How To Ride A Motorcycle Very Fast

[sir pball]

Peter Hickman narrating his record-setting Isle of Man TT lap in 2018 - AVERAGE speed of 131.7 mph on public roads.

These guys have liquid helium in their veins.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

1. I had to turn it of at 0:27. I couldn't take it anymore. NT

[sir pball]

6. The real screwy part is that because of the demands of the course,

Outside of the slick racing tires, the bikes are almost identical to the ones we can buy in the showroom today. Add about $5000 in electronics and exhausts (on a $20K bike it's not that much) and you have a machine that can go that fast.

[Major Nikon]

19. About two weeks ago I averaged over twice that fast between Idaho and Wyoming

At 17,000' MSL you get virtually no perception of speed other than the ground moving slowly beneath you.

I get a pretty good rush doing over 30mph on a bicycle. It's not really how fast you go, but how you go fast.

[sir pball]

20. I've always said riding a motorcycle makes you realize how fast 45mph actually is

I cycle too, but I try to stay under 20 - I feel naked going much faster without full leathers and a proper helmet...

[Major Nikon]

22. It feels faster the less protected you are from the relative wind

I’ve flown some open cockpit planes that don’t do much more than 70mph, but it feels a helluva lot faster when you are getting bugs in your teeth.

[sir pball]

24. Oh, you're no fun.

That's very analytical and absolutely true, but at 3000' AGL it's just the wind and the bugs - to paraphrase you, lower is faster. On the ground you realize exactly how fast things are moving past you...at 100+ on a bike those lane lines are flicking by AWFULLY quick.

[wasupaloopa]

28. But the engines are so tuned that they only last one race

[sir pball]

29. Not the TT engines.

They don't need to be high-revving Superbike-style motors; they're barely tuned up from stock. Exhaust and a race-mapped ECU. I mean, a stock S1000RR has 200hp, do they need much more?

[wasupaloopa]

30. I read that they can take a stock bike from the crate and fix it up for a race but that the engine

can only be used once. This was a Kawasaki bike.

[sir pball]

31. Maybe back in the day, but...

...nowadays almost every motorsport mandates engines that will last multiple races if not the whole season; MotoGP allows nine, F1 only gets 4 a year!

[Codeine]

32. F1 gets three now.

Of course plenty of guys end up using more and taking penalties, but some cars actually manage to do all that racing and qualifying with the three.

Not that many years ago some teams used an engine for a single qualifying session and then it was finished.

[Arkansas Granny]

2. Whew! Traveling at that speed, you'd have no time to react to anything.

[sir pball]

5. Nope. You're either perfect, or

You're dead.

It's romantic, in some macabre way.

[Disaffected]

14. The risk factor seems insanely high:

Poorly controlled race course - what if a kid or animal suddenly darts across the road? Is a fall from a 180 MPH motorcycle ever non-fatal? And why are apparently much slower riders on the course with him?

[sir pball]

21. It's one of the last real old-fashioned races in the world

The Isle folk have been doing this for a hundred years - kids and animals are restrained during the TT, and the spectators have less of a death wish than the racers so they stay off the course. That's never been a problem that I know of. The slower riders are because it's a time trial, riders start at intervals and race the clock. You'll pass slower people and be passed by faster people, it's the same etiquette as a track day but a bit harder to pay attention to since you're seeing the Red Mist.

And yes...of course a fall from a bike at 180 on a real road course is fatal. That's a big part of the allure of the TT - you either finish, or you die. It's completely insane, on the level of jumping out of a plane holding a parachute and hoping you can buckle in before you hit the ground. Borderline criminal recklessness.

I, as do most motorcyclists, love it and hope it never gets shut down.

[Disaffected]

23. Amazing

what some folks will do for fame or an adrenaline rush!

[sir pball]

25. That is absolutely not why they do it.

They aren't Instagram "influencers".

You don't get famous (have you heard of Guy Martin, Mike Hailwood, or Michael Dunlop?).

It's not for a rush. That excites and confuses you, then you get antsy and make a mistake, then you die. They have liquid helium in their veins.

They do it because it's there, and they simply feel a need to do it and survive. Like climbing a mountain, I guess.

[yonder]

3. There are something like 256 racing deaths in 112 years of racing at the Isle of Man.

High price to pay.

[sir pball]

4. The World's Fastest Death Cult

There is literally no other motorsport event where this level of death is acceptable (see F1 and IndyCar, 1 death a decade), and yet it happens year after year. It's a relic, but I hope it never goes away - "At a certain point, you stop being shocked by how many people have died here. The shock is how many are still alive."

https://jalopnik.com/the-worlds-fastest-death-cult-1713550981

[mitch96]

7. I think it's the oldest running motorcycle race..

Some of these 200 mph Moto GP racers say the TT is nuts!!!
I'd love to go..... bucket list item...
m

[yonder]

8. I learned of it some 50 years ago as a budding new motorcyclist, and have wanted to go for years.

Chances of that happening decrease every year but one of these days....

[sir pball]

10. I started looking immediately after it wrapped up this year

All accommodations for 2020 were already sold out, but nothing was open for 2021 yet. I keep checking, I WILL get out there one day.

[mitch96]

11. " I WILL get out there one day."

Go for it!!! I guess you could not make it a day trip..... being an island in the Irish sea!
m

[sir pball]

12. I'd like to do the entire two weeks or however long it is

Last edited Thu Sep 12, 2019, 04:44 PM - Edit history (1)

All the qualifying, public races, Mad Sunday...spend a fortnight snapping photos, risking life and limb on the edge of the course, and abusing my ears (and liver )

[Niagara]

9. I was relieved when Guy Martin retired from the TT Races

The search for Guy Martin starts at about the 4:30 time stamp.

[sir pball]

13. I adore him

His interviews are amazing, I'd happily have a pint or six and piss-talk with him...

[Niagara]

17. I agree

He has an amazing personality and is easy going.

[sir pball]

26. A "shitpiss straight-talking truck mechanic"

He actually had to argue for time off from his job for a few races.

[mitch96]

15. He was a mad man on a bike and I could not understand a word he said.... it was English to!

[Niagara]

18. He's still a mad man on a bike

He just doesn't race on that particular circuit anymore. That 2nd accident he had was frightening. I have a difficult time sometimes understanding what he's saying in his interviews, but he's always joking around and smiling.

[Hotler]

16. Honda's first Isle of Man win 1961.

https://www.rideapart.com/articles/361604/honda-first-iomtt-win-1961-video/

[kacekwl]

27. The benefit of absolutely knowing the course

and hopefully a pebble or stray leaf doesn't find it's way on one of the turns.