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At first glance I want to strongly disagree, but who am I to argue with your experience. What bike do you ride, and what vehicles are you calling trucks? Speci

At first glance I want to strongly disagree, but who am I to argue with your experience. What bike do you ride, and what vehicles are you calling trucks? Specifically.

haiku2077 1y ago
An F750GS and a DRZ400SM are my main bikes (out of an entire garage full of stuff). For trucks I'm talking about F-150s and similar.
- nandomrumber 1y ago
  Do those two bikes have a higher / more upright riding position that a typical sportbike?
  - haiku2077 1y ago
    Sportbikes are lower, but they're not typical. Sportbikes sales trended way down over the past decade, with models being discontinued entirely in some regions. Current sporty-style bikes are generally more upright seating and share engines and platforms with non-sport models. Dual sport/off road bikes have trended upwards, even for riders who never go off pavement, because they're cheap to run and very practical as general purpose motorcycles. More recently, there's been a trend towards large touring bikes as well. https://www.revzilla.com/common-tread/motorcycle-industry-q1-2024-takeaways https://www.revzilla.com/common-tread/motorcycle-industry-q1...
    - nandomrumber 1y ago
      I see, thanks for the info. I’m licensed but haven’t owned a bike in years. Do we have stats on whether more sports bike riders are involved in crashes that bikes with better visibility?
      - haiku2077 1y ago
        Not really. Outside of a few groups at places like Virginia Tech, motorcycle safety studies don't get much funding. Too niche. You can use insurance rates as a loose proxy- sportbikes are between one and three orders of magnitude more expensive to insure than adventure bikes, touring bikes or cruisers. But I suspect that has more to do with the average age of the riders.
        toyg 1y ago
        And bike power. Sportsbikes are often road-legal versions of actual racing bikes, with all that it entails. If a third of cars on the road were tuned-down Ferraris and McLarens, you bet they'd crash left right and center.
        haiku2077 1y ago
        Weirdly, an adventure bike with higher horsepower will have cheaper insurance than a race replica with less horsepower.
        somerandomqaguy 1y ago
        Kinda. Power delivery is wildly different between an ADV and a sports bike. On a sorta dual sport like a Kawasaki KLR650 you get peak torque from the engine at around 2500 RPM, which is comfortably in school zone speed limit territory. Something like the Yamaha R6 won't really start feel like it's pulling until you get the engine above 8000 RPM at least and then you getting peak torque until around 12,000 RPM. By then you're doing 70kph to 90kph in first gear. Sports bikes are more comfortable ridden aggressively. Unfortunately that also gives a lot of riders a false sense of skill; right until they moment run into a situation above their skill level and they crash while panicking.
        haiku2077 1y ago
        A 1300GS has significantly higher horsepower than an R6, variable valves so it pulls across the rev range, and yet still costs a fraction of an R6's insurance cost; it would appear that the riders have a much larger role in the premium than the engine.
    - dumbfounder 1y ago
      Yes your enduros and such are taller than sport bikes, but a Harley would be much lower, yes?
      - joecool1029 1y ago
        Somewhat yeah, the GS is a tall bike for sure. I have a zrx1200 and I'm still a ton taller than when I am in the miata. Miata is probably one of the lowest riding vehicles you can get and headlights are a problem at night shining in my eyes, where on the motorcycle it is not an issue. I don't have a brake light on my helmet on motorcycle but I added DOT-C2 tape to the back and sides of it, stuff like this: https://www.amazon.com/THKULKME-Reflective-Reflector-Waterproof-Silver100FT/dp/B0B8CZ2JXM/ https://www.amazon.com/THKULKME-Reflective-Reflector-Waterpr...
  - taneq 1y ago
    Yes. The DRZ especially is a dirt bike which is noticeably higher set than a supersports. You pay for it a bit in on-road manoeuvrability though.
    - haiku2077 1y ago
      Mine is the SM, which is a little shorter, but is ultra-maneuverable, far more so than a normal street bike. "sumo is love, sumo is life"
- rounce 1y ago
  Hello fellow dizzer enjoyer
allknowingfrog 1y ago
Kind of meta, but you deserve recognition for this demonstration of self-awareness. You expressed skepticism politely, then asked specific questions instead of making assumptions. Sometimes HN gives me hope for the rest of the internet.

At first glance I want to strongly disagree, but who am I to argue with your experience. What bike do you ride, and what vehicles are you calling trucks? Specifically.

haiku2077 1y ago

An F750GS and a DRZ400SM are my main bikes (out of an entire garage full of stuff). For trucks I'm talking about F-150s and similar.

nandomrumber 1y ago
Do those two bikes have a higher / more upright riding position that a typical sportbike?
- haiku2077 1y ago
  Sportbikes are lower, but they're not typical. Sportbikes sales trended way down over the past decade, with models being discontinued entirely in some regions. Current sporty-style bikes are generally more upright seating and share engines and platforms with non-sport models. Dual sport/off road bikes have trended upwards, even for riders who never go off pavement, because they're cheap to run and very practical as general purpose motorcycles. More recently, there's been a trend towards large touring bikes as well. https://www.revzilla.com/common-tread/motorcycle-industry-q1-2024-takeaways https://www.revzilla.com/common-tread/motorcycle-industry-q1...
  - nandomrumber 1y ago
    I see, thanks for the info. I’m licensed but haven’t owned a bike in years. Do we have stats on whether more sports bike riders are involved in crashes that bikes with better visibility?
    - haiku2077 1y ago
      Not really. Outside of a few groups at places like Virginia Tech, motorcycle safety studies don't get much funding. Too niche. You can use insurance rates as a loose proxy- sportbikes are between one and three orders of magnitude more expensive to insure than adventure bikes, touring bikes or cruisers. But I suspect that has more to do with the average age of the riders.
      - toyg 1y ago
        And bike power. Sportsbikes are often road-legal versions of actual racing bikes, with all that it entails. If a third of cars on the road were tuned-down Ferraris and McLarens, you bet they'd crash left right and center.
        haiku2077 1y ago
        Weirdly, an adventure bike with higher horsepower will have cheaper insurance than a race replica with less horsepower.
        somerandomqaguy 1y ago
        Kinda. Power delivery is wildly different between an ADV and a sports bike. On a sorta dual sport like a Kawasaki KLR650 you get peak torque from the engine at around 2500 RPM, which is comfortably in school zone speed limit territory. Something like the Yamaha R6 won't really start feel like it's pulling until you get the engine above 8000 RPM at least and then you getting peak torque until around 12,000 RPM. By then you're doing 70kph to 90kph in first gear. Sports bikes are more comfortable ridden aggressively. Unfortunately that also gives a lot of riders a false sense of skill; right until they moment run into a situation above their skill level and they crash while panicking.
        haiku2077 1y ago
        A 1300GS has significantly higher horsepower than an R6, variable valves so it pulls across the rev range, and yet still costs a fraction of an R6's insurance cost; it would appear that the riders have a much larger role in the premium than the engine.
  - dumbfounder 1y ago
    Yes your enduros and such are taller than sport bikes, but a Harley would be much lower, yes?
    - joecool1029 1y ago
      Somewhat yeah, the GS is a tall bike for sure. I have a zrx1200 and I'm still a ton taller than when I am in the miata. Miata is probably one of the lowest riding vehicles you can get and headlights are a problem at night shining in my eyes, where on the motorcycle it is not an issue. I don't have a brake light on my helmet on motorcycle but I added DOT-C2 tape to the back and sides of it, stuff like this: https://www.amazon.com/THKULKME-Reflective-Reflector-Waterproof-Silver100FT/dp/B0B8CZ2JXM/ https://www.amazon.com/THKULKME-Reflective-Reflector-Waterpr...
- taneq 1y ago
  Yes. The DRZ especially is a dirt bike which is noticeably higher set than a supersports. You pay for it a bit in on-road manoeuvrability though.
  - haiku2077 1y ago
    Mine is the SM, which is a little shorter, but is ultra-maneuverable, far more so than a normal street bike. "sumo is love, sumo is life"
rounce 1y ago
Hello fellow dizzer enjoyer

allknowingfrog 1y ago

Kind of meta, but you deserve recognition for this demonstration of self-awareness. You expressed skepticism politely, then asked specific questions instead of making assumptions. Sometimes HN gives me hope for the rest of the internet.