Have You ever Ridden a Bike That Scared You?

I went with a friend to his dad's farm. His dad rode up on a dirty bike, and asked us if we wanted to ride it. My friend said "no" (first alarm) and I said "sure". We were about 14-15 years old. It was running but it sounded different from the other dirt bikes I've ridden (2nd alarm ) and it was a little larger than my old Z50 or my beat up Hodaka 125 (3rd alarm) I got on this huge beast and took off. I instantly noticed it had a lot more power (CR500) but I wasn't a pussy like my buddy. The front wheel instantly pops up, lean forward and ride it out. That was cool, so I had to show off and nail it through all the gears, like I always do to test the HP of anything I'm piloting. Holy Crap....that thing took off like nothing I've ever ridden. It didn't scare the poop out of me but I did respect it. I'm so glad I didn't wad it up. I think I made it through 3 gears!

 

My younger brain...No.

My 47 year old brain...Yes.

 

Kawasaki H2 with a 790 Denco build with tuned triple expansion chambers. My buddy John's bike. Took off from the bike shop in Stetsonville Wisconsin seeking the open farm country roads. Pulled a hole shot and got way up over the bars like he told me to. The bitch jumped off the ground and stayed in the air through 4th gear and came down only because I eased off of it. White knuckle paradise if that's what you're into. A rip roaring animal it was. Glad I rode it and equally glad I didn't own it.

 

Geoff Mays Ex AMA GSXr1000.

I was track daying my FZr400 and got to ride it. Nothing like 3.5x your HP to get your attention.

 

Oh hells yeah, more times then I'll admit. KX500 (actually started to enjoy riding one in the NE woods), a GS1150 with nitrous, A TZ250 with a german 350 kit on it (was eventually going to put nitrous on it) that never ran right. XR750. A bunch of stuff. Also a few that underwhelmed me (Honda RS500 being one).

Ones that are still on my bucket list to make myself pee a bit are an original V-max and maybe one of those new turbo Kawasaki thingies.

 

Yep. Anything I couldn't write a cheque for if I left it in a smouldering heap.

 

Yup... One of these

 

Nice ride.

 

Sometime during my early teens. Can't remember exactly when. Hopped on dad's XR650R. The power was brutal. But the power combined with the weight is what was actually frightening. Felt like a jet powered dump truck strapped between my legs. Knowing if it got away from me (which wouldn't have taken much), I knew there was no slowing it back down, changing direction, or otherwise gathering it back up very quickly.

Only other close one was a yz450f. Not built or anything special. Was just the first time I had hopped on a modern motocross bike. And it didn't really scare me as much as just surprised me. Grew up on trail bikes so I never realized how much of a difference there was between the two. Learned to respect it pretty quick.

 

None that have scared me. Similar experience as you, but with a late 80's YZ490. Had ridden dirtbikes and raced MX (up to 250cc bikes) by that point in life. Stopped by a friends house one day and he said "come out here and check this thing out". First thought was, just another bike with a bigger motor. Fired it up and let it rip through his front yard. Front wheel in air through 3 gears before I ran out of room. Holy Crap moment for sure, but didn't stop me from turning around and doing it again Dude had to wave me down to tell me to quit tearing up his yard

 

I ran a small street/dirt shop locally for a while and decided to have a customer appreciation day. As part of the fun several of the riders we were helping brought down the race bikes and several put on a show in the parking lot and field in front of the shop. It was a fun event right up until the guy with the GS1100 car tire drag bike did a few demo launches for us and offered to let me do one.

Holy shit that thing was impressive. Between the stutter box and the lockup clutch I found myself locking up the brakes almost as soon as that beast launched to avoid running out of parking lot...

 

Power has never really scared me.......only shit that doesn't handle.

I present the patron saint of "WTF were they thinking" in the handling department:

 

Honda threewheelers were riots! The 250 was the best of them. Grab a handful of throttle, wait for the rear to step out and hold the f@ck on!

 

Ha! I had one of those and my 10 year old nephew and I took turns racing i in the pit bike class at the local indoor arenacross track. He was actually ably to get pretty impressive air on that thing and coul sdsometimes even control it when it bounced on the landing...

 

The ATC25oR was the only one ever worth owning. I never rolled mine. It wasn't until I jumped on a hunk of shit 4 stroke 4 wheeler that I ever had a machine on top of me. Couldn't break the rears loose for shit on that 4 stroke turd and well the rest is predictable.

 

I crashed one of those so many times.....

YZ490 and CR500 as a teenager.

1990-ish ZX7 with motor work and NOS...holy crap

 

yeah, I once had a leaky tire valve that let all the air out between when I checked it and hit the track on the race bike - scariest thing I have ever ridden.

 

I had just poured a lot of moolah into a RZ500 rebuild. Took it to NC for it's maiden flight. On rt 126A, just below Little Switzerland, I found out what "coming on the pipe" meant.....Leaned over, somewhere around 7k rpms, the thing went from 40 hp to 80 hp. Not cool.

 

04 zx10r (widow maker), named "Julius", some of you will get it. bought it, in SC, rode over the mountain back to Gattlinburg with it. one "oh shit moment" on a tar snaked road, where the front slid out, then snapped me straight, within the first 100 miles.

a few days later we were on the Dragon, not riding particularly fast, leading a group of track riders that had never been there, it was hot (over 90), at the end of a long day of mountain riding (tired), went to relax/stretch my throttle hand, before a switchback... glove stuck to throttle, front wheel in the air, definite OH SHIT moment. stuck my foot out supermoto style, ass on wrong side of seat, bars down, backed it in, and around the corner.

cleaned my shorts and cleared my head. stopped at the overlook, my wife comes up screaming at me, what the hell i was thinking, riding a whoolie, and backing it in on the mountain. i explained my situation, one of the guys in the group said, "i thought that was a weird place to be backing it in". LMAO!

short ass wheelbase, WHEELIE MACHINE!!! too much motor, not enough length, I respected it A LOT, was not totally afraid of it but, it was CLOSE. sold it after having it about 5 years, bought a 2013 zx10r, A LOT LONGER, AND MORE REFINED POWER DELIVERY. Ski

 

First machine I owned was a 84 125M. The first time I rode it was after it rained and the grass was wet. Crashed it right into the side of the barn which cracked the frame and put the front wheel against the motor