If You Had Asked, I Would Have Told You That…

It’s been more than four weeks since I last popped off, which means an installment of “If you has asked me, I would have told you that…” is overdue.

If you had asked me, I would have told you that:

– There’s such a thing as too much horsepower. At least for me. I believe in the adage “It’s more fun to ride a slow bike fast than a fast bike slow.” Give me a fast bike and I’m too timid to ride it fast, but, yes, there are motorcycle riders who love horsepower and outrageous torque. For them, the website Visordown has compiled a list of the “Top 10 most powerful bikes of 2015.” Atop the list is the Kawasaki ZX-14R with 207.9 bhp at 10,000 rpm. It’s the only regular production bike to top 200 horsepower.

– The Moto GP movie “Hitting the Apex,” which is presented, co-produced and narrated by Brad Pitt, really needs to be released soon in the U.S. The trailer looks exciting, even to someone who doesn’t follow Moto GP. If you missed it, the trailer can be seen in this post.

– On the subject of horsepower, Confederate Motorcycles in Birmingham, AL has a new limited edition model dubbed the P51 Combat Fighter (pictured above). It has a 2,163cc V-twin motor that promises more than 200 horsepower. Base price in black is $119,500 and $113,900 in blonde. There’s a $10,000 discount if you order before Sept. 7. A total of 60 – 30 in each color – will be sold.

– Riders can be forgetful. The Buffalo Chip in Sturgis, S.D. reports that 163 “weird and wonderful” things were left behind after this year’s rally. Included were 63 sets of keys, 16 pairs of glasses, 14 cell phones, three propane grills, four wallets and one tube of Super Poligrip. The full list can be seen here.

– A motorcycle rider in Plymouth, England has been jailed for eight months and has had his driver’s license yanked for two years for going 153 miles per hour down country lanes while test riding super bikes in Devon. Ashley Dixon, 24, posted videos online, enabling police to track him down. “The Telegraph” has more details in a story. Here’s the video:

– Coroners in six counties in South Carolina have committed to using a stencil to spray paint a cross and the message “Look Twice Save A Life” on the roadway at the scene of deadly motorcycle accidents.

Anderson County Deputy Coroner Don McCown said he hopes this message will increase awareness and decrease the number of accidents involving motorcycles.

“I thought it was an excellent thing considering the number of motorcycle fatalities we have in this state,” said McCown.  “We’re hoping it will remind the public that someone died at this location, and more than likely they died of distracted driving or someone not being aware of their surroundings.”

WYYF4 in Greenville, S.C. has more here.