WELL THAT SETTLES THAT, I'M GETTING AN X-BOX

Two words: Unreal Championship. Screenshots follow:

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Give it to me!

I convinced another person to buy a motorcycle! Boom from PuF has one of these, a '79 Yamaha XS400. I like it. Reminds me of the little UJMs I grew up riding on as a passenger (until the Z-1 that is).

Well, a guy was clocked going 160 mph on LakeShore Drive in Chicago. He was on a '99 Honda F4 (a state of the art bike). I think it's absolutely moronic myself, but I also have a couple of reservations... Read it here. It's kind of neat to claim highest speeding ticket ever. Shame about never being able to ride ever ever again. What I like is the cops had to check the gun and then call the Honda dealer to see if that bike could go that fast. Officer says "he was almost parallel to the ground when he went through that turn". The shop said "it's basically a race bike with turn signals; the bike has state of the art handling capabilities". And yes, it can easily top 160 mph with a couple cheap mods.

Now, we all know speed limits are what they are simply so that any cop any place at any time can write someone a ticket. But 160 is absurd. Get thee to a track! All he's done is cast yet another spotlight of irresponsibility on sportbike riders everywhere. Tom Brokaw is even doing a story on sportbikes and sportbike riders tomorrow on the news (I'm recording it). Some people have started to realize that some street bikes can go from ZERO MPH to ONE HUNDRED MPH in LESS THAN FIVE SECONDS!! (ZX-12R, Blackbird, or Busa with sprocket, mapping, filter, and pipe). And with less money spent than the base Honda Civic model. Over 70% of all R1s are totalled within the first 18 months of ownership. The only reason Mr. Rogan was caught was because he wanted to be. The number of people running from the cops on sportbikes has risen dramatically. Because it's so easy.

And I'm conflicted because yes I think that's pretty irresponsible and assinine (get yer ass to a track boyracer) and hurts everyone, but I also know a sportbike going 160 is alot less dangerous to everyone else than a 5000 pound landbarge police cruiser going 130. I wish this was Germany too, but that's Germany where the car drivers know how to drive and SUVs are relatively rare. I also saw the part in the story about how the guy preaches safety gear and always wears it. Well that's great, but going 160+ on the street is not safe no matter what you're wearing. That's what tracks are for... there's far far less chance of injury or death on a track. On the other hand, they've slapped him with 8 or 9 tickets and he may never ride or drive legally ever again...

When I feel the need to go 160, it will not be on a road like LakeShore Drive! It will be at a track or on a deserted straightaway.

Jesse, this is what I want to get going (engine in a bicycle). That thing is really nice, but not exactly slow (top speed 130). I'd take one that could chug up hills at 12 mph and still let me pedal sometimes.

I'm beat and I will have more about my grades, financial aid quest, job search, life decisions and plan-making, etc. next time.