The bike that scared me first!

[Flatbutt1]

Lets give the devil it's due. What bike first scared you?



This is the two stroke triple Kawi with the gumby fram,fading brakes and ridiculous acceleration that soiled the bottom of my 16 year old butt. Guess in those days you coulda called me brownbutt. Of course this one couldn't hold a candle to the 750 stroker, that thing was evil,wicked,mean and nasty!!

[Steve Carlton]

I think the day I turned 15 1/2 I had a '69 Suzuki Savage 250 locked up just like this one. I was showing off jumping it onto a flat knoll in front of some friends when the rear wheel washed out and pointed me to a steeper take-off. I flew about 8' in the air as I went past them and landed 64' later almost vertically. I can't believe I didn't go over the bars, and I had to slam on the brakes to not go down the hill at the other end of the knoll. I thought I was dead.

[JRMSR]

Originally Posted by Flatbutt1

Lets give the devil it's due. What bike first scared you?



This is the two stroke triple Kawi with the gumby fram,fading brakes and ridiculous acceleration that soiled the bottom of my 16 year old butt. Guess in those days you coulda called me brownbutt. Of course this one couldn't hold a candle to the 750 stroker, that thing was evil,wicked,mean and nasty!!

The first year with drum brakes scared the ***** out of me!!!

[wswartzwel]

When i was 16, one of my customers( yes I was spinning wrenches for dough as a kid) joined the Navy. He left his 1972 Kawasaki 750 H2 with me... told me to put a chain and sprockets on it... and ride it for the 6 weeks he was going to be gone for basic training.... I still remember the first time the back end started fishtailing everywhere when it came into power in second gear... It felt so good.. yet was sooo scary at the same time....

[JRMSR]

This was the other jewel that would make you piss your pants! Breaks just weren't up to the power and the frame flexed like it had a hinge in the middle. Got into a tank slapper so bad once I thought that I saw the my rear end two or three times. Damn, it could sure go quick in a straight line. Just fiddle with that little box on the exhaust tubing and SHAZAM!

[Tirebiter]

An 82 Kawi GPZ. One of these spit me off to the side of the highway at ??? mph. Tank slapper supreme at high speed....scared me so bad I only remember a moment fighting the handlebars...and kept me from riding for 25 years....



Brock

[bradzdotcom]

I don't know if it's the bike that scared me FIRST, but its' the bike that scared me the MOST!.

this is the yamaha TZ750 OW31 that made my forehead go cold. Bike restoration expert Keith Lynas is bringing it back to life "just for the fun of it". i MIGHT go look at it when it's done, but have no interest in getting on it.



we were at the old spa track in belgium, where they had set up an MPH timing trap at the bottom of the big downhill. i complained all day about the revs coming up at 180+mph, thinking it was clutch slippage.

turns out it was aerodynamics, lifting enough weight off the rear wheel to allow it to spin at "stupid speeds". it was one of the very few bikes i ever rode that i honestly was afraid of and looked for any reason to get away from.

imagine being locked with a pissed off pit bull in a porta-potty. yea, like that.

[JRMSR]

Originally Posted by bradzdotcom

I don't know if it's the bike that scared me FIRST, but its' the bike that scared me the MOST!.

this is the yamaha TZ750 OW31 that made my forehead go cold. Bike restoration expert Keith Lynas is bringing it back to life "just for the fun of it". i MIGHT go look at it when it's done, but have no interest in getting on it.



we were at the old spa track in belgium, where they had set up an MPH timing trap at the bottom of the big downhill. i complained all day about the revs coming up at 180+mph, thinking it was clutch slippage.

turns out it was aerodynamics, lifting enough weight off the rear wheel to allow it to spin at "stupid speeds". it was one of the very few bikes i ever rode that i honestly was afraid of and looked for any reason to get away from.

imagine being locked with a pissed off pit bull in a porta-potty. yea, like that.

It was a beast, period!

[J. Dial]

yeah flatbutt, That 750 or the 500 could outrun anything on the road including it's own chasis

[bikpaintr]

That would be the original Kawi 900 Z1 & it wasn't the power that spooked me. A friend wanted to try my R90/S so I took the Z1 out & threw it into a corner like I would the S. Holy crap!! I had never experienced the now famous Kawi "hinge in the middle" in action! I could have sworn the rear wheel came right around front or vice versa. When we got back he complained about how slow the Beemer was & I let him know what I thought about the Kawi's handling. We were both happy to get back on our own bikes.
The next opportunity I had to try out someone else's bike was a 74 750 SS Duc & that was a much more pleasurable experience.

[Corky]

Pretty tame compared to the bikes above. But my old Yamaha 360 enduro caused a few wet shorts moments for me. After riding little bikes like Honda 90's and Hodaka's this big ole single 2 stroke was a handfull. Worst moment was a 50 mph nose wheelie for about 50 ft with my face almost in the dirt. I pulled it off somehow but I wet my shorts...

[MaineRoads]

83 GPZ 1100, I was Drag racing at a 1/8 mile strip (broke out of my bracket). Kinda greasy on the track going into 2nd gear. Didn't go down, but a crazy ride.
Bike shown not mine, I wish I still had it.

[chewie]

doesnt look scary, but being my first road bike and no experience with only gloves, helmet normal clothes and a 180km/h tank slap around a bend was enough to scare me bigtime very lucky to be here (with full leathers these days too)

[JonyRR]

Call me crazy, but I'd still climb on that TZ for a ride. Still an orgasmic experience for me just looking at one.

Mine was just a garden variety '71 H1 500 Kawwie. the later years like the one flatbutt's talking about were tame by comparison. (the '69 bridged-port cylinders and chambers might have had something to do with it)

[Rapid Dog]

ditto the first post...Kawi Triple

[Rixster]

Originally Posted by Flatbutt1

Lets give the devil it's due. What bike first scared you?



This is the two stroke triple Kawi with the gumby fram,fading brakes and ridiculous acceleration that soiled the bottom of my 16 year old butt. Guess in those days you coulda called me brownbutt. Of course this one couldn't hold a candle to the 750 stroker, that thing was evil,wicked,mean and nasty!!

Mine was the '72 750 mach 4 that almost killed me (twice) yikes!!

[pwillikers]

[Mark Estes]

'69 Ducati Jupiter. I got my first and biggest scare on this bike. Not the bike itself, but what I did with it. Riding alone in an unfamiliar gravel pit (I know, I know, Stupid!), I nearly rode it off a 40 foot cliff. I escaped injury, the bike did not. Sent me back to street riding, never to return to the dirt.
Wish I still hade the bike, though.

[Mark Estes]

Can't seem to attach photo.

[Flatbutt1]

interesting in how many of the scary rides were on Kawi's.