Behind the Username is an interview series where I ask some questions of the people I meet in and around the SEA region and local tournaments.
Today I have a chat with Saulo Silva, of Saulo Silva Fine Photography, a passionate eSports fan and sponsor of SEA players and events.
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How long have you been involved with Starcraft, Saulo, and how often do you get to play?
Saulo: Hi Crescendo.
First of all, thanks for taking your time with the interview, I'm not worth it.
(interviewer's note: totally worth it)
My Starcraft life started in 1998 when it first came out. Some friends and I used to do home lans to play Age of Empires, Command and Conquer and, by the time Starcraft came, we used to rent a (destroyed) house where we took our computers to during the weekend.
So we played endlessly from Friday afternoon til Sunday very late. We also ventured into other RTS like Total Annihilation, probably the most advanced RTS of that time with features that not even today we see in modern games, like a projectile not reaching a target due to terrain (high ground affecting more than the sight).
But it was not as dynamic as Starcraft. Because we had more people than computers to play, the game had to be reasonably fast (a 8P free for all would last “just” a bit more than 1h), so Starcraft suited the bill fine.
If the “attendance” was not too high during a time, we would play doubles, 2x2x2x2, and also a lot of the Melee mode, which today is known as Archon mode.
But of course it was just for fun, our level of play was limited to what we found out ourselves practising at home against the CPU or eventually reading some strategies on the internet.
When the Broodwar expansion came later in 1998, there was a lot more information around, after the South Koreans embraced it as their own game.
Before Starcraft we experimented many RTS, Warcraft 1 and 2, C&C, AOE, TA, Z and Z: Steel Soldiers, all were great, but Starcraft stood out because it was faster and more suitable for the lan parties we used to do.
That reminds me of my youth, with weekend lans full of Unreal Tournament and Starcraft. When did you first get hooked on the eSports side of Starcraft, and what was it that hooked you?
Saulo: I believe I paid more attention to refined gaming back in 2000, when Boxer and iloveoov were still starting their careers but already requiring fixes from Blizzard after discovering an exploit, or some timing really overpowered and impossible to counter.
But we didn’t think it as eSports back in the day, we just wanted to have any advantage over our friends when playing on LANs, counting that they didn't see a given strategy.
Because live streaming was unimaginable, we could find some short and low quality videos on a few sites or try to buy a video pack from some pirates that would ship the CD.
Nobody cared about playing like they did, it was just to have an advantage among ourselves.
For example, the reason Age of Empires was quickly dropped by us after Starcraft came, was because it was too easy to exploit. The supply of a unit didn't count until it was out.
It meant that you could build many barracks and stables or whatever, queue as many units as you could when supply was 49/50, and you would have an enormous army.
So those who didn’t know the exploit were like “how on earth this does this guy have 15 centurions, 20 chariots and 30 catapults, in addition to his 25 peons?!?!”
So when people figured out how to exploit this, AOE was not fun any more. Then Starcraft was new to everybody, and as soon as a few zerg players found out that not building another drone with the starting 50 minerals, and saving for a spawning pool, was the fastest way for a zergling rush and potential elimination of someone, people looked for other strategies online just to have the advantage.
Then, by watching the videos on pirated CDs, we knew about what the players were doing and just started following a bit more of the then growing community of Starcraft. But it is like, say, NBA. You like watching it, you play basketball for your fun, but you won’t be like one of those guys.
It was not possible to imagine that, after some years, it would be what it is today. If we have something called eSports now, with people making a living out of it, we owe this to the pioneers of Starcraft 1. Yes we had LANs before this, I myself played on LANs in 1995 (in the BBS days, crappy IPX networks with cheap network cards), Doom tournaments, but it was for fun, there was no money involved. Those pioneers gave it shape.
With what you've just told us, I'd love to know more regarding how you went from that level of localised sc2 enjoyment to your current involvement with eSports as a fan and sponsor of players and events. When did you first get involved with Starcraft 2?
Saulo: I started watching it early (2010) but started playing late (2013). In 2010 I was too “busy” with WoW and Bad Company 2, and also the best Diablo 2 mod ever made (Hell Unleashed). Maybe with some other games like Magicka, Left4Dead, so I wouldn't have time to dedicate to one more game. And Starcraft 2 was a really unbalanced and buggy game in the beginning, I didn't need one more buggy game because of Cataclysm.
I played games during the week and all time I had free in weekends was for motorcycling.
So, in 2013, after watching sOs destroy everybody in WCS, I thought “time to give it a try".
The way I came to SC2SEA was by “accident”.
In July/2014 I was watching Dreamhack Valencia and was impressed by how Sacsri advanced and defeated the favourite MC. Specially the last game in Overgrowth, Sacsri played beautifully.
Then in August, if I'm not mistaken, I watched Pig playing against MC in Gfinity and one of the maps he performed a defence that reminded me of the same thing Sacsri did to MC.
Pig lost that map, after defending MC’s attack he didn't know there was no protoss army left, but he didn't attack to finish the series (Pig won Overgrowth before). Then he gave time for MC to rebuild the army and ultimately lost the series 2x1.
I never heard about this guy Pig until then, and found him entertaining to watch, reminded me of a Korean with the same defence, played very elegantly.
Then I saw both Sacsri and Pig would be in Dreamhack Stockholm, so I thought “why not go there to watch some fun games and maybe meet the guys”. I met both guys there, had my groupie moment taking pictures, and mentioned that I was looking for some small tournaments to help sponsoring. Then in October I was watching Pig’s stream and contacted them about it, then he put me in contact with Dot.
The groupie moments:
Dot then brought to my knowledge the OSC scene and SC2SEA, run by Eddie and friends. I told them (Dot and Eddie) the story I am telling here, and by the time people were preparing for the OSC Finals 2014. So I said “I’m in, I can send this XXX amount of money”. I had to buy a domain, build a homepage in 2 weeks because people couldn’t reach me.
The OSC Finals 2014 was the success we all know, mainly due to the quality of players and the immense amount of work by the OSC community. Then, to close the year I asked Eddie if we could do an RvR before X-mas.
Now I don’t remember if it was really before X-mas or New Year , but it was the last event of 2014.
Then I came to an agreement with Pig to support his stream for some months. At the same time I tried to do the same with Root Hydra, support his stream. I wanted, he wanted, CatZ didn't pose any problems, but I don’t know why it didn't happen .
This is the first time I talk about it, until now, only Pig and Eddie knew about it.
Because these 2 players are among my favourite, I just wanted to give a hand. It turned out that Pig did a great run in WCS and is now casting it regularly, and Hydra, we all know how WCS #2 ended.
As for my participation in SC2SEA, I try to do as my time allows. Of course it is not nearly as much as what Philosopher does, he is probably the single biggest private sponsor of any game, at least to my knowledge, please correct me if I am wrong. Also the support from Maynarde to SeaCraftTV, and Ronso for some time, we can’t forget these guys.
I am all for different stuff, as you probably noticed. When I see a lot of tournaments of the same thing, seeing more of the same, though it is great for the players because they are practising, it means I will do something totally different.
Nothing against or nothing wrong with “more of the same”, but why not think and do something else? I could be wrong, but I think people had a good time with those RvRs with strange rules. The cheese bonus. Players doing the most strange stuff to be eligible for it.
Arthur playing as Terran, loading his Medivacs and just moving to an anti-air army and losing everything. You will never see a player of this calibre committing this grotesque mistake if it is not in a fun tournament. Also having guys like Solar, Armani, Seed, playing these small tournaments, it is satisfying to me.
And then we see them making the same mistakes as we do under pressure. It is like bringing everybody to the same level to see what happens.
For this freedom, I am really grateful to SC2SEA and Eddie for agreeing on hosting these things. And to the OSC community and casters for taking their time to participate.
I don’t measure the success of something by how many people are watching it, I am all quality over quantity.
I think some variety in the types of tournaments is definitely a breath of fresh air!
As someone who enjoys watching Starcraft 2 played at a high level, which players do you enjoy watching the most?
Saulo: I enjoy watching many players. If we talk about non-Koreans, PiG, TLO, Fenner and Snute rank high in Zerg… the greatest mastermind, for me, is CatZ. Not only he is entertaining, he shifted the balance of the game many times. That Ravager timing was changed because of him. He is a brilliant player.
In AU/NZ, I enjoy many. Wally, Pox, NXZ, Pet. The list will always be incomplete.
My favorite non-kr Protoss is Grubby.
RIP Grubby.
And Terran, probably Bunny. He is a monster.
For KR, which will open to new polemics because everyone have their favorite players, Zerg is Soulkey. Yes, I know Life is better, other players are better, but Soulkey is the one I enjoy the most. He has an elegant style difficult to explain. You have to watch him playing.
Terran, again, probably not the best of them all, but the most dominant player of any game, Flash. You never know you are in a safe position until he types “gg”.
And Protoss, sOs is my favourite. If there are no “winner takes all” tournaments, it is because of him, after taking the only 2 100k bucks tournaments in a row. Now it is only WCS. At one point everybody wanted to know what he was creating, what will sOs do this time? Just like CatZ for zerg, sOs is a mastermind for Protoss. Yes, no Code S trophy yet, but most Code S champs don’t have the IEM and/or WCS.
This kind of list will always raise discussions, so it is just my personal opinion.
Now, you mentioned motorcycling, and I know that it's a topic close to your heart. Would you please share with us more about that side of your life: what is your favourite motorcycle for long rides, and share with us one of your most memorable rides on it.
Saulo: Hmmm, until now my favourite bike for long rides is a Harley FXST 2003, it is the first year of the fuel-injected 1450cc engine (TC88B), very smooth, very strong engine on low revs, it has a 18” ape hanger, sissy bar and rear fender grill to attach luggage. This bike caused me a big problem when I was in a remote area like 200km away from home and the FI module just died. Fortunately I had a few friends with me, there was mobile phone signal and we called the tow. But it was for the good, because I replaced the old FI with a Thundermax setup for rich mixture in high rev. The mechanic called me and said “the FI is installed, but now your bike had a brake problem… when you ride you will understand”.
The FX - a monstrous bike devourer of asphalt
But the problem of Harleys is that the riding position is not good if you need to absorb impact of bumps. Your legs are forward and hands up if using an ape hanger. You have no way to use your legs as a shock, so you take the impact on your spine. In the first hour it is no problem, 2h later you still survive, but after 4, 5h riding then you start looking for a less uncomfortable way to sit. Pills for pain is highly advisable.
Also, this bike doesn’t have a windscreen, so riding at 120/130km/h you take the wind on your face and it gets really tiring over time. Add your spine being hit along the way and now you have to find a reason to even have the bike. As they say, it is a style, it is not a rational choice. For this reason I am trying now Japanese bikes, my approach to long travels is more practical now.
A memorable moment. Let me think a bit, motorcyclists have so much shit to talk about their rides.
Oh yes, since I won’t mention names, it is fine to tell.
Haha, I can't wait! Please continue
Saulo: We have a friend who is a captain of the Army and chief instructor of a motorcycle patrol group. One day 2 friends and I went for a ride to eat some fish far from our city, and invited the captain.
He asked if it was ok to invite a major (his superior in the Army ranks but his subordinate in the motorcycle patrol), we said “well, no problem”. On our way through some swingy roads, we noticed the guy (the major) riding a lot slower than he should. We thought he was just enjoying the view, but when we stopped for the first refuel, he said “errrrr, I am used just to ride in the city, never being to the highway”. Ok, we looked at each other with the face and continued the ride. The captain, our friend, was already a bit ashamed of that… you know? Army official, tough guy. But the worse was still to come.
At some point there was rain along the way, which is common at that region. But ok, we were more than used to rain, but not the guy. So it made him ride even slower. We signalled at each other, me and my 2 other friends, let’s leave the captain take care of the major, we ride and wait for them at a restaurant that serves some good chicken, known to riders going that way (we were going for the fish somewhere else). We waited, and waited, they never came.
So we were concerned and returned to see what happened. Of course, the major slipped somewhere (we joke saying that he was soooo slow that the bike couldn’t stay standing) and there was he and the captain getting the bike up.
So we stopped, blablabla, saw some oil leak and said “we have to stop at the next gas statoil and fill this oil first. Are you hurt, ok to ride?”. And the major “fuck, yeah, can do it”. Ok, then we rode to the nearest gas station.
We had to go a different way because the chicken restaurant had no gas station around, and the fish restaurant was still at least 2h ride.
So we slowed down a bit and noticed that the guy was going even slower than before, committing a lot of mistakes that everybody found strange. Braking in the turns, target fixation not paying attention to the road, going straight to the side of the road. It was really strange. So when we finally made it to the gas station, we asked “hey dude, what is going on?”
He was shaking and pointed to his head “the problem is here”. We looked at each other again with a face and noticed the captain was very, very ashamed and uncomfortable. We couldn’t laugh.
Now, think of a tough guy major of the Army, shaking and afraid of riding the bike after a fall at like, 30km/h.
Dude. We ate anything at any restaurant around and said, “the fish is far from here, we better return”. So we agreed and proceeded to return.
The problem was that we would take a motorway with buses, trucks, you can’t ride slow or you will be run over. You don’t want to stay behind trucks. Dude, the guy was riding at 50km/h on a motorway. On the next refuel, we asked the captain, “do you take care of your major, we will all die this way”. He said “yeah, just go, I will take him back”. So we told any lie to everybody, “hey, we gotta go because blablabla”, everybody created an excuse.
Then we proceeded to the “Ride Free”. Among us, it means “leave everybody behind".
The next day, do you believe this guy was posting on Facebook how brave the motorcycle patrol is, a bunch of shit that we couldn’t believe after what happened. The sissy even wanted to sell the bike. Of course, I replied to the post “Please don’t sell the bike”.
RIP. What happened then?
Saulo: Nobody would understand this unless they knew the story. To avoid explaining to others why that post, he erased the entire post.
He vanished. Ninja smoke.
Try to imagine a tough guy shaking because of a motorcycle fall at 30km/h. Dude, it is your work, you are supposed to fall when practising. But he was too ashamed it happened in front of us.
We never saw him again. And he knew we were a bunch of fucks and jokers, we joke about everything. He would be our target for a loooong time.
Crescendo, I really think we should meet on a bar someday so I can tell you a lot more of these lies, I mean, these stories. So much funny shit happens on the highway.
Another motorcycle pic for the road: here's the 883R carburated
I'd be up for that any time!
A quick recap for the TL;DR crowd: The moral of the story is that SSFP is more badass than an army major
Now, when not tearing up the roads in style, you are also known for having a fine eye for photography. Would you tell us a bit about that side of your life?
Saulo: Oh… it happened by accident.
One day I was returning with a brother of the motoclub from a reunion at the MC headquarters. We were on the highway and there was hailstone rain.
Of course our fingers, knees and balls were hit hard (but the headlights and gas tank were intact), but my small point and shoot camera died (my jacket was not waterproof).
So I had nothing else to register the motoclub meetings, I needed to buy another camera. It had to be compact and for some reason, I don’t remember why, it should change lenses too. I picked up a Sony Nex 5N, which fit the bill well: it changed lenses and was very compact.
At some point one of my brothers, who happens to be a very prolific photographer, was commenting on my shots. “why don’t you do this, why don’t you try that”, and started talking about strange things like framing, composition, exposure.
To understand this I had to read the camera manual and then changed some settings to see what happened. Then I started practising by photographing random stuff, beaches, mountains.
Then I started to travel to photograph, so I could have double fun, you know? Bike, camera.
And after some time I was hooked, and what was a necessity to register motoclub meetings turned out to be a hobby that I take very seriously.
That sounds like a bloody good way to enjoy one's free time.
It may be hard to narrow this down, but what has been your favourite eSports event to carry a camera to, thus far?
Saulo: I haven’t been to so many, but it definitely has to be Dreamhack Winter 2014.
What was your favourite picture from the event?
Saulo: Probably the one that I didn’t make, but I am in it: a picture with ForGG when he won the Dreamhack Winter. But if it has to be one that I made, probably the one of Solar holding his check in Dreamhack Stockholm.
Brilliant! If circumstances allowed it, which future eSports event would you most want to cover with your camera, and why?
Saulo: Definitely WCS, any, for this I am trying to fix my bike in time to ride to Poland. I’m tired of travelling just by airplanes.
And possibly any GSL event.
I like to be in places where people are having fun, where people share a passion in common, no one is going to argue who is better or who is worse. People are there to watch games and have a good time, this is what I want to see and capture on camera… while having fun myself watching the games.
I'd like to throw in some questions about the Oseanic Starcraft 2 Championship series. Firstly, taking a look at the current rankings, what are your thoughts on them? Any favourites or early predictions for the grand finale this year?
Saulo: I believe Enderr, PsiArc and Demilove will be among the highest ranked non-koreans… they are playing very consistently, and what Enderr is doing this year is ridiculous, he is such a fine player.
Azure seems also very strong.
But how our WCS representatives will do, it is difficult to predict.
our AU/NZ WCS represents
I would place a bet on our current champion GumiBro defending his title.
Arthur and Spear are always some boxes of surprises, but I still think the reigning champion will do it again.
I miss PoX in the first 32 places, I really enjoy watching him play. Would be great how he does against NXZ, Pig, Pet, Wally, Alopex.
Of the various partnered OCS tournaments, which do you get a chance to keep up with/enjoy the most?
Saulo: I have a hard time watching SeaCraftTV weeklies and Friday Fun Night due to the time difference, so my favourite have to the Global All Stars, followed by the Masters Cup and SSFP RvR
Yes, we will have one more before the end of the year.
Oh hell yes, SSFP RvR Hype!
Looking to the future, with Legacy of the Void on the horizon, what are your thoughts on what you have seen of LoTV thus far?
Saulo: You really like some polemics, eh? you came to the right person. Here we go.
I like the idea of rebalancing stuff, like the Raven, the Swarm Host, but some key units I believe the change was for the worse. The Tempest, for example, why have an air unit that shoots ground from that distance? The Zergs were the only race to have the flying artillery with Guardians and Broodlords, it is a characteristic of the race. Tempest should not exist, or be a completely different unit. Also, the flying buildings of Terran should have been fixed long ago because in the end game it gives an unfair advantage, and will explain why.
Everybody watched games when the Terran has no army but has buildings, the opponent has army but it doesn’t shoot air, or it shoots air but it doesn’t fly, so the Terran just places the buildings in a position where it can’t be shot, the game is declared a draw. Well, you can argue that the objective is to destroy the buildings, so what am I talking about?
Because it is a situation that the player can exploit when he/she realizes his/her inferior army capacity. Why not make the buildings take damage over time when they are lifted for, say, 3 minutes or more? Having a building up for this time clearly indicates the intention to stall the game abusing the system, “haha, can’t touch this”. After some minutes, don’t know how many, 3, 4, it will take damage just like when it is red, so you have to land it to stop the damage. This will give the opportunity for the opponent to finish the game.
It is a military game, retreating is one thing and is part of the strategy, but running away is quite another. So in my view this should be fixed.
And as much as people miss or like SC1, I don’t think that looking behind is the way to go. The units of the past should be left in the past. Is it possible that the designers ran out of ideas, that they need to bring Lurkers back?
In the end, it will be exciting, it will bring people back to the game, yes it has new stuff, but there is a lot of work ahead. Some of the imbalances people complain about could be more easily fixed with structural changes, without fear of changing some basic concepts, than just messing up with units, changing a fraction of the speed, a fraction of the damage, 2 seconds more to build, 3 seconds less to cast something. It is like running in circles after the tail.
But I see it is Blizzard’s way of doing their stuff, we will not change it. We saw the same in World of Warcraft, they made the game so, so complicated with a bunch of meaningless numbers, it had to come to the point it was unmanageable for them to finally get rid of all that useless stuff, do a complete overhaul on stats and secondary attributes finally simplifying the game.
StarCraft 2 is a difficult game, the focus should be on the strategy, create new things, and not introduce difficulties that should be overcome first, to then start thinking in strategy.
What is the point, for example, in making mineral patches different in quantity? 750 x 1500? Why did they think it was a good idea? The player has to focus on the army, upgrades, scouting, of course resource management but not this way.
In the end I think it will be nice to have new lore, new units, people will come back to play, have fun, and then stop complaining about Mules and start complaining about something else. It is a cycle, it will be this way.
Assuming that the release version of LotV is what we are all hoping for, what kind of LotV events would you be most excited to see happen?
Saulo: Hmmm, I would like to see more of the team tournaments, 2x2, the Archon mode, it is all for the good. They are doing, experimenting, and I think it is the way to get more out of the game.
It opens endless possibilities. You are the favourite in 1x1, but how do you do in 2x2? I really enjoy watching it.
On a more personal note, is there a moment in time which you consider particularly important or formative for who you are as a player and person now?
Saulo: Yes, as we say on the highways, good judgement comes with experience, but experience comes from bad judgement. And I know what is bad judgement. Some time ago I used to be concerned too much about those around me, specially women. I had one that brought along all her problems for me to solve, at some point I had no free time for myself, she tried to put a barrier between me and those who I love, and I was taking care of her problems in addition to mine.
Then I learned the saying: “do not carry other people’s monkeys”. So I understood more about letting people take care of themselves, and to stay away from those who just bring negative thoughts, who just talk about problems, diseases. Listening to someone is one thing, assuming their problems as my own is another. So now I live a lightweight life. People have to be responsible for their choices. You create the problem, you solve it. You did it, you undo it. It is your monkey.
But of course it is easier said than done. I had to meet one crazy woman to understand it.
“hey, we are a great couple, can we also share problems?”… “no, kthxbai”
So, the lesson is: take care of your own monkey. Don’t go out there with 3 chimps on one hand, 2 gorillas on the other hand. You will be screwed up.
Wise words indeed!
Finally feel free to self-promote and drop some links here if you want folks to follow you on the various social media/streaming sites
Saulo: First I want to thank you for taking your time to have this chat. A big hug to the OSC community for being the passionate guys that you are and for accepting me as part of it. Special hug to Eddie, Philosopher, Elusory, the caster/observer/admin crew of SC2SEA for the immense work you do.
And to all who support SSFP by playing the tournaments we put up, in the hopes that it is fun for everybody. If you have some friends who enjoy photography, point them to www.saulosilvaphoto.com, where they will find content for download, articles and gift ideas for those who they love.
And last but not least, if you got a car, sell it. Go buy a motorcycle and discover what it is to ride free. Don’t pay more to carry your prison with you. 2 Wheels forever.
And never forget: we came to this world screaming and covered in blood… we shall return to Mother Nature in the same condition.
Sounds about right Thank you for taking the time to have a chat with me, Saulo, it has been a real pleasure! Hopefully one day we shall get to meet in person!
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It was a lot of fun to be able to spend the time with Saulo, and I hope this helps everyone get to know this fantastic bloke and SC2SEA supporter a bit better.
As an additional treat, through these videos, you can experience vicariously what it'd be like to ride with him:
probably the best interview so far. Lots of great info, and love the fact Saulo is a huge SC2 fan and knows so much about the scene.
I completely agree with his comment: "And as much as people miss or like SC1, I don’t think that looking behind is the way to go. The units of the past should be left in the past."
Our community is pretty lucky to have someone like Saulo be part of our community. He is such an awesome contributor, and allows a lot of things to happen that perhaps wouldn't usually occur (Team League is back!!!)
Second Eddie's recommendation to check out his photography, some really beautiful stuff.
Great Interview Crescendo, and Saulo...your stories are pretty hilarious!
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twitter PhilosopherSC2
Every zerg who goes SH must die ~ Nemesis
Guys, thanks for the heads up and to Crescendo, for taking his time. There was a lot more I could talk about but at some point I think my walls of text were making Crescendo sleep. :P
- Philosopher: thanks sir, and I believe the community is even luckier to have you as another supporter! Your handle could even be an achievement.
- Freedom: you probably disagree with the "sell your car" part, but hey, a Lambo is no car. It is a motorcycle with 4 wheels and a roof! BTW, do you have any PSISTM t-shirt to spare/sell? If I happen to go to any event this year I will definitely use it.
- Freedom: you probably disagree with the "sell your car" part, but hey, a Lambo is no car. It is a motorcycle with 4 wheels and a roof! BTW, do you have any PSISTM t-shirt to spare/sell? If I happen to go to any event this year I will definitely use it.
Thanks Saulo... yeah I'd get a motorcycle myself but wife is a nurse so.. u know...
Our apparel provider imbagear.com (started by theognis) went under. So we are in the process of finding a new one, especially ones that handle international shipping. I'll let you know as soon as this is taken cared of.
I see your point, wife doesn't really want to see some road rash at home, eh?
But, depending on your style and needs, maybe a nice 883 with loud pipes and low ride, an ape hanger, will give you good fun without too much risk. The 883 is a nice and solid commuter, and with short rear shocks and a spring seat you won't be able to stay on it for too long anyway. I know myself
When you have the team's jerseys sorted out, let me know, I can gladly use any of your players' name on it.
the motorcycle thing isn't about a safe bike.. but the risk from others in the road...
If I was to get a bike it'd be a Ducati or something and only for track duty... coz it's safer than driving on the roads around here, too many idiot drivers who are distracted
You are right about the danger from others.
I never rode Ducatis nor am I into track days (not trained in it), but if you happen to consider it, then I can share my experience:
- Triumph Daytona 675 (this is mainly a racetrack bike)
- Suzuki GSXR 600
I rode both on the street. If we don't talk about custom bikes, then my heart belongs to Suzuki (watched a lot of the japanese heroes in the 80s). If you manage to find one between 96-98 that wasn't abused, not only you will get a bargain, but also some of the best looking GSXRs. They have inverted forks and, if memory serves me well, fuel injection.
If it is your first, I don't recommend a liter bike. A 600cc is more civilized, easy to ride around town, you will be in control, but when revved high you will be surprised how fast it goes.
yeah it's a daydream for me - I have too many hobbies realistically I will never get to buy or ride a bike ever... I might revisit this in 10 years when things calm down. Between basketball, starcraft, running the team, organizing car stuff, and family.. it's just nuts. I guess that's what makes life great is being busy doing things u like!
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