I hit 160mph on the Honda CBR600F3 once or twice. Those were not my finest moments of judgment. They were, however, excellent moments of aerodynamic appreciation.
The problems with motorcycle ownership, as I experienced them:
Too hot in summer. Too cold in winter. Too scared of traffic. And the possibility of doing something really stupid was always very close to the surface — not in a reckless way, but in the way that 160mph is very different from 60mph, and the gap between “riding well” and “riding catastrophically” is narrower than it looks.
I traded the CBR600F3 — along with the Audi 90 Quattro — for a Land Rover Discovery. This was around 1998. The trade made sense at the time: get out of two vehicles and into one that was more practical for my life.
In retrospect, it was probably the right call to get out of the motorcycle before I did something really stupid. I was having too much fun in the wrong direction.
The Audi was quick and cornered well. The Quattro system was genuinely good. But I’m not really into the go-fast — the interest was capability and handling, not outright speed. The Audi I could have kept. The motorcycle needed to go.
The Discovery, as previously established, was a mistake. But it was a safer class of mistake than 160mph.