Fort Worth Motorcycle Riders

Hello Fort Worth Motorcycle riders!

I am looking to start riding a more sporty bike than I used to ride. I had a 1979 FX Harley Davidson. Rebuilt it twice and rode to Sturgis South Dakota 4 times. Been riding for over 7 years. I enjoy it but the HD was not what really got to my heart. Its not that I love speed, but I love the beauty that is a Sport Bike! I am currently looking into the purchase of either a BMW S1000RR or Ducati Panigale, but I am open to suggestions from the board members.

I work in Fort Worth for Lockheed Martin.

I am looking to meet new people to ride with and just hang out and have a with!

Looking for suggestions to riding gear, boards, clubs, shops and bikes. Meeting people and enjoying riding.

Craig

This is a pic of my bike. Sold it several years ago!

Welcome!

Will this be your first sport bike? S1000RR / Panigale are some pretty heavy hitters for your first sport bike

Gear:
Helmet full face, don't waste your money on flip ups
Gloves - I use gauntlet only one crash taught me that was the only way to go
Solid boots - too many people skimp on foot wear imo get something that comes up high and has good ankle protection
Get some nice pants - not jeans

Don't forgot jacket, I prefer leather, but several ride in mesh.

Where in Lockheed are you? I'm out in the labs at the north end, Building 214.

We have a bike night coming up next week, come on out and say hi.

Hey Fixxervi6, I am open to suggestions on a bike. The problem is I don't want to get into something and then wish I should have gotten bigger. My dad encouraged me to get the Harley even though I was too young for the crowd. But it did allow us to ride together and that was very cool. I told him I was looking at a bike and he said that there are not a lot of gatherings or meet ups for Sport Bikes. I think he is a bit mistaken and that is why I'm reaching out to the board.

fixxervi6 wrote:Welcome!

Will this be your first sport bike? S1000RR / Panigale are some pretty heavy hitters for your first sport bike

Gear:
Helmet full face, don't waste your money on flip ups
Gloves - I use gauntlet only one crash taught me that was the only way to go
Solid boots - too many people skimp on foot wear imo get something that comes up high and has good ankle protection
Get some nice pants - not jeans

DarcShadow, Im located in Building 5 second floor F-35 Sustainment. Been here for the last 8 years. What do you ride with when its 104 outside! Think I might need to install an air conditioning unit on the bike or in my pants! LOL

DarcShadow wrote:Don't forgot jacket, I prefer leather, but several ride in mesh.

Where in Lockheed are you? I'm out in the labs at the north end, Building 214.

We have a bike night coming up next week, come on out and say hi.

I didn't ride to work very often, in part because of the heat, but also because I only live about 10 miles away, it wasn't really worth it to get the gear on for such a short ride. Saddly I haven't been doing any riding at all the last year and a half or so. Between wrecking the bike, and not having free time on weekends I haven't bothered to get another one yet. Hopefully my free time situation will be changing something within the year and I'll get another bike and have time to ride again.

As for bike, any bike in the super sport realm will be more than enough doesn't matter if it's a 600 or a 1300, they all are insanely powerful. I started on a 600, went up to a 900 and then back down to the 600 class. You do have to run the 600s a little higher in the rev range to get their full potential but I've never had any issues keeping up with anyone on a street ride and could hold my own on the track. It's always fun passing the bigger bikes.

7 years experience riding you should be ok to get what ever you what, but sport bikes and cruisers are very different animals and there will be a bit of a learning curve in how you ride.

As for meetups, the "sturges" of sport bikes is Daytona bike week, and even that is heavily populated with cruisers. There are several clubs/groups each with their own riding style. Saddly far to many of them are balls to the wall, no concern for anyone else kind of style. Our group is a much more "responsible" group. We know when and where to open it up, and try to moderate our rides to the skill level of the riders involved.

Welcome. There are one or two folks on here that might work nearby (Bldg 200 here).

If it were me, and my only choices were the S1000RR and the Panigale, I'd have to go with the BMW and put it in rain mode for the first six months. But then you mention you are interested in the beauty of the bike which means Panigale. To address Rick's point about them being a lot of bike, the Triumph Daytona 675 is a great sport bike with a very flat torque curve making it much friendlier on the street than the other 600cc class options. Not as pretty as the Ducati, but not bad either.

Speaking of new bikes, Eurosport has the new Street Triple 765 RS on the floor. Someone needs to go over there and buy it so I don't.

Welcome!

flyguy0 wrote:Hey Fixxervi6, I am open to suggestions on a bike. The problem is I don't want to get into something and then wish I should have gotten bigger. My dad encouraged me to get the Harley even though I was too young for the crowd. But it did allow us to ride together and that was very cool. I told him I was looking at a bike and he said that there are not a lot of gatherings or meet ups for Sport Bikes. I think he is a bit mistaken and that is why I'm reaching out to the board.

fixxervi6 wrote:Welcome!

Will this be your first sport bike? S1000RR / Panigale are some pretty heavy hitters for your first sport bike

Gear:
Helmet full face, don't waste your money on flip ups
Gloves - I use gauntlet only one crash taught me that was the only way to go
Solid boots - too many people skimp on foot wear imo get something that comes up high and has good ankle protection
Get some nice pants - not jeans

There are plenty of sport bike groups but you just gotta be careful which ones you get involved with, too many of them like to do stupid stuff in traffic - our idea of riding isn't holding it open full throttle going down 20 dodging cars but that's some peoples style.

All sport bikes are going to feel quite a bit different - better brakes, better suspension, WAY more power and lighter - S1000RR and Panigale (assuming 1299) are both going to dyno at or over 200 horse (engine) with a lot less weight than a HD. Something like a 750 or 675 are good middle ground bikes, you don't have to ring their necks to get the power out of them but they are also not a fist full of power-on-demand they have some forgiveness in them but still more than enough horsepower to go way faster than anyone really should. Buy used if you can take good care of it and they should hold some value when you decide to step up to a bigger bike - if you even decide to. Many people ride smaller displacement bikes and keep up with the big bikes no problem.

Yes. Don't be afraid to start small. I went backward from a 900rr and 955i to the Daytona 675. Don't regret it at all. Just because it won't power wheelie in 2nd, doesn't make it less fun.

The only time I found myself yearning for the big bore bikes was on the Arkansas trip. 40 switchbacks and keeping pace with Mr. Ham fist on his Aprilia was too fast for first, but not quite into the band of 2nd. When we hit those straights, he was gone.

But I'm having a Lot more fun on the track.

There is a lot of good contrasting information on this thread from riders that have spent a good deal of time on bikes, one of the reasons this is such a great group. I like Jeff's idea of getting an S1000rr and riding it in a powered down mode for a while. Seems like the best of both worlds. Have you thought about doing track days? At this point in my life track days are like Christmas used to be when I was younger. If your interested in hitting the track are you okay with risking going down on a new super nice bike? I have had fair luck on Craigslist with used bikes but they often need some work/maintenance but only need liability insurance, $160/yr total for both my 600 and 1000. I have heard that it is funner to ride a slower bike fast than it is to ride a fast bike slow. For me I like the 1000 hands down.

Welcome to the boards. I started real small (Ninja 250), then to my SV650S, and then now to the VFR 800. I don't regret getting to know any of these bikes. Even a 250 sport bike is a hoot to ride. The SV650S is now my track bike and although I get passed on the straights a lot, I don't get passed in the corners much. Good thing about buying a small used bike is you don't lose much value on resale. I see one major difference between the cruiser crowd and us that deals with actual riding - braking. I rarely use my rear brake, but I've heard cruiser guys tell me that they always use the rear brake and never use the front brake because it's "unsafe". 70% of the braking force on a sportbike is generated on the front. Supposed to be that way on any bike, but I can see how some configurations of cruisers could make using the front brake unsafe. The brakes on sportbikes are great for the most part and even under heavy braking the force of two fingers will stop my bike with no problems. I would love either of the two bikes you want, but they are just way too much bike for my taste. If I had a choice though I would go with the BMW. Love the looks of the Ducs but hate the attitude of the Duc riders....

Yeah, the difference in brakes between a cruiser and a sport bike is insane. 70% from the front brake is being conservative too, I'd say it's closer to 85%, especially under hard braking. The rear wheel gets so light the rear brake is pretty much useless.

Welcome to the group! Good luck with the bike searching!

OK so I made a decision now to get the right price! The BMW is the one!

flyguy0 wrote:OK so I made a decision now to get the right price! The BMW is the one!

Nice! Pics? See you tomorrow am on the ride?

Not yet!! Some logistical items to get past. But I do plan to come up to Pluckers next Thursday and introduce myself.

OK Guys and this is a BIG question.... What color? Black and Gray or Red/White/Black?

The Red/Black/White comes in Tuesday but I can call in the morning and switch the color before I take delivery!

Help a brutha out please!

Purple. I like purple

Everyone knows red is the fastest color

milesmiles wrote:Purple. I like purple

If you pay Ill ride it!

That's what she told me as well

milesmiles wrote:Purple. I like purple

OK Damn! That is pretty damn cool looking!

Yea for sure. And no I wasn't joking