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Post by spandi on Jul 28, 2014 17:38:26 GMT -5
Funny intro, and exceptional riding after that.
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Post by shalomdawg on Jul 28, 2014 22:47:45 GMT -5
howdy, someone rides a good camera also
lotsa miles and smiles to ya
ken
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Post by urbanmadness on Jul 29, 2014 10:48:01 GMT -5
Yep, both guys are pretty good. I wish there were more places to ride like that where I am.
-Ray
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Post by rockynv on Jul 29, 2014 22:43:50 GMT -5
The Scarabeo and Sport City 250's surprise many people. The Sport City 250 weighs in at 326 lbs to the Scarabeo's 373 lbs which makes it a bit more flick-able in the twisties. Both have the same engine which develops about 23 hp and works well with Dr. Pulley Sliders. Add a $89 plug-n-play (no cutting, splicing or modification required) Ducati attenuator to fatten up the fuel mix at idle to mid range and the bikes will amaze with everything else in stock condition. Many discount them because they are scooters however they fail to take into account that they were designed by some pretty hard core Super Bike engineers. What is the parent company Piaggio's reaction to all this? Pull all Aprilia Scooters over 50cc from the US market. You may find places to ride nearby that you are not aware of at: motorcycleroads.com/BTW: Don't try to ride like this on tires that are not fresh or are low quality or you can have the bike suddenly slide out from under you. |
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Post by oldchopperguy on Jul 30, 2014 0:36:12 GMT -5
Woo HOO!
NO chicken-strips on that bad boy's tires... It's FUN to push a good ride through turns like that... And I used to do it in my younger years too. At least until discovering a patch of pea-gravel spread across the sweeping curve on an otherwise "perfect" twisty outside Fort Bragg in NC.
The immediate sensation of going from total control, pouring it on, knee at the pavement, to totally out-of-control, sliding across a grass median, between 80mph oncoming cars, through a parking-lot and ending up against a building is one I truly hoped I'd NEVER again experience...
Once the tires lose all traction, in a 2-G curve, even a world-class rider becomes an unwilling passenger on a kamikaze ride into whatever happens to be in his or her "trajectory"... LOL!
At 67, my riding "technique" is a lot tamer than it was at 18... But seven years ago, the first day on my then-new Xingyue 150, I was truly enjoying being back on 2 wheels again. While making a sweeping curve on a local surface 4-lane road, doing a sedate 50mph I leaned into it a tad too far. The center-stand hit, lifting BOTH wheels off the pavement. In a shower of sparks, I rocketed sideways, again through oncoming traffic, ending up backwards against a gas-pump at a "stop n' rob" store. All without going down. THAT was the good Lord's help, NOT my outdated riding skills.
Centrifugal force is fun, BUT not always our friend...
Ride safe!
Leo in Texas
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Post by rockynv on Jul 30, 2014 5:55:20 GMT -5
Sometimes on the Aprilia you are tempted to use all the parts of the tire available to make contact with the road. You will start scraping the belly pan on the Sport City just before the center stand or muffler touches the road. View it as an early warning signal however on right turns you get a bit more warning than on the lefts. Some riders will put a fork brace on the Sport City to make it even tighter (the models for the small Moto Guzzi fit).
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Post by SylvreKat on Jul 30, 2014 7:18:24 GMT -5
Uh, yeah, I think I prefer my chicken strips. I noticed he followed David Hough's delayed apex when flattening his curves.  I also noticed his buddy the camera-biker did not flatten his curves. Guess we know why he was relegated to following and not to being the one filmed. >'Kat |
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Post by shalomdawg on Jul 30, 2014 14:32:16 GMT -5
howdy, just an ignorant observation. regardless of the difference in line on the corners, the camera bike kept the same pace for the entire time as the rider being filmed. otherwise the camera would have lost sight of the objective----?
lotsa miles and smiles to ya
ken
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Post by rockynv on Jul 31, 2014 23:27:50 GMT -5
The cameraman is generally the better rider etc. A while back I was watching an interview of a famous downhill and trick skier who had just released a video highlighting his abilities and he said what he does is nothing compared to the unsung real hero who made his video possible the cameraman who many times while skiing backwards stayed out front and clear of him while taking video footage with a commercial video camera on a harness and not a helmet cam.
He said it was a humbling experience to be showing off his prowess while chasing a guy skiing backwards with a heavy video camera on his shoulder and its remote battery pack strapped under his parka to keep it warm and functioning despite the cold.
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Post by spandi on Aug 1, 2014 20:12:04 GMT -5
The Scarabeo and Sport City 250's surprise many people. The Sport City 250 weighs in at 326 lbs to the Scarabeo's 373 lbs which makes it a bit more flick-able in the twisties. Both have the same engine which develops about 23 hp and works well with Dr. Pulley Sliders. Add a $89 plug-n-play (no cutting, splicing or modification required) Ducati attenuator to fatten up the fuel mix at idle to mid range and the bikes will amaze with everything else in stock condition. Many discount them because they are scooters however they fail to take into account that they were designed by some pretty hard core Super Bike engineers. What is the parent company Piaggio's reaction to all this? Pull all Aprilia Scooters over 50cc from the US market. You may find places to ride nearby that you are not aware of at: motorcycleroads.com/BTW: Don't try to ride like this on tires that are not fresh or are low quality or you can have the bike suddenly slide out from under you. What more could you ask for? An Aprilia 250 "mops the floor" with a big cruiser, while Jazz legend Nina Simone sings about "Rock" on the soundtrack.  |
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Post by rockynv on Aug 2, 2014 7:27:04 GMT -5
What more could you ask for? An Aprilia 250 "mops the floor" with a big cruiser, while Jazz legend Nina Simone sings about "Rock" on the soundtrack. Can't really blame the guy on the clean Euro3 Spec Aprilia not wanting to be stuck getting gassed behind some of those cruisers. I used to ride with a crowd who were mostly on Boulevard 850's, V-Star 1300's and Vulcan Voyager 1700's. The gas fumes would make your eyes water if you got stuck behind them and the racket of the clunky shifters would become annoying after a while. Just when the road would get interesting they would slow down to a crawl otherwise at least one would slide off into a ditch kicking off the team building exercise of getting an 800+ lb bike out of the ditch (drainage swale meaning muddy) and back onto the road again. With a little head porting/polishing along with a larger fuel injector from a 500cc scooter and a GPR or Leo Vince exhaust you can then remap the fuel trims and push about 30 hp from the Piaggio 250 getting your top end speeds in excess of 110 mph and 0-60 timings rivaling many sport bikes due to the low end torque. |
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