less excited about getting back on my bikes. i love riding them, but i know that at my age if i break something there's a real solid possibility it'll stay broke. and that's if i get the good outcome and don't die.
it's fucking fun as hell to go fast and weave through traffic like there's no tomorrow. then you go to enough funerals and look at the time you have in front of you and the cost gets *real* high.
Ah, at 24 the brain has completed development and at that age you are better at risk assessments.
That’s why in a lot of countries there is a restriction below that age that you can’t drive anything above 35kw.
In your case if you want to have fun in a save way, get a lighter bike then, you can wring it to redline without going over speed limits but still have the feeling that you are going crazy on a bike.
https://preview.redd.it/72iqegwp8v7d1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e69133e8fd58b9451996887a0fda5dcd12a867ae
If none of these posts wake you up, try this. I do alot of dumb shit, Started to tone it down now. This was a rear end accident from another motorcycle rider who hit me into a car. She wasn’t paying attention, riding too fast and not staggering. 8.6 grand to fix my bike. Dont fuck up your own bike because of your stupidity let alone someone else’s. Sincerely someone’s whose dream bike is now totalled due to a careless rider
Have you ever wondered why insurance premiums for young riders are so expensive? It’s because they ride beyond their abilities and do not anticipate enough that mistakes of others can put them in grave danger. It takes maturity and skills to be a safe road user. Diving out of an aeroplane without a parachute is perfectly safe until you hit the ground. Riding a motorbike is also fine until something goes wrong and it isn’t.
My MSF instructor told me you start riding motorcycles with 2 buckets, and one needs to be full for you to stay live. Hopefully the bucket of luck starts out full, and even so it's quickly getting used and headed towards empty. You need to fill up the empty bucket of skill next to it to stay alive before your luck runs out.
Consider a track day to help you build up that skill and maybe direct some of that passion. The only thing that sucks about a track day is it makes riding on the street a little less exciting. And sometimes it's hot.
Volunteer at your local ER and discuss why ER doctors and nurses call these wonderful machines donorcycles.
And sign up to be an organ donor. This is a dangerous, exhilarating hobby.
Age and experience
At 43, been riding since before I was even old enough to have a license
After 30 years of riding, I don't know how I'm still alive either
How do you like the super tenere? I had a 2012 and beat it to death on dirt roads, dual track, and single track.
Tons of power but the previous owner ran it hard and it ate oil. Also heavy as shit off road but I loved the ABS and linked brakes.
I consider it family, it's never let me down
I use it more for two-up touring than off road, but what off road I have done on it, the bike handled it pretty well.
It really wouldn't be fair to fault it for not being able to blast down a single track like a lightweight enduro, that's not really what these bikes are made for.
The ABS off road is kind of a pain since it can't be shut off without some trickery
You don’t just randomly start to make good decisions. Experience is your best teacher kind sir so you’ll be on your own timeline in what you deem risk/reward
Tbh with u I started riding at 25 on a cbr300r topping the thing out on city streets at 95mph in Florida constantly pushing my luck but I practice everyday no exaggeration. So after the 30k miles I’m at 10k miles from a brand new r3 which I have fun at about 75 mph these days. I can’t sit here and tell u I’m not “reckless” on the r3 at only 27 now but I pick my spots much more carefully and also why I’m sticking with little bikes and mastering them. I’ll be in traffic and get the urge to just full send it and the 300ccs keep me in check
You have a lot more time for the power and to build up and for u to make choices I can’t tell u how many times I went to go fill throttle in traffic but a car does some dumb shit that had I been on a 600-1000 I woulda ran right in the back of them but on a 300cc u have almost normal car acceleration so u can reign it in
I started riding at 24? Don't remember, but the first 2 years I didn't know what I didn't know, and rode around on back roads quickly.
It wasn't until 26 or so that my brain started maturing and I would get a bad feeling about deciding to send it down a back road.
Honestly man, your brain is how it is. You won't be able to turn it off if you have the opportunity to go fast, so I would say to stick with a 400cc bike or slower and actually learn how to corner well.
Get a track day or 2 and learn how to control your bike. That's what I did, and it makes it more fun to go fast because you have more control, which means more calculations and more enjoyment.
If you get a 600cc now, you'll never learn how to corner quickly and you'll limit yourself to straight line pulls on highways. That gets boring and it's how most people crash
They end up going to fast with friends on a new road and overshoot that turn because they never learned how to corner.
Yeah, in all seriousness, if you need to turn to reddit to not be "that guy" you're already suspect to be on a bike in the first place. Which pisses cagers off making it harder on the rest of your fellow riders. Pert near every car on the road is capable of 100+ mph. Do you see all of them doing that? Every car still has a parking brake. Do you see everyone trying to drift every turn? Cars can bob and weave obnoxiously, too. Just saw a dickhead in a tesla drive about 300m on the shoulder because he didnt want to wait in traffic for his exit. Being on a motorcycle is not an excuse to be "that guy". So unless you're terrible behind the wheel too, you've already proved to yourself you capable of doing the same on a bike- kinda seems like you're just trying to justify not doing it right now though.
If you truly lack self-control and need to hot dog on a bike- go book a track day. It is literally there for this very reason. The streets are not our playground. Period. Just because we are capable on a bike does not mean "it's fine".
You grow up and realize you're not immortal. We've probably all gone through the max throttle thing but if you want to survive and enjoy riding for the long term you need to focus on different things like developing your skills, learning to corner like an expert, reading the road, being great at planning ahead and slipping through the traffic seamlessly. Watch a few gruesome crashes then learn from MC Rider's excellent channel.
Honestly, and this may very well just come down to my own psychology, just knowing the bike can go stupid fast if I want to— that’s sufficient. If my bike topped out at 100, I probably would ride the redline like you.
Yup made that exact argument up top but I’m the opposite give me a 1k and I’m touching 170 plus first day sure it’s dumb but best thing we can be is honest with ourselves and on an r3 I have max fun just blasting to 80-90
you're new to it and feeling invincible but there's a lot to learn still
stay humble and just try to enjoy the ride without pushing the adrenaline up
it only takes a split second to make everything turn sour
With fear. Got my license at 28. 8 years later I'm still a chicken. I can get from point A to point B. Even if it's 300km away, but I'm not in a hurry. I have been hit 3 times by cars at slow speed below 20km/h in the city and i know how much it cost to fix my bike and how much it hurts when you have damaged on your body. I know i won't survive a high speed crash. You can say I'm chicken and that would be correct
i’m 19 and ride a ninja 400, and i used to be a bit reckless at first— though not even close to your degree, but snapped out of that real quick within a few months. i ride extremely cautiously now, but still have fun. a speeding ticket and getting let off with a warning another time was enough for me. cops in texas are ruthless, lol. my advice would be to maybe take a break and reflect; you’re so young and have so much ahead of you, do you really wanna cut that short for a small bit of adrenaline and thrill? for me part of my impulsivity was genuinely due to adhd, and i haven’t been doing dumb shit since i got on meds. i still enjoy my rides just as much when i (mostly) follow the rules. definitely would not recommend getting a bigger bike, though. you’re asking for trouble with that. if you really can’t get it out try a track day.
If you're 21, it's obvious fact to you that you can't be killed by conventional means. That feeling doesn't really go away for another ten years.
You are going to have some close calls, and you may even put the bike down. If you're lucky, you won't hurt yourself too bad doing it. I dropped mine in some loose sand on an offroad trail and melted a half-dollar-sized hole through my kevlar jeans and got the mother of all blisters on my leg. If I hadn't had that extra protection, I'd probably have gotten to see what my tibia looked like.
I'd say the biggest way that I taught myself to reign it in a little was realizing how absolutely ratfuck insane everyone on the road is. You cannot cannot cannot predict what other people are going to do, and when you realize you're riding a lawn chair and everyone else is in a tank, it should impress upon you the need to ride safely, if not slowly.
The road is for riding mostly safely, if you want to really learn and go fast take your bike to a controlled learning environment such as a track day and really learn how to ride it.
You have nothing to live for is what I'm thinking?
Young immature guy, no kids, no wife, hasn't had a close call with death yet? When you have things you want to life for, that are more important to you than riding, you ride differently.
For your sake I hope your first close call won't be your last. It's just a matter of time before it comes.
If you can’t resist speeding and taking turns fast just do it safely when there’s no one around or scarce traffic, go out to the countryside or a track, but weaving and lane splitting at speed tho is some of the worse and most dangerous shit you can do and wouldn’t ever encourage it
Well a few things, I know it's gruesome but watch videos of what happens when you fuck up on a bike. You can have your body cut in half and still be alive for a few minutes ( hello young adult in Brazil whose body was cut in half but he was kept alive by the semi-truck's wheels putting pressure on his lower abdomen ), or you can "just" break bones. You can have your skull crushed by a car or a truck, or be visually impossible to identify because you'll be down a canyon because you tried cornering too fast. Plus think about your relatives, do you really want to be **that** jackass who killed himself alone on his bike ?
Also, get a bike that will be more forgiving maybe and will encourage you less to ride recklessly. I have a Super Tenere 1200, it's pretty chill and doesn't have that "reckless" vibe to it, but you still get the freedom that bikes give you. Plus it's so big you kind of feel like the king of motorcycles lol. If I were on a sports/naked liter bike I'd be accelerating all the time.
Your last point I can make a counter tho. I’ve had 35k miles ona cbr300r and 10k miles now on a r3 all in 1.5 years and I’ll tell u having little bikes can make you feel just as invincible if not worse than getting on a bike you have no choice but to respect. Ie a 300 can almost be full throttle leaned over with little risk to sliding out. You try that on a bigger bike your going down so maybe for some people the caution is better 😅
The high probability of serious permanent injury, paralysis or death if going to fast on a motorcycle when a crash happens.
And crashes are far more likely on a motorcycle due people not seeing you.
I commute on the bike, so I ride like I have to be in the same traffic with the same cars for a couple hundred times. If you plan on doing something dumb you can get away with it maybe 50-100 times, but if you do it every day it will eventually catch up with you. Like I totally want to ride on the shoulder and bypass a few hundred cars bumper to bumper, but then I run the risk of blowing a tire on some road debris.
The police never enter my mind as a reason not to ride recklessly. Have a crash yourself and/or have a friend(s) die in motorcycle accidents and it is surprisingly easy not to ride like an ass.
I rarely say this but a faster bike is not the solution here. I suggest getting good at riding conservatively then when good conditions permit it, let loose more. If you can afford track time, it’s about the only place where you don’t have to practice defensive driving and you can get what you are looking for. Master different disciplines and unpack them when it makes sense. Then hell yeah go for a 600 they are great if you have discipline.
You can have fun, just don't be a dumbass. A deserted straight country road? Sure, go 100--I would. A curvy road with good visibility? Yes, send it. But lanesplitting, flying around blind curves, and passing without a good line of sight are all great ways to die or hurt someone else. Especially the lanesplitting--think about it like this: people in cars panic sometimes when they aren't expecting a bike to fly by and might swerve into you or worse, etc. That stuff just isn't worth it.
Save it for the back roads. I try to get it out of the system whenever I ride back roads with low traffic. Then I try to perceive the rest of the street riding more like "cruising"
There’s a big difference between “spirited” and “reckless”. You’re definitely reckless. I have a 5 month old, , a wife, a career, etc. I like riding spirited, but never recklessly, too much to lose.
Spirited riding is riding close to the edge, but still in a relatively safe manner. Riding recklessly is just being an idiot, riding beyond your limits and putting yourself, and others, in unnecessary danger.
Driving reckless is in a lot of us. We would love to be blowing down the highway at 160 because if you’re a motorhead then you probably love speed. Can’t speak for everyone but there’s definitely the section of us that loves everything about going fast. I’ve made my fair share of reckless decisions in my life so I can’t say much. I think the feeling to just crank the throttle is always with us it’s just that life constantly changes and for whatever reason it makes us slow down at some point. That and aging lol.
Also as only having a month or two riding experience will only really show it’s true self when you need that experience the most like in an emergency where you have to really maneuver that mf bike. The only real concerns you have to really take in to consideration is your life and a potential victims life as in the end that’s all that really matters. Gotta really ask yourself are you ok with the outcome if things go sideways at 160. That outcome being losing your life and or potentially taking someone’s. Other than that drop a gear and disappear. Life is short no since in wasting it though.
seeing friends die from dumb ass mistakes helps.
close calls from my own foolish choices also work.
one is either smart enough to learn or rides like a fuckin savage straight into the 17th plane of hell.
we all have the choice...
I'm 24 now and started riding when I was your age. Starting on the bike you did does you no favors. I daily'd a 200 for a year before I got a bigger bike. And I rode the snot out of it. If I had a bike with more hp I would have inevitably done the same thing.
At the rate you're going, you'll be in a hospital or the back of a cop car when your luck runs out. Someone else on here said experience is the best teacher, and he's right. You can't expect to magically mature overnight because that isn't how it works. Even now 3 years into riding I still do stupid stuff. But I 1) do a hell of a lot less of it and 2) know what my limits/abilities are on the bike and don't try to go beyond that.
I'm not trying to be condescending, because I hate it when older riders try to soapbox about riding the speed limit and not have any fun. But the most important thing you can do to do "stupid" stuff SAFELY is master the fundamentals. Lane splitting and "going faster" are the last things you should be focusing on only a month into your riding career.
About to pull into the highway? Proceed if its safe to do so
Going to filter between queuing traffic? Proceed if its safe to do so
About to overtake at 70mph? Proceed if its safe to do so
Of course Safe exists on a sliding scale...
You sound too immature/unskilled to survive long on any bike, much less a 600. A few good crashes did the trick for me though.
"a few good crashes" bruh
That's typically what happens if you actually want to learn how to ride quickly. You have to push the limits of the tires each time- when you do that and don't crash, you understand how to feel grip at that lean angle, based on those conditions Keep doing that and eventually you'll surpass that grip limit and crash. Then you get back on the bike and push back to the comfort zone, and then try and try again to push to the limit. -_/ That's why you go to the track - so you can find the limit and slide into some grass instead of another car or tree or a ditch. But the thing is, once you know the limits, you can comfortably bump up to them and have fun riding fast. Whether people like that people can do that on the street is another story, but that's the idea. If you're not crashing you're simply not riding fast enough to know what the limit is. Anybody who rides dirt knows this from week 1.
I’m trying to reign myself in. I see you like fly fishing. I’ve taken the bike out fly fishing a few times with my backpacking rod. Tons of fun.
Nice one. A big reason I bought an Adventure bike is so I can go ride it down some dirt tracks to good fishing spots.
I should’ve gotten an adv bike. Probably would help to not have the sport bike look and feel lol
Yea man it’s you just don’t throw accountability away but truth is none of us bought a sport bike to go slow. Get as good as you possibly can get in the meantime and over time thru mistakes and experience you’ll learn your real tolerance 🙏🙏. The end of the day we’re humans and are monkey/lizard brains take over but don’t beat yourself up to hard or you’ll overthink being on the road. Any normal person all it takes is a couple consequences to tighten up but until Then you’re brain might think you’re invincible
Serious question. How old are you? Not in a dickhead rude kind of way but seriously, how old? I'm 29. My brothers friend, who also rides/rode with me and my brother, who is 21, literally just went down today going too fast in a corner and couldn't see the sand ahead. Broke both femurs when his body hit a stop sign, which he bent. I just got back from the hospital from seeing him. But I can tell you he owned that motorcycle for less than 30 days. I told my brother the first time I rode with him, "I'd bet my last dollar he's in an accident before August." Remember, your body is squishy, and concrete is not.
I understand the question. I’m also 21. I think maybe it’d be helpful to watch a bunch of horrific crash videos
My thing is I'm 29, which isn't old quite yet, but I have 3 kids and a wife at home. I need to get back home to them. If I die because something is out of my control or whatever that's life. But I will do my damnedest not to die on a motorcycle, and it is my own ignorance that takes me out. You are young, and I know you've got someone who wants to see you get home. Whether it's your mom, SO , or dog. Be safe, dude. For real. And I absolutely watch some videos. Going fast is fun, only when you make it home.
before I bought first bike in my late 30s i used to watch crash videos for like a half hour. i told myself, if i was okay with buying a bike after that I would. it took 15 years and my brother dying before i feel comfortable with the idea of going down and never getting up again. i bought a 300 and drove it around after he died, just to clear my head. after a year i bought a 600, and three years after that a 1200. i rode my 600 flat out. all armored up, but absolute hooligan shit. one time i was riding with my partner and sucked her in on the curves. she was a talented rider but she low sided. the feeling you get when look in the rear view mirror and your love's not there? that isn't a good feeling. i take it easy on my 1200. i don't ride where the cars go. i don't ride at night. now i'm approaching 50 and when i watch crash videos i'm a lot less excited about getting back on my bikes. i love riding them, but i know that at my age if i break something there's a real solid possibility it'll stay broke. and that's if i get the good outcome and don't die. it's fucking fun as hell to go fast and weave through traffic like there's no tomorrow. then you go to enough funerals and look at the time you have in front of you and the cost gets *real* high.
If you don't mind answering, was your brother killed in a motorcycle accident or something unrelated? My condolences.
he died by his own hand, but not on a bike.
Ah, at 24 the brain has completed development and at that age you are better at risk assessments. That’s why in a lot of countries there is a restriction below that age that you can’t drive anything above 35kw. In your case if you want to have fun in a save way, get a lighter bike then, you can wring it to redline without going over speed limits but still have the feeling that you are going crazy on a bike.
https://preview.redd.it/72iqegwp8v7d1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e69133e8fd58b9451996887a0fda5dcd12a867ae If none of these posts wake you up, try this. I do alot of dumb shit, Started to tone it down now. This was a rear end accident from another motorcycle rider who hit me into a car. She wasn’t paying attention, riding too fast and not staggering. 8.6 grand to fix my bike. Dont fuck up your own bike because of your stupidity let alone someone else’s. Sincerely someone’s whose dream bike is now totalled due to a careless rider
Have you ever wondered why insurance premiums for young riders are so expensive? It’s because they ride beyond their abilities and do not anticipate enough that mistakes of others can put them in grave danger. It takes maturity and skills to be a safe road user. Diving out of an aeroplane without a parachute is perfectly safe until you hit the ground. Riding a motorbike is also fine until something goes wrong and it isn’t.
Or Dan Dan the fireman, at least they are horrific but he explains what happened and how to avoid.
It’s not that hard… I just think: I would like to stay alive so I can ride again. Then I don’t do the stupid thing.
My MSF instructor told me you start riding motorcycles with 2 buckets, and one needs to be full for you to stay live. Hopefully the bucket of luck starts out full, and even so it's quickly getting used and headed towards empty. You need to fill up the empty bucket of skill next to it to stay alive before your luck runs out. Consider a track day to help you build up that skill and maybe direct some of that passion. The only thing that sucks about a track day is it makes riding on the street a little less exciting. And sometimes it's hot. Volunteer at your local ER and discuss why ER doctors and nurses call these wonderful machines donorcycles. And sign up to be an organ donor. This is a dangerous, exhilarating hobby.
Age and experience At 43, been riding since before I was even old enough to have a license After 30 years of riding, I don't know how I'm still alive either
How do you like the super tenere? I had a 2012 and beat it to death on dirt roads, dual track, and single track. Tons of power but the previous owner ran it hard and it ate oil. Also heavy as shit off road but I loved the ABS and linked brakes.
I consider it family, it's never let me down I use it more for two-up touring than off road, but what off road I have done on it, the bike handled it pretty well. It really wouldn't be fair to fault it for not being able to blast down a single track like a lightweight enduro, that's not really what these bikes are made for. The ABS off road is kind of a pain since it can't be shut off without some trickery
Hey here's an idea. Go and get yourself a cheap dirt bike. Go nuts in the woods, desert or any off roads near you. High adrenaline guaranteed!
Honestly I feel like this is the most practical advice
glad i could help :)
Grow up. And that is not a diss. I was on fire at age 21. Just try to survive until you start calming down.
How long did it take you to generally start making good decisions in life?
You don’t just randomly start to make good decisions. Experience is your best teacher kind sir so you’ll be on your own timeline in what you deem risk/reward
I mean I understand that I mean at what age did you start calming down
Tbh with u I started riding at 25 on a cbr300r topping the thing out on city streets at 95mph in Florida constantly pushing my luck but I practice everyday no exaggeration. So after the 30k miles I’m at 10k miles from a brand new r3 which I have fun at about 75 mph these days. I can’t sit here and tell u I’m not “reckless” on the r3 at only 27 now but I pick my spots much more carefully and also why I’m sticking with little bikes and mastering them. I’ll be in traffic and get the urge to just full send it and the 300ccs keep me in check
You have a lot more time for the power and to build up and for u to make choices I can’t tell u how many times I went to go fill throttle in traffic but a car does some dumb shit that had I been on a 600-1000 I woulda ran right in the back of them but on a 300cc u have almost normal car acceleration so u can reign it in
I started riding at 24? Don't remember, but the first 2 years I didn't know what I didn't know, and rode around on back roads quickly. It wasn't until 26 or so that my brain started maturing and I would get a bad feeling about deciding to send it down a back road. Honestly man, your brain is how it is. You won't be able to turn it off if you have the opportunity to go fast, so I would say to stick with a 400cc bike or slower and actually learn how to corner well. Get a track day or 2 and learn how to control your bike. That's what I did, and it makes it more fun to go fast because you have more control, which means more calculations and more enjoyment. If you get a 600cc now, you'll never learn how to corner quickly and you'll limit yourself to straight line pulls on highways. That gets boring and it's how most people crash They end up going to fast with friends on a new road and overshoot that turn because they never learned how to corner.
By not being an idiot
Yeah, in all seriousness, if you need to turn to reddit to not be "that guy" you're already suspect to be on a bike in the first place. Which pisses cagers off making it harder on the rest of your fellow riders. Pert near every car on the road is capable of 100+ mph. Do you see all of them doing that? Every car still has a parking brake. Do you see everyone trying to drift every turn? Cars can bob and weave obnoxiously, too. Just saw a dickhead in a tesla drive about 300m on the shoulder because he didnt want to wait in traffic for his exit. Being on a motorcycle is not an excuse to be "that guy". So unless you're terrible behind the wheel too, you've already proved to yourself you capable of doing the same on a bike- kinda seems like you're just trying to justify not doing it right now though. If you truly lack self-control and need to hot dog on a bike- go book a track day. It is literally there for this very reason. The streets are not our playground. Period. Just because we are capable on a bike does not mean "it's fine".
You grow up and realize you're not immortal. We've probably all gone through the max throttle thing but if you want to survive and enjoy riding for the long term you need to focus on different things like developing your skills, learning to corner like an expert, reading the road, being great at planning ahead and slipping through the traffic seamlessly. Watch a few gruesome crashes then learn from MC Rider's excellent channel.
Honestly, and this may very well just come down to my own psychology, just knowing the bike can go stupid fast if I want to— that’s sufficient. If my bike topped out at 100, I probably would ride the redline like you.
Yup made that exact argument up top but I’m the opposite give me a 1k and I’m touching 170 plus first day sure it’s dumb but best thing we can be is honest with ourselves and on an r3 I have max fun just blasting to 80-90
you're new to it and feeling invincible but there's a lot to learn still stay humble and just try to enjoy the ride without pushing the adrenaline up it only takes a split second to make everything turn sour
With fear. Got my license at 28. 8 years later I'm still a chicken. I can get from point A to point B. Even if it's 300km away, but I'm not in a hurry. I have been hit 3 times by cars at slow speed below 20km/h in the city and i know how much it cost to fix my bike and how much it hurts when you have damaged on your body. I know i won't survive a high speed crash. You can say I'm chicken and that would be correct
i’m 19 and ride a ninja 400, and i used to be a bit reckless at first— though not even close to your degree, but snapped out of that real quick within a few months. i ride extremely cautiously now, but still have fun. a speeding ticket and getting let off with a warning another time was enough for me. cops in texas are ruthless, lol. my advice would be to maybe take a break and reflect; you’re so young and have so much ahead of you, do you really wanna cut that short for a small bit of adrenaline and thrill? for me part of my impulsivity was genuinely due to adhd, and i haven’t been doing dumb shit since i got on meds. i still enjoy my rides just as much when i (mostly) follow the rules. definitely would not recommend getting a bigger bike, though. you’re asking for trouble with that. if you really can’t get it out try a track day.
Happy Cake to you! 🍰
I also have ADHD
not telling you what to do, but maybe meds or even therapy can help you. this sounds like a lot of impulsive thoughts you are acting on.
If you're 21, it's obvious fact to you that you can't be killed by conventional means. That feeling doesn't really go away for another ten years. You are going to have some close calls, and you may even put the bike down. If you're lucky, you won't hurt yourself too bad doing it. I dropped mine in some loose sand on an offroad trail and melted a half-dollar-sized hole through my kevlar jeans and got the mother of all blisters on my leg. If I hadn't had that extra protection, I'd probably have gotten to see what my tibia looked like. I'd say the biggest way that I taught myself to reign it in a little was realizing how absolutely ratfuck insane everyone on the road is. You cannot cannot cannot predict what other people are going to do, and when you realize you're riding a lawn chair and everyone else is in a tank, it should impress upon you the need to ride safely, if not slowly.
It's not if you fall off it's when you fall off. Be careful
The road is for riding mostly safely, if you want to really learn and go fast take your bike to a controlled learning environment such as a track day and really learn how to ride it.
You have nothing to live for is what I'm thinking? Young immature guy, no kids, no wife, hasn't had a close call with death yet? When you have things you want to life for, that are more important to you than riding, you ride differently. For your sake I hope your first close call won't be your last. It's just a matter of time before it comes.
I have a daughter but there are some more underlying issues there lol
If you can’t resist speeding and taking turns fast just do it safely when there’s no one around or scarce traffic, go out to the countryside or a track, but weaving and lane splitting at speed tho is some of the worse and most dangerous shit you can do and wouldn’t ever encourage it
Well a few things, I know it's gruesome but watch videos of what happens when you fuck up on a bike. You can have your body cut in half and still be alive for a few minutes ( hello young adult in Brazil whose body was cut in half but he was kept alive by the semi-truck's wheels putting pressure on his lower abdomen ), or you can "just" break bones. You can have your skull crushed by a car or a truck, or be visually impossible to identify because you'll be down a canyon because you tried cornering too fast. Plus think about your relatives, do you really want to be **that** jackass who killed himself alone on his bike ? Also, get a bike that will be more forgiving maybe and will encourage you less to ride recklessly. I have a Super Tenere 1200, it's pretty chill and doesn't have that "reckless" vibe to it, but you still get the freedom that bikes give you. Plus it's so big you kind of feel like the king of motorcycles lol. If I were on a sports/naked liter bike I'd be accelerating all the time.
What do you mean by get a bike that is more forgiving? I feel like the CBR500R is the typical kind of bike a beginner gets
Your last point I can make a counter tho. I’ve had 35k miles ona cbr300r and 10k miles now on a r3 all in 1.5 years and I’ll tell u having little bikes can make you feel just as invincible if not worse than getting on a bike you have no choice but to respect. Ie a 300 can almost be full throttle leaned over with little risk to sliding out. You try that on a bigger bike your going down so maybe for some people the caution is better 😅
The high probability of serious permanent injury, paralysis or death if going to fast on a motorcycle when a crash happens. And crashes are far more likely on a motorcycle due people not seeing you.
get into an accident or two, preferably involving no one but yourself
There's a place and a time for everything.
I want my bike to last for more than 5 years…
My instructor told me: "proceed if it is safe to do so" and it stuck in my head. So maybe give yourself a little memory hook.
In what context do you use that saying
I commute on the bike, so I ride like I have to be in the same traffic with the same cars for a couple hundred times. If you plan on doing something dumb you can get away with it maybe 50-100 times, but if you do it every day it will eventually catch up with you. Like I totally want to ride on the shoulder and bypass a few hundred cars bumper to bumper, but then I run the risk of blowing a tire on some road debris.
I also commute and I have been doing some hooligan stuff on the commute. I didn’t think about this.
The police never enter my mind as a reason not to ride recklessly. Have a crash yourself and/or have a friend(s) die in motorcycle accidents and it is surprisingly easy not to ride like an ass.
I rarely say this but a faster bike is not the solution here. I suggest getting good at riding conservatively then when good conditions permit it, let loose more. If you can afford track time, it’s about the only place where you don’t have to practice defensive driving and you can get what you are looking for. Master different disciplines and unpack them when it makes sense. Then hell yeah go for a 600 they are great if you have discipline.
You can have fun, just don't be a dumbass. A deserted straight country road? Sure, go 100--I would. A curvy road with good visibility? Yes, send it. But lanesplitting, flying around blind curves, and passing without a good line of sight are all great ways to die or hurt someone else. Especially the lanesplitting--think about it like this: people in cars panic sometimes when they aren't expecting a bike to fly by and might swerve into you or worse, etc. That stuff just isn't worth it.
Because I value my life
Discipline
It's called MATURITY!
Save it for the back roads. I try to get it out of the system whenever I ride back roads with low traffic. Then I try to perceive the rest of the street riding more like "cruising"
I grew up and had a few close calls.
I don't.
Take a physics course
There’s a big difference between “spirited” and “reckless”. You’re definitely reckless. I have a 5 month old, , a wife, a career, etc. I like riding spirited, but never recklessly, too much to lose.
Can you explain the difference?
Spirited riding is riding close to the edge, but still in a relatively safe manner. Riding recklessly is just being an idiot, riding beyond your limits and putting yourself, and others, in unnecessary danger.
Driving reckless is in a lot of us. We would love to be blowing down the highway at 160 because if you’re a motorhead then you probably love speed. Can’t speak for everyone but there’s definitely the section of us that loves everything about going fast. I’ve made my fair share of reckless decisions in my life so I can’t say much. I think the feeling to just crank the throttle is always with us it’s just that life constantly changes and for whatever reason it makes us slow down at some point. That and aging lol.
Also as only having a month or two riding experience will only really show it’s true self when you need that experience the most like in an emergency where you have to really maneuver that mf bike. The only real concerns you have to really take in to consideration is your life and a potential victims life as in the end that’s all that really matters. Gotta really ask yourself are you ok with the outcome if things go sideways at 160. That outcome being losing your life and or potentially taking someone’s. Other than that drop a gear and disappear. Life is short no since in wasting it though.
Well thankfully I can’t go 160 but 100 is fast enough for things to go south
seeing friends die from dumb ass mistakes helps. close calls from my own foolish choices also work. one is either smart enough to learn or rides like a fuckin savage straight into the 17th plane of hell. we all have the choice...
I'm 24 now and started riding when I was your age. Starting on the bike you did does you no favors. I daily'd a 200 for a year before I got a bigger bike. And I rode the snot out of it. If I had a bike with more hp I would have inevitably done the same thing. At the rate you're going, you'll be in a hospital or the back of a cop car when your luck runs out. Someone else on here said experience is the best teacher, and he's right. You can't expect to magically mature overnight because that isn't how it works. Even now 3 years into riding I still do stupid stuff. But I 1) do a hell of a lot less of it and 2) know what my limits/abilities are on the bike and don't try to go beyond that. I'm not trying to be condescending, because I hate it when older riders try to soapbox about riding the speed limit and not have any fun. But the most important thing you can do to do "stupid" stuff SAFELY is master the fundamentals. Lane splitting and "going faster" are the last things you should be focusing on only a month into your riding career.
About to pull into the highway? Proceed if its safe to do so Going to filter between queuing traffic? Proceed if its safe to do so About to overtake at 70mph? Proceed if its safe to do so Of course Safe exists on a sliding scale...
Resist? I encourage it that’s why I have a fast bike