Sport Bike Riders Oddly Missing

D-J

D-J

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This past Saturday I joined one of my Harley riding buddies at the 'Ride For Dad' (ridefordad.ca/torontowest) in Oakville. The event raises funds to support prostate cancer research -- a great cause -- now in its 12th year.
It was a great day with over 175kms of riding and meeting lots of other motorcyclists. Though, one thing stuck out in my mind: where are all my fellow sportbike riders?

Take a look at the photos. Can you spot my green Kawi ZX10R amidst the sea of cruisers?

I said to my buddy, a Harley rider, "funny, I guess sportbike / SS riders don't really come out to these sort of events", because I think there were maybe only 3 or 4 other sportbike riders in the entire group out of, say, I'm guessing 200+ riders. Strange.
 
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I did the ride for dad last week in Kingston on my KTM. It was mostly cruisers but there were some sports tourers and a rare ss or two. A lot of these charity dos seem to attract the cruiser types more for some reason. No idea why. Might do a few more events over the summer. I’m determined to get a decent hand in one of the poker runs.
 
Most of these rides are setup for cruisers, they run at parade speeds, have lots of stops and rarely go further than 200km. For example, the Ride for Sight route is Stouffville to Fenlon Falls, about 95km and takes about 1.5 hrs.

I did it 2 years ago in a big ST. I'm air cooled -- the heat from my bike and sun fryed me -- I don't think I got out of 2nd gear.
 
These rides are terribly boring and hot on a ss 20 under the speed limit in parade formation. I am surprised anyone can deal with them without having a heat stroke.

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I'm with mike. When I first saw that Ride for Dad was 175 km, I was out. A ride that short with tons of socializing is not for me. If I have time for a ride, I want to be riding, not standing beside my bike.
 
I’ve not found that with the ones I’ve been on. There are several stops to pick up cards for the poker hand and depending on whether you’re standing about chatting or want to get on and ride the riders start to spread apart quite a bit.
 
Ditto to sportbikes over-heat in a parade, even traveling at the posted speed limit it's a chore to go so slow on a bike that just wants to go!
 
When I used to ride out into the country, I'd rarely see sports bikes out for a ride. Usually spot them in more urban areas.
 
Vintage/cafe riders have Gentlemen's ride
Cruisers-crowd has ride for dad, ride for sight
Sportbike riders have.... ???

They are paying too much money in insurance to donate lol
 
the short ride and heat certainly a factor

also, some dudes have gotten tired of the old

don't you wish you'd bought a real bike BS
 
The pace in the groups I was riding was consistenly 10 - 20 over the posted limit. Not exactly spirited but certainly not 'parade like'. Whatever..who cares. When I want fast I go to the track. These are group rides on public roads riding with ppl you don't know, so I take it easy.
After getting there, 175 kms, and back home I put over 225 kms on my bike. That's plenty enough for me for 1 day.

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I concur: short, slow, hot, tedious rides. Too many motorcycles at once. Too much socializing. Not all that comfortable sharing the road with a bunch of strangers either, especially that many of them have no clue about riding staggered and/or proper hand signals and overall etiquette.

I prefer small, agile groups. People who I'm comfortable with.
 
^ This.

Slow ... hot (both bike and rider) ... uncomfortable ... meh.

Sportbike riders have ... racetracks!
 
Each to their own....I do 90+% of my riding solo but enjoy the social aspect of these things and the charity side too. I only pick the ones with charities I like. It’s also good to have a destination (usually with a BBQ) rather than going round and round.
 
It was the same for the Highway of Heroes ride Trenton-Port Hope last weekend. It was 99.99% cruisers.
I've also noticed that I don't see many sportbikes out on the road when I'm out riding the past couple years. I ride mostly north and east and just Monday-Friday usually. Often I'll wave to 50 cruisers and not see a single SS bike.
 
I have a feeling that you'll see around 25% of the sportbikes you've seen in the past years on Ontario roads this season. The insurance, the police, the police harassment has done the sport in. If you do see sportbikes, they'll be lookalikes, as in Ninja 300's and CBR 500's etc. Sportbikes have been successfully pushed off the road in Ontario.

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