Stick loyalists... How many ride bikes.

Most motorcycles in the USa are not hyper sports. in fact most Ducati sales are not even the hypersportsbikes. Nor are most mtorcycles in USA used for daily comutes. These are vehicles for recreation and it appears buyers like the very mechanical aspects of their operation.

 

I'm one of them and this is me on my Monster. My DD has slushbox, and I make no appologies for it, it's very convienent; but it's also not for fun or skill.
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+1.

In Scottsdale ... >90% are Harley Davidsons.

 

Even in Europe you see very few crotchrockets used as DDs.

 

Thats because there hard on the neck and back.

 

For me it was simple Logic 101:
Real men ride Harleys.
I am a real man.
I ride a Harley.

 

I have a '08 Yamaha FZ1, and love it! Riding is a form of therapy for me. I am nowhere near being able to drag a knee in a corner though.

 

3 Kawasaki's . A 2013 ZX14R, a 2007 ZX10R and a 2006 ZX14. and my car a 6 speed E60 M5. I have never owned an automatic vehicle.

 

I never thought about the correlation between riding motorcycles and liking a stick shift car. I guess it makes sense. And yes, I have a couple of motorcycles. And of course one of them is a Ducati.

Like my cars, I prefer my bikes old school.
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What's wrong with points?!!

You're right-with bikes and cars. Points suck-but they are easy work with-and there is a reward in working with something from the past that worked very well in it's time. Another benefit is a normal dude can work on them-as well as most parts on old cars

Maybe it's more than just the stick that folks want to grasp onto when they buy a new(er) enthusiast car (or bike). There's been a lot of talk about the new Dino but the reality is it won't satisfy everyone-even if there was a manual option. My new Dino would be a stick, non-turbo, light, flat crank non abs and non traction controlled car. That ain't happening. You're better off getting the lotus above and saving $200k.

Of course I can't work on this lotus either so I'm stuck with my 308 gt4 with bad paint and points.

All that said my dd 3 series bimmer is a stick-one of 2 in MA when I bought it.

 

BMW 1200GS here. I think auto on a DD or PlayStation generation performance car makes perfect sense. However on a sports car where a good percentage of its performance is actually realistically usable I enjoy being able to access it via a stick and clutch.

 

Ducati 907ie.
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after reading this thread I realized :

- sold my '84ninja 900 this summer - was my only remaining bike
- sold my '87 x-js this summer only automatic I owned
- my DD has NO transmission (EV)
- my boat has NO transmission - (Twin engine Jet) - thanks boxerman!
- the only transmission I own is the Ferrari 3pdl!

 

Very nice GT. Do you know it's history?

 

That's a beautiful Ducati.

Scott

 

A quick shifter on my track-only R1 permits smoother, faster (possibly safer) upshifts at lean angle with less gearbox wear. Arguably not that useful on the street. I once rode a demo BMW S1000XR and missed the feel of matching revs downshifting for corners (so I did it anyways).

For cars, mine are o-l-d ('78 512BB, '80 Countach) and I would genuinely miss the quality of the experience if I did not have to work to match revs in order to drive them smoothly. I would never buy a paddle shift car but suspect I am not the target market anyways.

 

I bought it from the original owner in 1992, so only fairly recently have I owned it longer than him. At some point he painted it black with a brush. Then he parked it under a tarp in the back yard for 10+ years. It had 11,000 miles on it and it needed everything. My dad made me buy it because I thought it wasn't worth the $1,000 he was asking. Turned out to be ok.

I'm contemplating giving it another cosmetic restoration in another year or two. I'd do quite a few things better. Luckily no engine work required this time. Everything in the engine is shimmed for proper clearance for the bearings and everything except the wrist pins has roller or ball bearings. I'm up to 27k miles, so I ride it, but 16k miles in 23 years means it is far from my usual transportation.

 

rev matching bikes? I have my 916 still and when I want to ride it hard I still get to do all the work. these new electronic bikes do zero for an ex racer like me.

I guess I am getting old and out of the loop. I did not have any idea bikes were now sooooooo electronic now.

 

An old friend in Piedmont had one just like it. Wondered if it was the same one.

 

I rode last night. I shifted gears. Then I wrote:

After wandering around the GTAV universe for a while, I decided to throw a leg around my R1 and do the same.

It's gotten chilly here. The streets are cold. The cars far and few between. The combination fills my lungs as I breathe in the crisp air and the lack of exhaust from cars around me. I crack open the throttle and the rear tire breaks loose, the combination of cold streets and cold tires polarizing and unsympathetic. I abruptly throttle anyway. The crossplane motor reverberates its symphony as I achieve 150 within seconds, and slow it back down to just above the speed limit, waiting for the adrenaline to hit. There it is. Shaking now. Pupils dilated. Bliss.

I travel wherever my body takes me. I try not to think about where I'm going. After a while, I find myself downtown. It's comfortably warmer here. I pull into a Jack in the Box. Maybe there's a hot girl working here I can chat up. I walk in. Negative. Four black dudes doing their jobs. I order some tacos, the manager purposely tries to get me upset, but doesn't know I'm just a white guy with no agenda. I'm not even that hungry. I nonchalantly get my grub and chill, keeping a close eye on my bike. There is only one table occupied by some homosexual dudes, one of them looking like he wants to make me a sandwich and eat it for me, too. I pay no mind.

Two guys outside walk up to my bike. One swiftly takes off his backpack, swings it in front of him and starts taking something out when his friend sees me looking right at them. I've my gear on, and my helmet right next to me, so there's no question who I am. I calmly look at them and take a bite of taco. They look at me and try overly hard to casually walk off. I finish my meal and get back on my animal. It's 11:15. Where will this lead me?

From a scale of 1-10, the vagrant scale downtown tonight is about an 11. Lackadaisical, and sporting threads about 15 layers deep on this chilly night, their gazes are set permanently shoeside. Endorphins rearranged in a pattern unlike yours and mine. Simplistically surface. Implicitly moment driven. When we have their day-to-days in our back pocket, only then are we allowed to dive deeper in this thing called life.

I try to get one's attention. He's sitting on a green bench in a park, shoegazing. I rev my motor. Some great music is rocking my earbuds. He doesn't look up. I toggle my ups on the ECM so I can 12'o'clock it. I find an entry into the park and pop it up on the sidewalk. Guy doesn't even look up. I set it back down and see some skaters, boards pumped up over their heads, cheering me on. I chuckle and look for an out. Once I hit street side, I realize that riding through a park is kind of a rush. I find another one. What I realize is that I don't know where it's going to lead me. I can't jump off curbs on this bike, so my exits are limited. The mystery itself creates a rush.

I even stop for a pic session with some dude with a phallic object in his nonobjective hand. (Attached below.)

I cruise up to the courthouse, barrier splitting to get on a sidewalk, and kick it up a notch. Suddenly I scope out two cops leaning against the building. One of them kicks off the building and gets in an angry, hate filled stance. The other cop acts like he doesn't even see me. I weave between some trees and frantically start looking for a way out. My iPod is loud, so I can't hear anything he/they are shouting. All I can do is gtfo. I see the red bricked road and it could not have been a better sight. I swing left and haul ass. A few lights later I'm on the highway on-ramp, my rear tire fighting for traction, as my shift light reminds me to shift, over and over. I practice some knee dragging stances on the way back and see a cop on the side of the empty road. I do a triple digit fly-by and chuckle. Our county's no-chase policy probably has him more angry than I am amused.

I make it home safely.

Suddenly all the worries I had, everything I had been uptight about... gone. I'm more relaxed than if you'd given me a handful of Xanax and a six pack of IPA. This is my drug. I need this. I'll be good for some time. I'll play nice and be a good boy. But after a few weeks, maybe a month, I'll need this again. I'll need something to excite me. I'll need my adrenaline provocation. And I'm sorry if this offends you. But it balances me out. There's really nothing like it.
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maybe I need to throw a leg over the 916 soon

 

that makes me miss riding

were those goons really going to steal your bike with you standing there? stupid or balls the size of Texas?

 

Sure looked like it. It was either that or they were going to vandalize it. But my instincts were telling me that were going to steal it. Everything was just too fluid.

I was sitting at a table inside the resturant. What surprised me most is that they didn't case the inside of the resturant first before going into action. It seemed to be an afterthought.

But yes, either theft or vandalism, and my guess would be theft.

 

I like things for their mechanical feel. My favorite bike to shift was my nightrod with its linkage. It just felt so mechanical and a little sloppy.With that said I do like the quickshifter thats on my S1000, it adds to the violent feel of the bike.

 

Many, many motorcycles in my history. Dirt bikes, street bikes, trials bikes and (my current favorite), one Ural sidehack.


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