HiYaBruceA
Registered
As I was riding west on US 40 yesterday, I approached Summit Mountain, where the road widens from a single lane to a double for the one+ mile straightaway to the top. Ahead of me were two slow moving cagers whom I intended to pass once we reached the double lanes. While waiting for my opportunity I noticed that coming up behind me, like a bat out of hell and passing cars in the no passing zone, was a sportlike bike that turned out to be a Suzuki Bandit 1200S.
When the road widened the cagers stayed in the left lane, as all bad drivers do, so the Bandit jumped me on the right………..poor form and dangerous. As he roared up the hill I decided to go with him. I accelerated in third gear and was closing on him but was over 9,000 rpm’s. He was in the right lane and was about to overtake other traffic when a little Busa voice spoke to me, “Come on Daddy, give me a chance to kick his ass. Just shift into fourth and open the throttle a bit.†So from 9,500 rpm’s in third gear I shifted into fourth and opened the throttle………a lot. Mind you the Bandit was flying, but I reeled him in so fast I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t look down at the speedo, but from third gear @ 9,500 rpm’s I must have increased velocity another 50 mph or so.
It got very interesting because I did this in the left lane and must have been in his blind spot when I approached him, because the dumb ass came into my lane to pass other vehicles as I was passing him. I don’t know how fast I was going (any guesses?), but there couldn’t have been 36 inches between our bar ends. He also did this near the end of the double lanes so I was forced onto the painted yellow slashes as the road narrowed. But there’s no substitute for speed and I had plenty left to complete the pass, including a car in front of him.
I’ll bet in all his Bandit riding days he never had to consider the prospect of being passed, so he wasn’t looking for me to overtake him. But he should have been smart enough to know when he passed me that the Bandit is no match for the Busa.
When the road widened the cagers stayed in the left lane, as all bad drivers do, so the Bandit jumped me on the right………..poor form and dangerous. As he roared up the hill I decided to go with him. I accelerated in third gear and was closing on him but was over 9,000 rpm’s. He was in the right lane and was about to overtake other traffic when a little Busa voice spoke to me, “Come on Daddy, give me a chance to kick his ass. Just shift into fourth and open the throttle a bit.†So from 9,500 rpm’s in third gear I shifted into fourth and opened the throttle………a lot. Mind you the Bandit was flying, but I reeled him in so fast I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t look down at the speedo, but from third gear @ 9,500 rpm’s I must have increased velocity another 50 mph or so.
It got very interesting because I did this in the left lane and must have been in his blind spot when I approached him, because the dumb ass came into my lane to pass other vehicles as I was passing him. I don’t know how fast I was going (any guesses?), but there couldn’t have been 36 inches between our bar ends. He also did this near the end of the double lanes so I was forced onto the painted yellow slashes as the road narrowed. But there’s no substitute for speed and I had plenty left to complete the pass, including a car in front of him.
I’ll bet in all his Bandit riding days he never had to consider the prospect of being passed, so he wasn’t looking for me to overtake him. But he should have been smart enough to know when he passed me that the Bandit is no match for the Busa.
