[shane]

It was wrong.
I know it was wrong.
Before anyone flames me, please rest assured that I know what I did was not safe, and it was childish and it was an uncalled-for risk. It was also deeply satisfying.
I took my wife on the motorcycle to Ocean City, MD this past Sunday. It was a great ride, but a short one. We didn’t know it ahead of time, but there was a big car show going on, and the whole place was flooded with “car guys.” No harm there; I love cars as much as anyone else. There were roving packs of teenagers in crappy little tuner cars, too, and that was the only thing that made our boardwalk quest for Thrasher’s French Fries less than perfect.
We were stopped at a red light, in the right lane, when a 4-door BMW with loud canister exhausts pulled up in the other lane just as the light turned green. He was trying to blow past me, so I rolled the throttle a bit and kept pace. He was trying to pass me like he was proud of going faster than a 750-pound motorcycle loaded down with two people.
As luck would have it, we stopped together at the next red light, both of us first in our lane. He revved his engine and inched forward in the universal sign of “My Balls are Bigger Than Yours.”
I felt my wife’s fingers dig into my sides a little. She knew what was coming.
When the light turned green, I opened the throttle and slipped the clutch just a little, letting the RPMs sing their alien monster song. Mr. BMW stomped on the gas and I let go with my left hand. Despite the extra weight (and friction) on the back wheel, and despite the traction control, my rear wheel spun and kicked out about three inches to the left before grabbing pavement and launching us forward.
We were two car lengths ahead of Mr. BMW before he even got his back wheels past the line. A second later, I could see him tearing up the road behind me… getting smaller. I slowed down to the speed limit and let him pass us just as I saw a state trooper on the shoulder up ahead.
I’m in awe of this machine. Anyone who thinks it’s slow… that it can’t go from zero to sixty in OHMYGOD, hasn’t really put the spurs to it.
Ride safe, friends. And if you can’t ride safe, at least let the pimply-faced dweeb in the next lane over know that the Honda CTX1300 ain’t no slouch. :smile:

 

[sleepngbear]

No flaming from me, bro. I love a good thump-a-cager tale ... almost as much as thumping a noisy-a$$ Harley. Great story.

 

[blakebird]

it does leave the line quickly, and without a lot of sensation that you're doing it quickly.

 

[Hoosierman]

AMEN....BROTHER! That's AWESOME! Great story!

 

[MarkH]

So you spun the rear tire and still put Mr. BMW to shame? How can something so right be wrong?

 

[Reidion]

I'm pretty sure you'll get no flames here... As long as you had full control. ALSO the fact that you slowed down before the trooper is key! Yes, it is sometimes fun to race people off the line (especially when there's a SEVERE advantage for you), but always do it responsibly, which you did!

 

[shane]

Well, to be fair, it was not a sporty Beemer, it was a four-door with loud exhaust. Also, my tire squealed and chattered left but didn't take long at all to gain traction. I don't think I would have fared so well against, say, a Corvette.

 

[csdexter]

I once watched a YouTube video made by some motorcycle policeman in the UK about safe riding skills on the country roads (mostly positioning and throttle/gear control). I remember that, when overtaking, he always said "throttle wide open, look in mirror, look behind, turn the other signal on, merge back, close throttle".

Two days ago, for no good reason, his words came back to me as I was riding behind a slow vehicle on a long, open and straight country road so I fell for it. Holy f'ing ****, I haven't felt such a surge of controlled and precise power in a long time

The CTX1300 gets my seal of approval for "warp speed"

 

[shane]

I remember 100 miles per hour on my v65 Magna with no windshield. At that speed, the wind is a palpable force, a constant tugging and a ripping push on every inch my body's forward surfaces.
100 miles per hour on the CTX feels very much like 80, which feels almost exactly the same as 60.
This thing is not just fast, but deceptively fast. It just GOES.

 

[sleepngbear]

This thing is not just fast, but deceptively fast. It just GOES.

It definitely sneaks up on you more than any other bike I've owned.

 

[westgl]

humm You Spun the Rear tire, and got the rear a little sideways.

I wonder what a Car Tire, darksided CTX13 would have done in that same scenario.

Probably No Car Tire spin, Since you would have about 4 times the amount of rubber on the ground at any given time, and No drift sideways, Just launch straight, forward, and faster.

Power to weight ratio on the new corvette is pretty low depending on which model of vette, they are a supercar

 

[westgl]

humm

I was just thinking about this and I love a story with a happy ending, and had to re-read it.

You said you had traction control on.

Traction control, usually means, a sensor based on the ABS, could be same sensor, and probably is, reads the speed of the front & rear wheels at the same time, counting rotations and comparing both of the speed of front and rear wheel when one wheel reaches a faster speed than the other, based on a percentage difference.

One of two things can happen, either the power is chopped till both wheel speeds match, or on some cars now the brakes are be applied by the car not the driver automatically.

I dont think motorcycles have the braking technology in them yet, but maybe it does.

So some engine power was cut, till traction was regained.

so if you would not have lost traction you may have beat that BMW car by a larger length.

Or best scenario would have a good Car Tire to eliminate traction loss, and avoid the traction control from coming on and chopping power.

Traction control probably came on and went off pretty quickly maybe a second or two at most.

 

[bob]

@westgl
Go HERE for the overview on how TCS works on the CTX1300 Deluxe.
Browse that web site for many of the features on this bike. There are even some videos from the developers and engineers on what and why they did things. A really neat bit of information there.

 

[westgl]

Thanks Bob,

I will will do that

Oh yea that has some good info too.

I love the technical info on that site, that exhaust system is different on the CTX13.

@westgl
Go HERE for the overview on how TCS works on the CTX1300 Deluxe.
Browse that web site for many of the features on this bike. There are even some videos from the developers and engineers on what and why they did things. A really neat bit of information there.

 

[csdexter]

For technical completeness:
TCS input comes from the ABS box, indeed. The ABS box reads the wheel speed sensors and outputs (on a different set of pins) pulse signals that are used by the ECU for TCS and by the self-cancelling indicators.
Contrary to popular belief (or legend), the speedometer/odometer is always driven by the vehicle speed sensor on the gearbox, regardless of CTX1300 model you have.

The ABS on this bike cannot apply the brakes itself (unlike the one, IIRC, on BMW bikes), so it only works in reverse (easing the brakes until the wheels start spinning again). TCS works by retarding advance and decreasing output torque from the engine.

 

[shane]

Yikes, you guys are making my brain hurt!
My back tire spun for way less than a second, it just squealed, kicked left, and then gained purchase on the road and launched. But I'm sure a car tire would not have slipped at all because of the increased size of the contact patch. I haven't looked, but there might be someone around here who would mount a car tire if I ever did decide to go all Darkside-y. For now, though, with probably thousands of miles of tread left on my bike's sneakers, I'll keep those.
I do know that the traction control saved my bacon a couple months ago when I was putting my motorcycle into my shed. The shed is on a little hill, and I have to drive up a short (about 6 feet long) ramp to get it in the door. The ramp was wet, and about halfway up my back tire slipped and skidded and just about gave me a heart attack. The TC light came alive on the dash and the tire stopped a couple of inches from the side of the ramp. If it had slid off, I would have had a 750-ish pound doorstop piled up in the doorway with me under it. Lesson learned! But now I have two important bits of info to squirrel away: TC works, but the tires can still break loose from time to time. And wifey will make me sleep on the sofa for a week if that ever happens with her on the back again.

 

[coneye]

Unfortunatly , I don't have any stories to tell about the CTX , but i do admit on occasions it does feel good to leave others in your dust , A couple of years ago , wife and i were on this nice long straight heading into the hills about 10 klm in front ,.
Beutiful day , sun was shining we were on my rocket 3 , which i may add has been tricked out for a little more horsepower and tourque .

Anyway we were sat on the speed limit , thats all she allows unless were overtaking , and we heard the rumble before we seen them , the Harley hog club , must of been around 50-60 of them .

They come up behind , and sat probably 10 klm above the limit its not long before they overtake us ,, I wave my wife waves , and we got NOT ONE WAVE BACK , so fack em who cares .

They get in front and there leader with the flag slows them down ,, still sat on the same speed , i have to let pull out and overtake them , thinking what they playing at ,

Well fack me dead , has soon has i get passed just at the speed limit , they speed up and he passes me again with them all in tow perhaps 40 out of the 50-60 give us a sneer , and they pull in front of me almost cleaning me up , so i just drop my speed to about 20 klm less than the speed limit and let them get in front .
Well then i hear some words i never thought i would hear , first of all it was a smack on my helmit , with her right hand , , then she screamed at me , what the fack are they playing at , I said ignore them ,, she said ignore them , you got to be joking she said , . She then screamed down my ear , get a move on ya snivelling little runt , dont you dare let them dickheads over take you , Were on a rocket . .

So , i did'nt have to be told twice , , a twist of the throttle i was alongside them , i'm slowly overtaking them , and has i draw level with the leader ,, my wife shouts through the intercom shouts GUN IT YA WIMP , and she waves at him , well i gunn it and he comes after me , it was bye bye Harleys , They soon relized that 1600cc was no match for a tricked out 2300cc .

A couple of them carried on with it and when we hit the hills , i think they may have thought they would catch me , , but it did'nt take long and they were no where to be seen .

Got to admit , it was dangerous , it was fast , i was scraping pegs with the wife on the back and we hit some really high speeds , . but when we stopped the wife said , that was great , it was the most exhilerating ride i've ever had ,

BUT DON'T EVER DO IT AGAIN WITH ME ON THE BACK

 

[shane]

Got to admit , it was dangerous , it was fast , i was scraping pegs with the wife on the back and we hit some really high speeds , . but when we stopped the wife said , that was great , it was the most exhilerating ride i've ever had ,

BUT DON'T EVER DO IT AGAIN WITH ME ON THE BACK

Coneye, you made my night!
Thanks for the great read, awesome story.

 

[MarkH]

...my wife shouts through the intercom shouts GUN IT YA WIMP...

She's a keeper.

 

[dubbsrider]

Great story...no flaming here. This bike is deceptively fast!! I often look down and I'm going far faster than I should..lol!!!