During my recent trip to Greece, I had the use of a mint '85 Kawasaki ZX900 (Ninja!). It its day, it was the fastest thing on two wheels, with a top of 250k's and 10s quarter mile times. It was the bike Tom Cruise rode in Top Gun, and in my opinion, is the most beautiful bike ever made. I've occasionally piloted a motorbike in Greece, and had found it somewhat intimidating. I wondered if I was still up to the task. I picked up the bike in a small city in southern Greece, called Kalamata. I hadn't been on a motorbike in years, and there I was, in daytime traffic, on an unfamiliar superbike, with (temporarily) no helmet or gloves. It's surprising what you will do when you are out of your normal environment.
I've spent a lot of time in Greece driving cars and riding bicycles. Pretty tame stuff. A motorcycle is a totally different experience. In Ontario, the roads are largely straight and flat. Greece is full of mountains and hairpins. If you take a hairpin too fast in a car, you can easily scrub off a bit of speed while drifting around. On a motorbike, you'd better get your speed right, because if you break loose, it'll bite you in the rear. In order to generate g's on a bike, you have to be leaned over. Add the tight radius of a hairpin and the steering geometry starts feeling really weird. I ended up taking these turns excruciating slowly. Sounds like an executive session at R.A.C.E is called for!
On a motorcycle in Greece, you can make a lot of time. On the aforementioned winding roads, passing slower cars and trucks is a trivial matter. What double white line? If you can see, you can pass. You think your Porsche Turbo accelerates? Try 115hp and 250kilos. In the city, lane discipline does not apply to motorcycles, If there is a gap between cars, you can exploit it. Traffic jams become irrelevant, but you better be paying attention. The danger to motorcyclists is not the cars but the other bikes. Multiple bikers are likely aiming for the same hole in traffic. In Greece, the attitude is that nobody is trying to kill you. In North America, we have Defensive Driving, where the belief is that everybody is trying to kill you. I'm not sure which is better, but I suspect that the statistics will favour Canada by a fair margin. That said, the carnage on the streets of Athens is probably not as bad as the apparent anarchy would lead you to think. The reason is that everyone in Greece either has a motorbike or scooter, or knows someone who does very well, so even car drivers are looking out.
I got myself into a few situations where I doubled my sanity. Now that I'm safely back in Canada, however, I will remember it as a fabulous adventure.
I've spent a lot of time in Greece driving cars and riding bicycles. Pretty tame stuff. A motorcycle is a totally different experience. In Ontario, the roads are largely straight and flat. Greece is full of mountains and hairpins. If you take a hairpin too fast in a car, you can easily scrub off a bit of speed while drifting around. On a motorbike, you'd better get your speed right, because if you break loose, it'll bite you in the rear. In order to generate g's on a bike, you have to be leaned over. Add the tight radius of a hairpin and the steering geometry starts feeling really weird. I ended up taking these turns excruciating slowly. Sounds like an executive session at R.A.C.E is called for!
On a motorcycle in Greece, you can make a lot of time. On the aforementioned winding roads, passing slower cars and trucks is a trivial matter. What double white line? If you can see, you can pass. You think your Porsche Turbo accelerates? Try 115hp and 250kilos. In the city, lane discipline does not apply to motorcycles, If there is a gap between cars, you can exploit it. Traffic jams become irrelevant, but you better be paying attention. The danger to motorcyclists is not the cars but the other bikes. Multiple bikers are likely aiming for the same hole in traffic. In Greece, the attitude is that nobody is trying to kill you. In North America, we have Defensive Driving, where the belief is that everybody is trying to kill you. I'm not sure which is better, but I suspect that the statistics will favour Canada by a fair margin. That said, the carnage on the streets of Athens is probably not as bad as the apparent anarchy would lead you to think. The reason is that everyone in Greece either has a motorbike or scooter, or knows someone who does very well, so even car drivers are looking out.
I got myself into a few situations where I doubled my sanity. Now that I'm safely back in Canada, however, I will remember it as a fabulous adventure.