Did sports bikes ruin cars for you?
Discussion
So I'm having a piston heads crisis....
I'm early 30's. No kids. No responsibilities. Reasonable income.
I've been fortunate to own a variety of reasonably nice cars over the years with the most powerful two being a 2014 Audi SQ5 and a BMW 435D Gran Coupe. Both coming in at just over 300hp.
I've also owned a Honda Fireblade, that I did a bunch of track days on. That thing came in at 177hp and just over 200kg + me. An absolute monster of a machine and I gave her some good run outs on the track, hitting around 165mph on the straights at Bedford and some cracking knee slides round the corners.
My crisis is this... I dont own a bike at the moment. I'm thinking of purchasing a faster more powerful car, like a C63. But with that comes the sizeable up front cost as well as significant running costs. And while I'm excited for the various fun things a car like that offers, I cant help but find myself thinking. I wont ever find a car that's as fast nor as fun as my fireblade, which cost a fraction of the price of any fast car. And I'm just spending a lot of money unnecessarily when the smarter thing to do would be to buy a cheaper run about car and buy a bike again for the weekends.
Any bikers out there been through this and out the other side....?
I'm early 30's. No kids. No responsibilities. Reasonable income.
I've been fortunate to own a variety of reasonably nice cars over the years with the most powerful two being a 2014 Audi SQ5 and a BMW 435D Gran Coupe. Both coming in at just over 300hp.
I've also owned a Honda Fireblade, that I did a bunch of track days on. That thing came in at 177hp and just over 200kg + me. An absolute monster of a machine and I gave her some good run outs on the track, hitting around 165mph on the straights at Bedford and some cracking knee slides round the corners.
My crisis is this... I dont own a bike at the moment. I'm thinking of purchasing a faster more powerful car, like a C63. But with that comes the sizeable up front cost as well as significant running costs. And while I'm excited for the various fun things a car like that offers, I cant help but find myself thinking. I wont ever find a car that's as fast nor as fun as my fireblade, which cost a fraction of the price of any fast car. And I'm just spending a lot of money unnecessarily when the smarter thing to do would be to buy a cheaper run about car and buy a bike again for the weekends.
Any bikers out there been through this and out the other side....?
Edited by Alextodrive on Saturday 3rd July 23:37
Yes!
Life long biker here who just happened to discover Supermotos when first child was born which funnily enough changes ones perspectives
SM was awesome, really bloody great. Swapped out the front cog for a smaller one so it wheelied off the throttle and beasted my mate's CBR600 up until 30mph. No fairing so the wind smacked you in the chest at 40mph and you really didnt want to go much faster than that. Occasional motorway schlepps were torture
But man was it fun.........
One evening I was hooning with CBR600 mate and we decided to swap bikes for an hour which was legit as at the time our insurance covered it. He went first and came back grinning like a maniac. I went second, tucked under the fairing and snicked it up through the gears, thought the whiole thing pretty dull and boring (Ive ridden sports bikes before) and was then horrified when I saw 110mph on the clocks. With absolutely no sense of drama
Thats the thing with sports bikes
In my opinion they only deliver an adrenaline rush at absolutely crazy speeds such as I have no desire to reach on a public road for fear of police or OAPs in a Honda Jazz
At least in a nice beemer you can admire your reflection in shop windows and massage your aubergine
Allegedly
Cheers
Alextodrive said:
So I'm having a piston heads crisis....
I'm early 30's. No kids. No responsibilities. Reasonable income.
I've been fortunate to own a variety of reasonably nice cars over the years with the most powerful two being a 2014 Audi SQ5 and a BMW 435D Gran Coupe. Both coming in at just over 300hp.
I've also owned a Honda Fireblade, that I did a bunch of track days on. That thing came in at 177hp and just over 200kg + me. An absolute monster of a machine and I gave her some good run outs on the track, hitting around 165mph on the straights at Bedford and some cracking knee slides round the corners.
My crisis is this... I dont own a bike at the moment. I'm thinking of purchasing a faster more powerful car, like a C63. But with that comes the sizeable up front cost as well as significant running costs. And while I'm excited for the various fun things a car like that offers, I cant help but find myself thinking. I wont ever find a car that's as fast nor as fun as my fireblade, which cost a fraction of the price of any fast car. And I'm just spending a lot of money unnecessarily when the smarter thing to do would be to buy a cheaper run about car and buy a bike again for the weekends.
Any bikers out there been through this and out the other side....?
I had bikes for a long time before I got into cars. I proddy raced and drag raced in my 20s. You get a huge amount of performance for little outlay. I only gave up bikes because as I progressed, it was a case of " the bigger the bike, the bigger the accident. When I broke my neck and damaged one of my carotid arteries, I ended up ( and still am, 29 years later ) on 4 tablets a day to control my blood pressure. I really miss bikes, but I felt, in the end, I was just another accident waiting to happen. among other things, I have a 400 brake Mitsubishi Evo now. It's the closest thing I've driven to a fast bike.I'm early 30's. No kids. No responsibilities. Reasonable income.
I've been fortunate to own a variety of reasonably nice cars over the years with the most powerful two being a 2014 Audi SQ5 and a BMW 435D Gran Coupe. Both coming in at just over 300hp.
I've also owned a Honda Fireblade, that I did a bunch of track days on. That thing came in at 177hp and just over 200kg + me. An absolute monster of a machine and I gave her some good run outs on the track, hitting around 165mph on the straights at Bedford and some cracking knee slides round the corners.
My crisis is this... I dont own a bike at the moment. I'm thinking of purchasing a faster more powerful car, like a C63. But with that comes the sizeable up front cost as well as significant running costs. And while I'm excited for the various fun things a car like that offers, I cant help but find myself thinking. I wont ever find a car that's as fast nor as fun as my fireblade, which cost a fraction of the price of any fast car. And I'm just spending a lot of money unnecessarily when the smarter thing to do would be to buy a cheaper run about car and buy a bike again for the weekends.
Any bikers out there been through this and out the other side....?
Edited by Alextodrive on Saturday 3rd July 23:37
If you're still confident and interested enough to get your kicks from bikes, I'd say do it. I wish I was still up for it.
Yes they did to an extent.
I’ve been lucky to own many fast cars over the years but once you’ve experienced a litre (1000cc) superbike cars feel pretty sedate (even 500bhp+ cars). The rush of going full throttle on a superbike is like nothing else. The noise, lack of protection, the front wheel going light is something else. Even riding sedately feels fun as you have to really pilot a bike and work with it to become a good rider, by comparison it’s much easier to become a good driver.
It’s also cheap by comparison to buy and running costs are also low.
Here’s what a sub 10k bike can do to a Bugatti Veyron Vitesse: https://youtu.be/boOnygO-ZWc
With all that said, I still love and appreciate cars.
I’ve been lucky to own many fast cars over the years but once you’ve experienced a litre (1000cc) superbike cars feel pretty sedate (even 500bhp+ cars). The rush of going full throttle on a superbike is like nothing else. The noise, lack of protection, the front wheel going light is something else. Even riding sedately feels fun as you have to really pilot a bike and work with it to become a good rider, by comparison it’s much easier to become a good driver.
It’s also cheap by comparison to buy and running costs are also low.
Here’s what a sub 10k bike can do to a Bugatti Veyron Vitesse: https://youtu.be/boOnygO-ZWc
With all that said, I still love and appreciate cars.
Edited by Scobblelotcher on Sunday 4th July 00:07
I never had a sports bike, just 70s/80s naked bikes that accelerated much faster than most cars of that era.
But due to losing my garage 10 years ago I haven't had a bike since then.
A sports bike is always going to accelerate quicker than any car, but I've found cars much faster when there is a bend involved!
I'm hoping to move to a property with a garage soon so will be getting another bike - and will enjoy both for what they are.
But due to losing my garage 10 years ago I haven't had a bike since then.
A sports bike is always going to accelerate quicker than any car, but I've found cars much faster when there is a bend involved!
I'm hoping to move to a property with a garage soon so will be getting another bike - and will enjoy both for what they are.
The difference between a fast car and a fast bike is that on a bike you can get past the Ferrari that is stuck following the procession of people doing 40mph on a 60mph stretch of road .
Don't get me wrong ,i like a fast car but on the bike i can filter past the old gits in their Honda Jazz and then enjoy the road.
Don't get me wrong ,i like a fast car but on the bike i can filter past the old gits in their Honda Jazz and then enjoy the road.
Miserablegit said:
With respect I think you’ve been driving the wrong cars
Get into a lotus Elise - slightly more practical than a bike, not as fast but much lighter than what you’ve been driving.
I was just about to say the same.. I went from having various 600 sports to an Elise 111r and the fun element is right up there with bikes. Now I’ve moved into a V6 Exige and it’s as fast as you ever need on the road.. These cars involve you like nothing else with 4 wheels (at any price). OP should try one...Get into a lotus Elise - slightly more practical than a bike, not as fast but much lighter than what you’ve been driving.
I don't think its the performance you miss from the bike, its the way you can, even on your own, hop on the bike and go for a ride at almost any time of any day and be able to enjoy the bikes performance. There is more to do and think about, so riding isn't travelling, its riding. Even slow bikes can be a lot of fun, because you are engaged at ensuring the machine does what you need it to.
With the boxster club, heading out for early morning runs gave some of that experience back. In essence, being able to freely enjoy the cars performance without traffic and or plod being a nuisance.
Once I got into track riding, the appeal of road riding disappeared for me.
Bikes are much cheaper for the fun factor. Maintenance is easier as most can do the basics themselves, they are easy to clean, overwhelmingly fun and assault senses to a factor that makes you feel like you've been working hard for that fun. To do this in most cars requires lots of cornering speed, heavy braking and generally destabilising the car to get the same feeling.
An elise is a good suggestion, VX220, most kit cars, even track prepped cars, hot hatches like the megane rs can be made to be fun without huge speed, but that car sat in front doing 50 in a 60 becomes a problem, where as on the bike you can despatch those dawdlers with such ease you often don't realise they are such an issue
With the boxster club, heading out for early morning runs gave some of that experience back. In essence, being able to freely enjoy the cars performance without traffic and or plod being a nuisance.
Once I got into track riding, the appeal of road riding disappeared for me.
Bikes are much cheaper for the fun factor. Maintenance is easier as most can do the basics themselves, they are easy to clean, overwhelmingly fun and assault senses to a factor that makes you feel like you've been working hard for that fun. To do this in most cars requires lots of cornering speed, heavy braking and generally destabilising the car to get the same feeling.
An elise is a good suggestion, VX220, most kit cars, even track prepped cars, hot hatches like the megane rs can be made to be fun without huge speed, but that car sat in front doing 50 in a 60 becomes a problem, where as on the bike you can despatch those dawdlers with such ease you often don't realise they are such an issue
Not sportsbikes but bikes in general,I really dont want my 'bike' any more, it hardly gets used, it costs money I dont have, I have to force myself out to ride, BUT, I really cant bring myself to live with even a 125 sitting ready to go if i need it.
A decent car would make much more sense for me as it would get more use, but once youve had a bike it seems to be an addiction that cant be kicked.
A decent car would make much more sense for me as it would get more use, but once youve had a bike it seems to be an addiction that cant be kicked.
I've not had much in the way of fast cars with my TVR Chimaera (5.3 V8 Developments upgrade) being the quickest. All cars felt ... meh ... after fast bikes and were much more work to use enthusiastically on the road. Traffic is just so much easier to deal with on a bike. And all of that is totally aside from the cost differences for both purchase and running costs.
It's bikes for me now, all the way.
It's bikes for me now, all the way.
hucumber said:
Yep, fast bikes make fast cars seem pointless! I love cars, but with my limited funds I would much rather have a fast bike and a s
t car than just a fast car
Personal opinion really!t car than just a fast carI’m lucky to have both at the moment, The car (600hp twin turbo), I take to the Ring and odd drive out and meets, I have as much fun in as I do any the bikes I have to. It all depends on the situation
Beautiful sunny dry road days, the bikes just as much fun.
This is probably something I'll need to assess in the next couple of years, when the lease is up on my car I'll have a look at how much I want to spend a year on car and bike and work out what I want to spend where. My daughter will be at school and the nursery run of a 35 mile round trip will be gone, unlikely to go back to 5 days a week in the office with 1 or 2 days seemingly what's going to happen.
It would make sense to get something at a lower cost for the mileage I'll be doing, if my wife keeps her company car I might get a 595 abarth, if she doesn't something practical like a focus/sportage may happen. Deathly boring but with annual car mileage probably dropping to 5k a year replacing with a white goods kind of car makes sense. However, this frees up budget for something a bit more fun for the bike, or I keep the cbr650 for the road and get something for track as well.
I've got plenty of time to work it out, I need to get some track time to see if it's for me (having really enjoyed car track days I can't see me not liking it) but car appropriate for the job, bike that's usable on the road and bike for track where you can really push seems like the best combination.
I can see an Elise or something comparably raw being more likely to give the feeling of involvement, a c63 would be great but a very different feeling.
It would make sense to get something at a lower cost for the mileage I'll be doing, if my wife keeps her company car I might get a 595 abarth, if she doesn't something practical like a focus/sportage may happen. Deathly boring but with annual car mileage probably dropping to 5k a year replacing with a white goods kind of car makes sense. However, this frees up budget for something a bit more fun for the bike, or I keep the cbr650 for the road and get something for track as well.
I've got plenty of time to work it out, I need to get some track time to see if it's for me (having really enjoyed car track days I can't see me not liking it) but car appropriate for the job, bike that's usable on the road and bike for track where you can really push seems like the best combination.
I can see an Elise or something comparably raw being more likely to give the feeling of involvement, a c63 would be great but a very different feeling.
Absolutely. I was massively into cars before discovering bikes. Then had a big accident and gave up road riding for 16 years. Was back into cars and had loads. Then 6 years ago I started riding on the road again and have lost interest in cars again.
As others have said, simply more fun on the bike and so easy to overtake. To get a similar thrill in a car I would need to be pushing harder.
At one point I had 5 cars. Now down to one boring Golf.
I prefer riding on the road rather than on track. Especially on road I don’t know. However that requires decent roads nearby, which hasn’t always been the case.
As others have said, simply more fun on the bike and so easy to overtake. To get a similar thrill in a car I would need to be pushing harder.
At one point I had 5 cars. Now down to one boring Golf.
I prefer riding on the road rather than on track. Especially on road I don’t know. However that requires decent roads nearby, which hasn’t always been the case.
I don't have to, but if I did, I'd probably take the fast car. Leaving traffic out of the equation, on a B road you have to be quite committed to pull a big gap on a fast car. Figure in low temperatures from November to February, and I'd rather have a slide on 4 wheels than 2. A lot of years ago, when I needed a deposit for my first house, I had a 3dr Cosworth and a fairly new Fireblade. The Cosworth looked nice on the drive.
I’m of the opinion that fun going fast on the road in a properly fast car or on a litre sports bike just isn’t really possible... The opportunities to give it a squirt are just so few and far between and then you either run out of road or hit traffic before you’ve really hit your stride.
As has been mentioned above, lighter cars that handle, with just enough power to test the chassis is the best option and the same probably goes for the bike but I’ve only got a sports bike that I’m resigned to the fact will only really be fun on track.
As has been mentioned above, lighter cars that handle, with just enough power to test the chassis is the best option and the same probably goes for the bike but I’ve only got a sports bike that I’m resigned to the fact will only really be fun on track.
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