Old days were good

Wurn · 06-19-2008, 9:06 AM

Ok so i am only 37yrs and not that old. But i remember my fav rider Freddie Spencer riding. Then Mich Doohan, Kevin, John Kocinski, Lawson, Rayney etc... and well MotoGP of today does not excite me in any way as those days.

World Superbikes kinda makes up for it but well... i miss those races.

My dream of all time is to go to the US and go to Freddie Spencer's advance race days. As i live in South Africa i doubt it will happen soon. Argh just to meet the man.

So what am i on about, well i miss real bike racing.

steingar · 06-19-2008, 2:24 PM

These are the good old days. Bikes are better than they ever have been in every respect. Faster, more dependable, and more specialized. Gear is more diverse and available. The price of fuel is up but it is still less of an expense than insurance. And motorcycles have become sufficiently popular to allow for economies of scale. I've never seen it better ever.

FB1000inPA · 06-19-2008, 3:07 PM

Even so he wasn't a Honda rider but Kenny Roberts shouldn't be missed in any list of great riders.

Wurn · 06-20-2008, 3:29 AM

I agree with you that bikes are better and gear. But as for racing/riders and how to handle the type of bike the old days were much better Imo.

Quote:

Originally Posted by steingar

These are the good old days. Bikes are better than they ever have been in every respect. Faster, more dependable, and more specialized. Gear is more diverse and available. The price of fuel is up but it is still less of an expense than insurance. And motorcycles have become sufficiently popular to allow for economies of scale. I've never seen it better ever.

Hornhonker · 06-20-2008, 6:53 PM

I liked watching Mike Hailwood and Phil Read duke it out at the Isl of Mann (on tv

). Screaming 6 cyl 250s, 5cyl 125s and breaking the "Ton" was what it was all about. I'm afraid I can't get very excited about the current batch of inline 4s. Hailwood retired with 76 Grand Prix victories, 14 Isle of Man TT wins and 9 World Championships.

cbr900racer77 · 06-20-2008, 8:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FB1000inPA

Even so he wasn't a Honda rider but Kenny Roberts shouldn't be missed in any list of great riders.

Very true. I had a Kenny Roberts jacket in high school (I'm 43). That was my alltime favorite jacket to wear. How about "Hurricane" Bob Hannah in motocross? Or Danny "Magoo" Chandler on his Maico (that he crashed so much they ended up firing him). Hadn't thought about any of these guys in a long time, thanks for the memories

Platinum929 · 06-21-2008, 1:10 AM

Well, first of all, in the old days they actually raced, and there was a whole lot more parity. The machines and the technology gap was not as big as it is now. Then it was more of the rider (Roberts Sr. Augostino) and not necessarily the machine. I remember Wayne Gardner, most of the other guys mentioned, and some of those not mentioned as well. My personal American Hero, Schwantz. Go figure, 'cause I only ride Hondas, and I would never own a Suduki!! My favorite foreigner would be a toss up between 2 stroke greats like Luca Cadalora. I tire tested with him back in 90-92 when he was with Erv Kanemoto. Nobuatsu Aoki, Nissin Cup Noodle racing, Tetsuya Harada who rode a Yamaha. Of the new guys that are out I like Rossi, Pedrosa, and the other Honda riders too! My #1 favorite for the last 5 years has been Noriyuki Haga, and he rides a Yamaha!!!! As far as the racing now vs. then, well you have a generation gap and the machines these guys are riding now are so advanced it ain't even funny. I mean I never thought there would ever be an animal out there to out do a 500cc 2-stroke, and now look, and now these guys have traction control and in flight suspension stabilization, fuel injection, etc., of course it's gonna be different. These guys are still tremendously fast. I can't speak about what goes on in the American series without being negative, so we'll leave that alone. I wonder how dominate would the Suduki riders be in a full time in a World Championship series??Hmmm. I guess I'm ramblin' sorry, but as far as traction control goes I read that as far as KTM is concerned, anyone with traction control could get a chimpanzee to ride their bikes. I guess what I'm sayin' is take out the money and put every one of the guys out there on the same tuned machine and tires and let's see who really is the best..........Peace.