I think being lower to the ground in a Miata has something to do with it. We perceive how fast the ground is whizzing by us much more when our eyes are 3 feet from the surface versus the 6 feet away our eyes are when we are on two wheels. When I get in my wife's crappy Camry (sorry honey) I feel like I am hauling ass compared to my Jeep or my motorcycle.Originally Posted by CYCLE_MONKEY
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MRA #88
Keeping it midpack since 2010!
There is maybe some of that, but as tall as I am (6'1" - I barely fit in the Miata), I think my head was about the same height when I'm crouched down on the Gixxer, and I'm sure I'm actually closer to the ground when cranked over mid-turn. Now, if I was in a Kart or F1 car or something with my ass 3" off the ground, for sure. I think it was mostly that the Miata felt more "alive" at only 60mph. All the little inputs like the car settling on it's springs from one side to the other, moving around, whereas the Gixxer is rock-solid at whatever speed. I know that's the case comparing the old bikes to the new ones. The old 1100's had big, heavy, powerful engines (for the day), in a flexy frame with spindly forks, limp/cheap suspension, and weak brakes. So, they were always more "alive", always moving around underneath you a little. On the Gixxer, I feel acutely and more accurately what my tires are doing, the roughness of the road surface, but the bike itself feels like it's machined from billet, with only the suspension moving. On my old '83 GS1100ES, the whole bike was mvoing around, I could feel the forks flex. On my first street bike ('81 Yamahe Maxim 650) it had only a single front disk, and you could SEE the forks flex to the left when I got on the brakes, it DEFINATELY made going into corners hard on the brakes different in left turns than right turns.
Last edited by CYCLE_MONKEY; Fri Jul 1st, 2011 at 12:11 PM.
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"...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag. We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language...and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."
-Theodore Roosevelt 1907
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Blu/Wht '01 Gixxer 1K, '91 KX500
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Tokin' SortaTalian
(Pronounced: Kind-A-Dago)
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