ESPN Greg Easterbrook, bikes should be banned

[skid vicious]

way to go gregg, don't let the facts get in the way of your rant.
BTW, if you wish to contact this turd, he would love to hear from everyone here:

http://proxy.espn.go.com/chat/mailba...event_id=11535

He has pretty much just used his journalist status to promote his personal agenda. We don't need the bad publicity in such a large forum as ESPN. Sportbikes and riders are already frowned on by the general public without this manipulative misinformation being spewed.

Fuck him and more, fuck ESPN for allowing that to be printed

link-
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2...t&lid=tab3pos2

Sayonara, Hayabusa: "It remains totally ridiculous, to say nothing of immature, that Ben Roethlisberger, or anyone, rides a motorcycle without a helmet." (From TMQ in August 2005.)




The Hayabusa looks pretty sweet -- but it's a weapon on the roads.Helmet aside, this is what Roethlisberger was straddling when he wiped out -- a Suzuki Hayabusa, advertised by the manufacturer as "the fastest production bike on the planet." The Hayabusa has a 160-horsepower engine, same as the new Ford Fusion sedan. But the motorcycle weighs 478 pounds, while a Fusion tips the scales at 3,101 pounds. This means a Hayabusa throbs with seven times the horsepower-to-weight ratio of a modern car. Another vehicle with a 160-horsepower engine is the Cessna 172 Skyhawk, with a maximum takeoff weight of 2,450 pounds. Roethlisberger's bike had five times the power-to-weight ratio of an airplane, and minimum-weight criteria dominate aircraft design. The Hayabusa boasts a peak speed of almost 200 miles per hour, but since no street rider ever approaches peak speed, in everyday circumstances what the power is used for is acceleration. The bike accelerates from zero to 100 miles per hour in three seconds, which is astonishing. The new Corvette Z06, the fastest Corvette ever, accelerates from zero to 60 in 3.8 seconds, plenty dazzling enough. But the Hayabusa gets to 100 miles per hour faster than the best Corvette reaches 60 miles per hour. One-thousand-one, one-thousand-two, one-thousand-three -- your Hayabusa is now moving 100 miles per hour.


Like all max-performance bikes, the Hayabusa is basically a big engine with two wheels and a seat. There are no safety mechanisms: no roll bars, no shoulder harness, no impact-absorbing beams, no air bags, not even bumpers. Acceleration of max-performance motorcycles is wildly disproportionate to driving needs. The only real use of the acceleration ability is road rage -- to drag-race from stoplights, cut others off in traffic, speed like mad. Perhaps you've been on a highway when a couple colorful high-performance bikes have roared past you at far over the speed limit. The people on the bikes may be morons, which is their problem. But their antisocial behavior is your problem, since vehicles moving significantly faster than the speed of traffic are a leading cause of accidents.


This column isn't much of a fan of the tort bar, yet wonders why litigators have not put the Hayabusa and similar overpowered bikes out of business. High-performance street motorcycles are socially irresponsible, and designed without regard for the safety of riders. Roethlisberger and others who buy high-performance bikes don't wish anyone harm, they're just looking for an ego rocket. But harm is what they cause, and legislatures should intervene. The Constitution says you've got a right to own a gun and to read a newspaper; firearms and materials related to First Amendment political, artistic and religious expression are the only categories of purchases with specific constitutional protection. Race a mega-motorcycle on a private track? Sure. But public roads are subject to public regulation. Our nation's laws do not confer any "right" to operate on public roads a high-horsepower bike, anymore than there's a "right" to drive a bulldozer down the middle of an interstate. It is past time the high-horsepower motorcycle was regulated off the roads. The intended use of these bikes is lawbreaking!

[_Jay_]

What a fucking tool

[benellis]

I find that people who don't ride sportbikes look down upon them.

[crashking]

sent: Nice comments on motorcycles. Ben crashes its the bike's fault or Suzukis. Your comments are more moronic then Ben riding w/o a helmet.

[Mack]

well then shit you can't build a car that goes over the speed limit either....no more vettes, mustangs, 3000 GT and those guys building 9 second honda civics in their garages aren't a loud to drive it on the street either...fuckin tool bag

[SilverDragon]

I guess my post wasn't good enough. It got deleted or somehow vanished. Oh well!

[Xracer264]

Just thinking about it... How many athletes, especially pro athletes have gotten injured, killed or have injured or killed someone else for DRIVING high performance cars too fast and losing control. Did the media say it was Chevys or Porches or whomevers fault for building that car! No it was and still is the operators responsibility for their safety and the safety of their passenger.