I have a 400 that I use for ferry commuting to Seattle. During rush hour the Bainbridge ferry is very full and that can mean maybe 50 motorcycles heading off the ferry first ahead of the cars. On the return trip, just outside of "town" is a stoplight and right after it the road narrows from 4 to 2 lanes. Yup, you can see the drag race setup, eh?
My 400 has surprised many a bike rider from harley to goldwing. They can take me, of course, but they need to max out their throttle in the gears to do it. That is what surprises them. I still remember the harley that bogged his machine down when he rolled on the throttle because I passed him. When he downshifted he was in a gear that wouldn't let him catch me without a shift which dropped him back a little more and he was most frustrated. Most of them now realize that I have something a little more than the 150cc scooters that are common.
So, one day I got passed by one of the street racer types. I was feeling a tad frisky so I goosed it and followed him. The mid range on the 400 is incredible and was making it a good time. However, the racer seemed to be a little irritated that a scooter was keeping pace with him.
The subject of this note occurred at a right hand corner that I have taken hundreds of times. I'm sure the racer thought he was going to lose me here when he flung his bike around the corner. I threw the scooter around it too. Hard enough that I dragged the center stand on the asphalt. I didn't think I could corner a scooter that hard.
Ok. I've dialed the testosterone down a bit. Back to a more mundane level of commuting. But it is an interesting bit of information on how hard these things can be pushed.
Dj
My 400 has surprised many a bike rider from harley to goldwing. They can take me, of course, but they need to max out their throttle in the gears to do it. That is what surprises them. I still remember the harley that bogged his machine down when he rolled on the throttle because I passed him. When he downshifted he was in a gear that wouldn't let him catch me without a shift which dropped him back a little more and he was most frustrated. Most of them now realize that I have something a little more than the 150cc scooters that are common.
So, one day I got passed by one of the street racer types. I was feeling a tad frisky so I goosed it and followed him. The mid range on the 400 is incredible and was making it a good time. However, the racer seemed to be a little irritated that a scooter was keeping pace with him.
The subject of this note occurred at a right hand corner that I have taken hundreds of times. I'm sure the racer thought he was going to lose me here when he flung his bike around the corner. I threw the scooter around it too. Hard enough that I dragged the center stand on the asphalt. I didn't think I could corner a scooter that hard.
Ok. I've dialed the testosterone down a bit. Back to a more mundane level of commuting. But it is an interesting bit of information on how hard these things can be pushed.
Dj
