Hey gotta say that blue07 and privateer, pretty much summed it up. These bikes are an ego boost. I love rideing around knowing that I have one of the top bikes in the world. BUT I get a bigger kick knowing that everyone one else knows it as well. No need to prove anything cause everyone respects the bike. Only guys ever to give me a hard time are the busa' guys. And thats a different arguement on it's own.

Don't need to break speed limits with this bike if you don't want too, its the knowing thats important.

^^Agree on that.

You shouldn't confuse passion and being stupid! We all have a basic "survival instinct" and that, taken to the extreme is fear.
But it also includes common sense and consideration for safety.. Passion is abandoning fear and feeling free to experience emotions, it doesn't mean being completely stupid. What some people call stupid, others call challenging and still others call a kick in the butt. Do you thing jumping a dirt bike 40 feet into the air and letting go is stupid? Two decades ago it was absolutely insane! Whatever you call it, common sense will tell you it's not safe.
I think a thorough knowledge of motorcycle safety and technical riding skills are necessary. But those are the tools employed by your survival instinct that will help you to live your passion. I don't want to ride beyond my limits, but I reserve the right to go to the limits of my ability and peek over the edge, briefly, just as long as the only person I put at risk is myself. Little by little that edge gets more radical. Common sense is what will keep most people at home sitting in their arm chair.

IMO-my reality is this:I "believe" I'm "in control".I say "if this or that occurs,I'll do this or that".Okay,sounds good.My truth is:I'm NOT in control.I don't control ANYTHING EXCEPT what I put my hand to do-whether it's Motorcycling,or brushing my teeth.I can "possibly" lower my risks while riding by following certain rules(speed limits,that kind of thing)Being defensive-yes,that helps.BUT-whether I'm sitting at a stoplight and a guy runs a red and hits me,or whether I'm blastin down a straight at 180-If it's MY TIME,I'm gone.So I try to do the right thing,be good to others and "continue" to "do things MY way"(as usual ),and at some level keep believing "I'm in control,I know how to DO this" -LOL.When it's all said and done,when I leave this life behind,I may find myself shocked at all the times things were ready to happen,yet it was all orchestrated for me to enjoy what I've got now,and every day.Okay,Okay-I'll stop now LOL!!!!Ride safe everyone!!ENJOY YER SPACESHIPS!!!

* Last updated by: blue07 on 9/18/2009 @ 2:18 PM *

I have to say "I don,t obey the speed limit on anything ALL the time. Peddle bike through town, snowmobile on the trail is WFO, cages are in the limiter. The only thing that bugs me, is I can't hit the f'n limiter on my 14. If I could do it once I would cut back the 160-180ish runs. I am very careful when I do it, but when the moment is right, I'm gone. Did go by a trooper one day in the 160 range, only saw him for a second or two. Divided highway and him on the other side. We all know that a radio is faster then anything with tires.(Only if it is psychic and knows were your going.)

The zx14 is an awesome bike no doubt, no argument there at all.

Just a quick reality check here for some of the owners who get an ego boost
and such from riding around and everyone else giving them respect and recognizing
the 14 as a superior bike... now wake up and realize that a newer 1000 cc with the
right rider has your number almost all day long.

The zx14 has a lot of pork to shed and power to uncork before the liter crowd will
fear you. For everyone that might disagree with me- you're either riding with people on
slow bikes or their skills are not far beyond novice.

If you think I'm full of it- try a roll on against a newer zx10 or a gsxr1000, then hit
some twisties and come back and post your findings.

mass, not that what you said doesn't make sense but...This thread is about riding a bike fast all by yourself, not about racing.

Sharkey, just a comment on my part about some of the other posts... like this one:

Hey gotta say that blue07 and privateer, pretty much summed it up. These bikes are an ego boost. I love rideing around knowing that I have one of the top bikes in the world. BUT I get a bigger kick knowing that everyone one else knows it as well. No need to prove anything cause everyone respects the bike. Only guys ever to give me a hard time are the busa' guys. And thats a different arguement on it's own.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

La La Land zx14 riding all day long IMHO.

Sharkey wrote :

mass, not that what you said doesn't make sense but...This thread is about riding a bike fast all by yourself, not about racing

Agree, Sharkey.

This is about riding the ZX14 fast, not about racing against another bike. Its about rider versus the bike versus the hazards. Racing against another bike on public streets pretty much triples the odds of bad stuff happening.

I'm good friends with the salesman who sold me my ZX14. Apparently not good enough to get a discount but business is business.

He warned me before I signed, the 08/09 ZX10s would smoke my ZX14 in roll ons almost anywhere in the rpm range. As it should be, comparing a liter bike based 100% on a World Superbike entry, having a good weight advantage, with as much horsepower.

The downsides of the ZX10 (for example) are : it is far less forgiving to ride, far less comfortable, and far more expensive to insure (most of the time, there are exceptions). But if you can fold up enough to sit on one and have the skills, you can make it dance circles around a ZX14.

Frankly, I only know 3 or 4 guys and 1 girl who could make a ZX10 dance. All of them hold AMA licenses and race regularily. The rest who think they can, cannot.

Im a big big guy at 3+ and I love the 14 . I have a touring bike for those 500+ days but in genral I ride the 14 as I havea bike that will keep me up with those puny 21 yearolds and I can pass them with a little skill LOL

I normally stay close to the speed limit but I do hear tell that the speedo is a tad off at 175 as my friend had a speedo healer and he wa showing 166 or so .
He said he didnt stare too long .
But as stated theh ZX14 is a sweet around town bike with a rocket rush at the twist of the wrist .
I agree keep it in 6th as it costs less

You can get a speeding ticket on anything bigger than a 50 cc scooter.

My point was different though. Some zx14 owners need to step off their
high horses thinking their bikes are faster and they are respected and feared
on the street when that's not the case and never was. You need to put a lot
of $$$ in that 14 to make it that liter bike killer that some people some
desperately describe it to be.

Just to make this clear- I've riden and owned liter bikes and I own and ride
a 750 and a 1000 cc. The zx14 is not faster or more prone to getting tickets
on the street as anything but a ninja 250 will take you to 150 mph in a heartbeat.

You can do stupid things in any vehicle. People get speeding tickets every day
behind the wheel of their cars. How many of those cars are high end sports cars?

This guy comes up to me in the parking lot and asks "How fast does it go?" I told him the truth. Usually it goes the same speed as the guy in front of me. Some times it goes faster but not for more than about 15 seconds and then its back to the same speed as the guy in front of me. He says, "I heard the 10 will beat it to about 150 and then this one will excel." I said, I suppose it depends on who's riding the bikes.
I can't ride my ZX6R to it's limits. I'm sure I don't ride the 14 yo 40% of its potential. But I have fun and I'm proud of my big gun.

You know, in the old west the gunslingers always said...eventually someone will come along who is faster. That's why I only shoot at targets.

Frankly, I only know 3 or 4 guys and 1 girl who could make a ZX10 dance. All of them hold AMA licenses and race regularily. The rest who think they can, cannot.

And how many guys will make a zx14 "dance"?

Every single 14 I've seen in person around here had giant chicken strips on
the rear tire. Stretched and or lowered is out of the conversation compltetely.

You guys need to check the pictures section here and look at some rear tires.
Posts about 7-8K miles on a set of tires also confuse me.

This guy comes up to me in the parking lot and asks "How fast does it go?" I told him the truth. Usually it goes the same speed as the guy in front of me. Some times it goes faster but not for more than about 15 seconds and then its back to the same speed as the guy in front of me. He says, "I heard the 10 will beat it to about 150 and then this one will excel." I said, I suppose it depends on who's riding the bikes.
I can't ride my ZX6R to it's limits. I'm sure I don't ride the 14 yo 40% of its potential. But I have fun and I'm proud of my big gun.

You know, in the old west the gunslingers always said...eventually someone will come along who is faster. That's why I only shoot at targets.

Agree. Not sure if many other people will though.

Let's tell those guys on their liter bikes how much better our 14s are.
One of the main reasons I avoid bike nights and such- full of story tellers...

Posts about 7-8K miles on a set of tires also confuse me.

That's just me and one other guy. I promise you, the chicken strips are all but gone now but I've put 4000 miles on the new tires and the back looks like it will still go another 2K before it's to the makers. ???????? I don't know, I guess I'm still too easy on it, lol. I couldn't see getting on the gas hard in low gear very much with a beautiful new round tire until a couple weeks ago. I'll burn that thing off of there before the end of the season.

Still haven't had a problem keeping up with any bikes when i chose to race on the street. If it is very high speed and competitive, I don't consider it safe enough to try to overtake them. Hanging on their tail at safe distance is a lot of fun. I have yet to have any bike dart up next to me and slow down to match speed. That is an obvious invitation to a fair race. They always scream by at 100 mph and keep going. If the 14 can catch up to a literbike at that speed and hang on, that says a lot AFIC. Still, I'll own a smaller bike one day. Just you wait.

* Last updated by: Rook on 9/20/2009 @ 7:00 PM *