Anyone else feel inadequate?

[ashman]

Atleast we arnt members of a Ninja 250 forum. My buddy had a ex250 and always got asked is that a 600? He would say no and bow his head. One time this middle aged ladys goes "thats cute, i'd ride one like that." His ego never recovered.

-ash

p.s. theres no replacement for displacement. but w/ motorcycles a dab will do ya.

[Muldoon]

My friends thought I was nuts and going to end up as road kill cause it looks faster than it is! But my other riding friends all think its a cool bike. But most important to me is that I LOVE it! I talk to it and I have even patted it after a particulalry good ride. Most real riders dont give a stuff what your ride. Tossers that think its a little bike, I dont want to know anyway.

[chupacabrah]

I just say, SUZUKI with an imposing tone.
Very few people i know ask beyond that.

I tried that.  it took about a week for the same guy to ask what kind of suzuki.

another guy, however, when I said "suzuki", he was like "oh shaZam! son, you got a 'busa?"   i was like....no.
keep in mind where i go to school  

[mes_423]

yeah i love my bike thats what matters to me, i mean i still want a sv650s but i content with my bike. but there is this dude that always comes to my work and he rides a gsxr750 and the first time he came over. he kept staring at my bike, so i went out there and we talked for awhile, he was like "dude thats a aweasome bike" i was like "yeah i know"  :mrgreen:

[Lukewarm Wilson]

If you say GS500 and they go    just ask them what do they have?
I found it  generally shuts them up if they dont ride, unless they turn around and say R1 then you say oh sorry to hear your tackle is that small :lol:

[GRU]

when people ask me what bike do i ride, i just say "suzuki" because i used to say gs500 and they were shocked        because non of them ever heard about a gs500 so i don't even have the time to explain to them....my answer to the cagers "i just ride a naked suzuki"

[Scottso]

I was in a Pizzeria last year two NYPD cops walked in. One cop asks me "is that  my bike?" I told him "yeah". He gets all talkative about bikes but in a tone like he was an authority on the subject and I should be taking notes (you know the type). I guess he sees a GS500 and wants to seize an opprtunity that someone might find him knowledgeable. I let the jack-off ramble a bit until he got to "the bike is too small... A nighthawk 750 would eat it for breakfast... Not in an argumentative way, just in that lecturing tone.  I finally told him that it was fast enough and then I asked him how long he's been a cop. He tells me a year. So I told him "if that bike ever decided to run from you, you'd wrap yourself around the first street pole if you chased it." He was a little surprised but it's all I could say on my way out not to smack him in his young face. Some people just feel like they gotta take a shaZam! on someone else just to feel better. There was some gravel in the street from construction. I can't tell you how tempted I was to pop the clutch and shoot gravel at their car. I'd be a puff of dust by the time they dropped their slices and ran to their car. Condescending prick!

[dnikop]

well, I haven't heard any condescending comments about my GS500F yet, but one day another guy with an old but classic bike stopped beside me in the traffic lights and first looked curious cause he couldn't recognise it, but when he figured out it was the new GS500F he was impressed and told me it was a great bike and that there was no reason to get a faster one, you would only end up paying more in insurance and not really gaining that much in joy....  

So don't worry about it, real riders and bike enthusiasts know if it is a good bike or not.

/Dion

I gotta say I hate it when people say in a retorical way "So thats a 250cc right!?"  :x

When I correct them and add that its a 500cc they are like: "Wow, it looks waaaaaaay smaller then that!"

I kinda agree  :dunno:

Still, I have yet to been beat by ANY car yet and killed a 2004 R6 with a pillion over 400m the other night - I thought that the R6 would nail my ass even with the pillion.... hmmm power to weight is soooo important.

Stay Safe  

[MarkusN]

Whoa! I'd sure hate to ride pillion on an R6 being drag raced!

It was a girl on the back - like 19 or something - she was holding on for dear life! The look on her face was like....  

Stay Safe  

[SmoothDave]

I've only had my 97 for a few weeks now, and I've already heard most of the things many of you have heard.  What I've figured out is that most non-riders have only heard of two kinds of bikes.  It's either a crotch rocket or a Harley.  They couldn't, for example, name even one model of Harley, nor can they tell you anything about crotch rockets.  So, I use it as an opportunity to briefly explain the different types of bikes.  Sometimes the next thing they say is, "I really want a bike."

Then I've got them.  "You want a GS500," I tell them.  "Not my GS500, mind you, because I love this machine, but this is what you want."

They aren't trying to be condescending.  They just don't know.

Smooth Dave

[Rippa_MD]

yesterday this middle age lady got confused because she saw the bike from the front. she said is that a 'harley' I said no it's a suzuki. she was like buzuki, zubuki, I said 'no suzuki' . end of discussion.

as I was leaving she got closer and looked from the side and said 'wow great bike, you be careful' all I could think is how I love this naked mutt as I rode off.

[dnikop]

I Agree with SmoothDave, most people don't have anough knowledge about bikes, and you'd be surprised how many bike owners there are out there who have very little knowledge themselves...  All I hear is R1 here and CBR there etc.. bla bla, most people have seen this bike on TV or heard about it from someone else. But they have no idea about bikes  

People buy bikes for the wrong reasons, such as looking cool. They hardly ever drive them, only to some coffee shop and park it outside to impress everyone. These people have no idea how to ride and handle it, and it shows on the street. I've been able to beat several of these bikes on acceleration with my GS500F, simply because these guys don't know how to shift....   they never bothered to learn how..... only how to look and act cool.... either that or they're so afraid of loosing control of the bike that they don't dare touch the throttle.... but they sure are quick to tell you how cool their bike is....

Don't worry about owning a GS, in time you will buy a larger bike (I will too eventually), but you will buy it for the right reasons and be able to actually ride it too....

/Dion

[scratch]

My buddy had a ex250 and always got asked is that a 600?

When I had my little SRX250 I used to really enjoy it when people asked me (expecially police that had pulled me over) if it was a 500. I'd say "No", with a big grin on my face . "It's just a 250." When I was pulled over by one cop car, he thought I was speeding "on that small bike" and I just told him, "It can't even go that fast".  I never received a ticket on that bike. :mrgreen:

[klimber]

my turn for a story!!

the other day i stopped by a local motorcycle "boutique" shop to pick up a quart of yamaha carb cleaner  anyways...

when packing up, several of the service guys were outside for a smoke and one took the time to say "hey your bike looks great, we never see those here because they never need to be"

the shop sells suzuki, ducatti, mv agusta, yamaha and triumph

[oldsport]

Not with regards to my GS.  

On the other hand, I've always felt uncomfortable in public showers and bathrooms that my thingie maybe isn't quite as, well, all you guys who ride GS's know what I mean.

[The Buddha]

Like my KZ440... I told the cop... here you ride it and see how long it takes for you to get to 55 and then tell me I was speeding... You know I was at that red light 1/2 mile back right...He said yea you were, Yea I  was... but I was rolling up, saw it go red in the other direction and never closed the throttle... but he thought I stopped... I had to... I was the first in that pack of cars... ha ha weave and get around the slow ones...
Cool.
Srinath.

[Laura]

"tackle". I've never heard that one before.

Laura

[Rema1000]

You could tell them it's a HarlaBusa500R.
I just tell them "it's the purple kind."