This just came to light on my kawi forum....IF your a biker or even if your not and this this is trash take a second and read this....if it pisses you off, take 1min, and let ESPN know they have no right letting morons like this put garbage like this on..You want to leave feedback for em..do it here.....
http://espn.go.com/page2/s/feedback.html


I don't even think they know who their target audience is

From:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2...erbrook/060808



Quote:
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.)
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!

the net.

 

sorry, here's the right link to the article............. half way down the page..


http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2...erbrook/060808

 

Sorry.. but not getting pissed at this article. First its just an opinion, and they do make some very valid (and true points).
Secondly, they have a right to express this opinion (protected by the constitution) whereas you as a motorcyclist do not have a right to ride your bike. It is merely a priviledge to operate a vehicle, let alone one that is designed for racing. I have no problems with people driving these vehicles as long as they do it in accordance with our laws. Maybe we should just make the penalty much more severe for driving infractions that raise the risk of an injury/death.

 

Do they rag on Porches, Corvettes and Vipers too?


We need more laws to protect us..... from ourselves.

 

I don't want this to be misunderstood by any non bikers or bikers reading this.

I happen to think it's utter filth and ignorant....but i do expect people to have opinions of this...

just as aggravating as the content and is where its found. I go to espn for sports, not politics....If i wanted to hear this crap I'd turn on fox news or cnn...it's one thing to talk about what happened and wether or not athletes shoud ride..it goes to a whole new level when one starts attacking the whole biker community over what an athlete did...it has no relevance to SPORTS wether or not sportbikes should be outlawed on US streets...I don't want to have to hear about any politics wether they directly involve me or not when i'm relaxing with a beer reading about the sports world.

Do you really want to see politics on ESPN...

 

Listen brother, your trying to spur on an argument I'm not going to have with you and I hope no one else will.........ESPN has been irresponsible.....

And I'm not arguing, I'm stating FACT.... THE ATHLETE, NOT the maker of a machine is the stupid irresponsible one......

ie...Oakland A’s pitcher Esteban Loaiza is stupid. He was stopped in his Ferrari for driving in excess of 120 mph at 3:30 a.m., and he failed a field sobriety test to boot.....


ie...Pelle Lindbergh, young Philadelphia Flyers goalie who died in 1985 after crashing his customized Porsche while driving drunk and speeding down a street in a suburban New Jersey neighborhood.

ie...In January of 2000 Cleveland Cavaliers guard Bobby Phills was killed in an accident where he and teammate David Wesley were said to by police to be “driving erratic, reckless, careless, in a negligent and/or aggressive manner” while “involved in a speed competition.” Phills was traveling at over 100 miles per hour in his modified black porsche when he lost control of his car and careened into oncoming traffic.



ETC ETC ETC.....you're logic is flawed....If you had your way then every moving vehicle would be outlawed due to a few stupid a**es

So far just what I've mentioned we have what.........

No ferrari's, no porsches, no suzuki's.....and let me think...bulls player a couple years back on a yamaha...and the duke player in a cobra a couple years back...

so ferrari, porsche, suzuki, ford....outlaw em all cuz they're irresponsible....

 

its not the gun that kills the person, but the person pulling the trigger.

 

I ride. An 05' Road King Custom.

While I understand what would irratate you about summating that all sport bike riders are idiots because of the actions of one man you need to understand that the upshift of complete IDIOTS getting there hands on one and being irresponsible and reckless are causing that growing general opinion.

Come to Houston, on any given night I have between thirty and forty punks driving between 80-150 M.P.H. down the busiest and most dangerous street in the city. That is not helping me to explain to people why it is exhilarating to ride but rather defending my right to do so. They now just want to know why people have to ride like idiots and pull wheelies in traffic and try and outrun cops and I can't explain that. If someone wants a fast bike, good for you. As a fellow rider I applaud the decision and enjoy the ride. But...

If one of them risks the safety of me or my family and stops, I'll break that little asswipes jaw.

The riding exam needs to be made much more difficult and the fine for operating without a license should be so severe they are scared to death to stunt or race on public streets. Maybe take the damn bike for anything over 120 mph and sell it to fund the DMV. Let' lower our license fees.

Sorry for the length, and this not an attack on you in any way.

 

Just because your bike will do 200 mph does not mean you have to drive at that speed. My truck will do a 100 mph I don't drive at a 100 mph though.

There is a time and place for everything. I love sport bikes and I really want one badly. I do see SOME sport bikers flying down the highway waiving in and out of traffic and pulling wheelies and acting very dangerously. I see this all the time in the summer. And it does make me mad to see that. Then again I have a few buddies with sport bikes and they are all about riding and enjoying the bike and still having a great time doing the speed limit. If you want to go ultra fast then go the a track and have a blast! I'm sure it would be fun.

 

Thank you for that picture.

 

I'm still looking for the article... not too intently though... I keep getting to a certain photo, and well...



Who we talkin' 'bout?

 

As Chris Rock once said "Make the bullets $10,000 a piece and then lets see some random shootings".

 

Yeah, I'm sure the woman pulling in front of him had nothing to do with him face planting while riding the "busa. Riiiggghhhhtttt.

Why don't we ban all the knives in the world. That will stop the stabbings.

 

I was on an errand just this morning. On the interstate, with cars spaced, but not to comfortable... and a biker went diagonal thru 3 lanes of traffic. Sport bike? Nope, Harley. It doesn't matter what the bike, you're gonna find an idiot on any 2 wheels.

I happen to ride myself. I have a cruiser. When I ride, I'm pretty careful. I'd like to get home.

ESPN needs to stick to sports.

That's what ABCNews, CNN is for. To give us the regulate everything view of those on the extreme wings. Morons.

 

Actually it's the bullet that kills people...the gun just makes them travel very fast..