help me explain to my wife.

Xj newbie not bike newbie. Here are several questions I cannot clearly articulate awnsers to my wife to that have made me want to ask for opinions on.
I am restoring an 85 700 maxim for my wife. I use it for my daily driver while I am doing the cosmetics on it, and so I will catch the little things about handling and response.

OK, I put at least 300 miles on it every week just back and forth to work.

I am a ba$rtd about stop light to stoplight racing and up to the speed limit contests.

This bike is amazing for these purposes.

I can beat ninjas and cbr's to the legal limit. The only two local bikes that take me are a CBR 900 and a ducatti decal. The CBR is a 92 and the ducatti hasn't pulled over yet for me to look at. I love to smoke high dollar I unskilled harleys every day when they rev at lights like they are performance machines.

My wife was riding on the back when I hauled off from a buell 500 with the exhaust cut off and asked thusly and didn't accept my anaswers as too why her bike was better with 2 up vs a street bike.

Her are her questions and my responses. Let me know if you have better.

Why were we faster? Our redline is higher so I could ride second and third up too 45 when he had to shift more and lost power while shifting. Plus he had a single cylinder and we have a v4, his quicker response vs our higher torque. Plus a shaft drive can deliver more power vs chain drive, chain drive is lighter and has less side ways torque vs smoother delivery and less maiteanence. Handling vs riding time to sum up. Oh yeah and he just couldn't ride. (She accepted the last.)

Our neighbors have a ninja vtwin but you laugh at them, why? Aren't those fast?
Yes they are, they can out corner me. I make more power faster and can hold it longer. That's why he buys the beer.

You say that guy with a 900 can teach you things and you sneer at the guy with a 1200 at work but you say your a better rider and want to take a class, why? The 900 can get the most from his bike but has bad posture, the 1200 Honda is waiting to die see his banda and sunglasses vs my full gear every day and he 5 yrs steady careless vs my 15 years broken experience being carefull. He hasn't had an accident, why do I have too spend some much time starting and stopping and riding over boards when you said he just hopped on and road a bigger bike than mine.

You said the bike is safe enough for you to ride every day and I can go with you for short trips, why do you want to spend so much money on the springs and new tires before I ride? And you are out racing.
Front forks are stocks with no leaks and rear are stock, tires are three year old shinkos. The suspension sucks even with fresh oil and the tires are almost as slick as fresh blacktop.


Yes the tires I want are almost $300 before mounting and progressive springs twice as much but handling on corners is a lot different than hauling butt In a straight, especially considering the wavy crack ridden roses around here. That's why I don't ride the interstate t work and take the extra 1\2 hour added to my 1 hour commute and don't complain.


PPP L's help me explain in new rider why I am so willing too praise the bike I bought for my wife yet so reluctant for her to ride it.

 

Oh yeah and the question that actually got me thinking after she heard me chew out a guy that said straight pipes save lives. After racing to the gas station for cigs with her on the back. She is pursuing her degree and it makes her think and question my awnsers.

No the noise is behind you, my wife is !much much younger than me ( yes after several years of marriage I am still extremely proud of the age difference and that we are still happy). Loud bikes are for small dick$ and men that bought their wives.

 

lol some people on here believe a dinky old xj550 is quicker than a xj700n... also everyone on here has been brainwashed to think the x beats the 700n right off the line but that's bs because back in 85 I bought a xj700n maxim out of the showroom with 1500 miles and my buddy bought a brand new x thinking he would beat me. well.. I would jump infront by half a bikelength then he would jump in front by a bikelength I always thought I was gonna hit his rear tire it was so close. haha also I read on here somewhere someone was trying to say the x had the bigger piston and shorter stroke but the n has the shorter stroke and the bigger piston....

 

A lot depends on the rider. just because a motor makes more power at the rear wheel doesn't mean its being used.

My wife laughing at the gas station while I EXPLAINED to a child he was a moron after being hauled up from the light with me yelling yee hah and laughing going up there and getting the "Yes dear, you make no sense but I nod." Look from her a few seconds earlier git me thinking.

Is there a way to explain these things?

 

In simple terms, it sounds like you are going up against some morons who cannot do more than simply dumping a clutch and twisting their wrist. You beating a CBR900 is akin to the guy on the Buell Blast beating you; the weaker bike should have been left behind but for its rider being better. There are always schmos and punks who buy a big fast loud bike and cannot ride it for shit, and they get schooled by something smaller older funkier and they probably chalk it up to "I never got my fuel injection tuned after putting on my Akrapovics/Screaming Eagles" because they don't want to improve, they want to show off.

 

Thanks but is actually the 900 that schools me. I like to follow that guy in the twisties around here. I learn a bit every time he beats me off the line or leaves me behind on the curves. That man is serious and really manages to be careful of his machine but push it to the edge at the same time. The buell was just a kid that I beat with my wife on the back and then chewed on a bit for being stupid.

 

I just gotta ask, cause you say you are all geared up and being safe. Why the fook are you racing on the street? You think you are safe and you are doing stupid shit like racing on the street. And then with your wife on the back. WOW.....

 

Seriously.

 

Could you repeat the question, especially this part
"Our redline is higher so I could ride second and third up too 45 when he had to shift more"

 

"Plus he had a single cylinder and we have a v4, his quicker response vs our higher torque. Plus a shaft drive can deliver more power vs chain drive, chain drive is lighter and has less side ways torque vs smoother delivery and less maiteanence."

Your XJ is actually an INLINE 4, not a V4
And chain drive actually delivers power more directly and with less loss than shaft drive
And finally, if the bike isn't safe enough for your wife to ride , why would you race on it?

 

Larger piston+ longer stroke = more torque

Smaller piston + shorter stroke = higher rpm

Equate it to a Nascar V8 compared to an F1 engine

I was questioning this also, because you can get to 45mph in first gear, quite easily. And if you're talking about shifting at 4500rpm, that's too soon.

 

True dat!
Power band is alot higher RPM - and then you best have a good grip on the handle bars when you hit it!

 

+1 Polock

And this one? laughing going up there and getting the "Yes dear, you make no sense but I nod." Look from her a few seconds earlier git me thinking

 

Hmm, maybe Valentino Rossi should trade in his MotoGP bike for a Maxim

Alternatively, ask yourself why someone on a bike with at least double the power, half the weight and much better tyres isn't "beating" you in a race, could it be because they are just sitting back, shaking their heads at the loon on the old cruiser? 8)

 

:lol: rofl

I assume that of myself on the road. Even on the bike's best days I don't try to show off, just in case that's when the oil filter cover decides to pop off, or the clutch fails 8O

 

OK I will try to awnser the safety questions. The bike is safe and mechanically sound. She isn't ready for it yet. I said racing up to the speed limit not just racing down the street. If you look at my posts I work nights, so I am playing around when the streets are empty. We have tons of roads around here that do see a car for more than 2 or 3 hours at a time, so you can push the speed limit on the windy roads. Not run over it. So its about how well you can pick your line and stay steady and smooth on the throttle so your coming out and going in at the right speeds and judging the roads correctly.

And yes if the college kids on sport bike where doing more than twisting the throttle and dumping the clutch they should be leaving me way behind.

 

i don't know what did happen but here's what could have happened
http://www.dragtimes.com/browse.php

 

A new rider wont get used to how a bike rides or handles until she puts some miles on it.
let the woman ride, or buy her a newer bike.

sounds like you just like thrashing someone else's bike and ripping on everything you see on the road.

 

haha if you think that's bad I rode my mom on the back of the x because I wanted to see how it felt with more weight well.. I nailed first gear and had to let off around 8-9k because it rode a wheelie straight up I still don't know how she didn't fall off the back...

 

Personally, I am totally NOT impressed.
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