This chart may help illustrate better what I was trying to describe. The blue part of the line represents reaction distance, i.e., the amount of time = distance it takes to react, meaning the time it takes the brain to see and react to an obstacle in the road, and the red part of the line is braking distance, the amount of time = distance it takes to stop once you actually start applying brakes. As can be seen, traveling at 80 mph it takes over a football field to come to a complete stop (reaction time + braking time).

 

It's not speed that kills, suddenly becoming stationary is what kills you.

That said I ride pretty fast most of the time, but am comfortable when doing so. Hitting the ton is a normal occurrence.

 

Should some of this conversation be about learning how to use your brakes? I've watched more than one rider go sailing by another rider in a quick stopping situation even though there was a reasonable distance between the riders and on similar bikes. Nothing like watching a rider with their rear tire locked up going sideways because they don't know how to use a front brake and are improperly using the rear brake. Even if they have a good reaction time, it's ruined if they don't know how to stop. Easy to duplicate in a parking lot, watch stopping distances vary just because of who's riding the bike.

 

I prefer to ride just a few miles an hour faster than the traffic. I do believe in my "spidey sense" and if it doesn't feel right, I do slow down. Night in Texas is critter fest so its important to adapt your speed to the environment you are riding in.

 

I came up on a moose here in CO one evening. The bastard was standing right on the side of the road and as I gave space and went to go by, the little **** started running right at me.

Moose DO come after you. If you ever come up on one...better have that throttle hand ready.

 

I've been licensed since 1974. In that time the single most frightening thing that has happened isn't speed, but cell phones and texting. I commute in Los Angeles where rush hour is the norm. If a car is drifting into my lane, 9 out of 10 times it is someone texting or using the cell phone in some way. another scary thing is people wearing earphones listening to music and can't hear what is going on outside their car. I didn't have to worry about these things back in the day.

I don't own a car. Just a RK, my third. I put on a lot of miles. When I travel on the freeway going out of town, I find myself cruising at 80+. When I went cross country from Boston to California, I found myself cruising at 90+. Generally around here, I am going 70-80 on the freeway.

One thing I've learned is that the majority of accidents, according to the American Motorcycle Association occurs because automobiles violate our right of way and causes us to crash, or crashes into us. I've also learned that inexperience is the second most common cause of motorcycle accidents where speed is certainly a factor. The rider was going faster than his/her skills would allow.

For me, some of the most effective things to do on a motorcycle was also the most counter-intuitive things. Want to turn effectively? Counter-steer. That lesson took a while to take, but once learned, my cornering became much safer. Want to avoid an accident? Often that means accelerate and get the heck out of the way because we only have two wheels, and brakes compared to four of a car. Experience tells us what may happen in a split instance because we were lucky enough to have seen such a thing happen before and was able to avoid it. At my age, I am so grateful that I've managed to anticipate some things before they happen and act accordingly.

I also attend the advance motorcycle safety training every few years. Learning from pros can never hurt. It has been money well spent. If something you learn saves just one crash, it was well worth it!

All in all, keeping the rubber side down isn't always about speed, but good judgement, good reflexes, blind luck, a guardian angel and a whole host of things we cannot control. Even with all the precautions taken, bad things can happen. We all know that every time we ride, it could be the last thing we ever do, yet we all ride because what we get out of it is greater that the risk we take. So, I appreciate you asking this question because it gets the conversation going and hopefully something that some one writes here may save another person from an accident. That said, I have gone over 145 a few times when I was young and rode sport bikes...At that speed, it is not doubt pure Russian Roulette. These days, I only go as fast as the condition at that moment allows.

 

With no fairing or windshield anything over 60 usually sucks. My Speed Racer days are over. Except for cruising out East on the L.I.E. I have no reason to go over 55.

 

You bascially nailed a few other points I was making. You admit in a previous post that 80-90 scared you, yet you continue to modify the bike for more and more power, that you're not really ever going to use. Her in NY, the highways run 75-80 EVERY morning to get to work. If you want to enjoy the ride, you can do it on a little single cylinder Suzuki, you dont need a new 110ci. Anyone out to "prove something", and not enjoy the freedom that comes along with two wheels, is really missing out. As for "those that do it for the dyno sheet and to be able to say their harley has 150+ hp.", I feel really bad for them and their insecurities, its costing them a bit of money. More power to anyone that wants to ride fast and take chances, as long as its somewhere safe. Its their life, not anyone elses, let them live. The only ones that should be concerned with how fast you're going on the highway is the fuzz, and even they dont give two hoots how fast you're going if theres an HD logo on it.

 

Probably true, but the fact is that even a slow motorcycle is generally going to be faster than a fast car.

 

That's about right. I did a squirrelly, WOT 105 mph on my '69 Honda 305 SuperHawk (Heaven knows how accurate the speedo was) back in the 60's when I was immortal, and a very comfortable, ride-on-rails 120 mph (GPS) on my Honda ST1300 a few years ago. But I never had any of my Harleys much over 80, and I'm more than happy with that.