Doin the TON

I know this place it called DO THE TON.com so, who's doin the TON?

Anyone been caught doing the ton?
How'd your bike hold up to the ton?
Ever crashed due to shitty drivers (or just have a story)?
Been pulled over for bullshit?


Personally, I have had my share of speeding tickets... Lost my licence pretty early on (from losing all my points due to speeding tickets) - I was 16 - and had to do alot of bullshit to get it back. To date I've had 3 in my car, and 1 on the bike... and my insurance SUCKS.

Havent crashed (knock on wood) well... havent crashed THIS bike, but I have to admit I have dropped the thing downtown in traffic... And I have had the odd SUV cut me off or try and turn into me.

The first time I had the Seca up to the Ton it was pretty hairy, felt a little wobble and had to let off... but the second was just a matter of tucking in real good... I'm thinking a steering damper would be a good purchace.

Don the ton+ 181kph... but that's the spec top speed so I guess I haven't really lived up to the spirit of it all... need to top 200kph to do that in my mind... need to re-gear both the tranny and rear drive to manage that... one day!

One ticket on the bike... a mobile camera in the back of a Jimmy... bloody sneaky if you ask me
Not that I don't speed... I just know when I can get away with it!

I have been pulled over once for the simple reason that I was on two wheels... but then the cop saw the BMW badging and said "You BMW riders always have your license and Insurance... have a nice evening" Funny thing is I was on first year probation and was out past sunset... would have lost my license for that!

So far the toll on Mojo has been light... seperated the drive shaft from the tranny once, in Buffet racer mode I lost the lid for the left Wixom bag and had three cagers run it over, lost an indicator once between here & Lockport... nothing major.

I did flip a BRAND NEW (100 km on it) Buell 500cc thumper ass over nose on the training course... $3500 in damages ;D
I got up, pushed the bick into the garage, signed the accident report, grabbed another bike and finished the evening 8)
Serves the idiots right for buying Buells for a mandatory training course... at least take the fairings off.

I would have paid $3500 to watch you dump a Buell in a training course.

Tintin said:

I would have paid $3500 to watch you dump a Buell in a training course.

Click to expand...

I'll crash a Buell any day... for free! Just get me the bike!

I don't know what "doin the ton" means, but my one & only speeding ticket was on my bike. just bought it, got caught running 17 mph over the speed limit "in town". for an extra $100, got the ticket reduced to "defective equipment", no points, talk about a racket. cop even asked "you just got this didn't you? you aren't even in the system yet." I also rolled that same bike on a nice curve in the road. I had time to think "crap, I'm gonna crash!!" I got 5 broken ribs, shattered collar bone, the bike only had cosmetic damage. used me for a cushion. my 2nd crash was much better 3 years later, just laid it down. though I did get a small dent in the brand new gas tank.

C&P's 'The Café Nation ' from http://www.cycleworld.com/article.asp?section_id=3&article_id=94



"We were in love with speed," said one old Rocker. "Our life was bikes, burning and birds." (Excerpted from Cycle World's all-new SportBike special-edition)
David Edwards


They’re old now. Or dead. But 50 summers ago, in England, they laid down blueprints for the sportbikes that some 125,000 of you will buy this year.



They were called Rockers for the new style of music they listened to, or Ton-Up Boys for the top-speed highway burn-offs they engaged in. Stu Savory, a Velocette Clubman rider who back in the day hung out at the famous Ace Café on London’s North Circular Road, explains the drill: “This was before the days of the blanket 70-mph speed limit. Doing the Ton, 100 mph, was in! The Ace was famous for ‘record racing.’ Put a coin in the jukebox, select the Animals’ ‘House of the Rising Sun,’ jump on the bike, blast down the bypass to the roundabout and back before the record ended, averaging the Ton.”

American moto-journalist John Covington was fascinated by the scene, still going strong in the late Sixties when he dropped in.

“They don’t do the Ton on a race course or a flat stretch of country road,” he wrote in Cycle magazine. “Likely as not, they do it on the North Circular Road or the Watford Bypass or the M1 expressway. They don’t do the Ton in broad daylight when there’s no traffic and the pavement is dry. They do it at night, when challenged to a burn-off. The air will be damp and the high-beam won’t be good for more than 60 mph and there will be trucks and cars of all sizes on the road. And that, mate, is when you do the Ton.”


Early café-racers were a British invention and used combinations of engines and frames from home-market bikes. Later came Japanese bikes such as the Honda CB750, which responded well to the café treatment.
Stock bikes were no good for this sort of thing, plus new ones were too expensive for teenagers and 20-somethings, so Rockers built their own, often from scrapyard beaters.

“First to go are the standard handlebars, which are replaced by clip-ons,” noted Covington. “Racing-type tank and seat are next, then come modifications to the exhaust system, plus new paint and other minor decorating. The Rockers strive for a racer image, and so rarely hang superfluous goodies all over the machine.” The ideal was to find a gutted Norton Featherbed frame (geometry so good it was copied for decades) and stuff it full of hopped-up 650cc Triumph motor. Top off the resulting “Triton” with an aluminum gas tank, monster front brake, alloy rims and premium rubber, and you had the ultimate café-racer, an appealing mix of speed and style—in effect, the world’s first sportbike.

The term was at first derogatory, bestowed by older riders dismissing these young turks of the tarmac and their lashed-together machines as barely being able to get from one transport café to another. The local authorities also took a dim view of Rockers, who favored black-leather jackets and jackboots, and traveled in packs. Much like American hot-rodders in the Fifties, chopper riders in the Seventies and urban street-racers and stunters today, they were subject to being hassled at any time—though a rundown of their crimes suggests a certain period quaintness.

An English newspaper report from 1961 tells of police swooping down on the Ace Café and rounding up 100 Rockers, guilty of atrocities ranging from “insulting behavior” to “jeering at passing motorists” to the unbelievably heinous “indulging in horseplay.”


Everything's Ace: Originally just a cheap decorating trick, black and white checkerboards are now synonymous with café-racers.
Harry Martin, 18, was one of the perps. “We were arrested for the simple reason that we wear leather jackets,” he protested. “People are always blaming us for causing trouble, but we keep to ourselves and the Ace is our café. All the boys and girls get down there to see the bikes, and it’s the done thing for the lads to do a bit of a ‘flash turn’ when coming into the car park. There’s bound to be a bit of noise, but no rowdiness.”

Martin was fined £5 for his indiscretions, and with the others was back at the Ace the next night.

Just like blue jeans and leather jackets, that kind of rebelliousness never goes out of style (thank goodness), and café-racers still look good today, as evidenced by Steve “Carpy” Carpenter’s Rocker-style sohc Honda CB750 (shown), which, he says, “snaps more heads than a cordless screwdriver on steroids.” His Southern California shop, Nostalgia Speed & Cycle (www.cb750cafe.com), has turned out about 20 examples so far, and demand is growing.

Why not? One old Rocker explained the attraction, just as viable now as then. “We were in love with speed,” he said. “Our life was bikes, burning and birds.”

Cheers, mates. Next pint’s on us.

I started riding back in 1974. Started on a 305 Honda. Have had lots of bikes since. It was explained to me that doing the ton meant to break 100 mph. When I first started riding it was hard because the small Jap bikes were really screaming when they were pushed. The Triumph would do it but you had to have the wind behind you going downhill. And you had to hang on because the bike was not as smooth as they are today. Actually when I think about it I really have no idea if I was actually going as fast as I thought I was what with the vibration and helmet buffeting [ remember no fairings or windsheilds, they were for sissys] my eyes would water so bad I could not even read the speedo. Not likely the speedo was anywhere near accurate anyway. But on the cheap ass tyres and wobbly suspension it felt like 200 MPH. But that all changed when I got my 750 Honda. Wow what a difference. Never looked backed as far as speed and smooth goes. Since then its just turn the throttle and go. I have had 2 accidents 1 invovled slippery cobblstones on Gerrard St. in east end T.O. result broken leg the other involved Bambi except she was fully grown, on a beautiful dark night near Bewdly, I was just crusin at around 75MPH when she jumped out of nowhere.Result I had many bones broken lots of other damage to my body but all is good now except with the head injury, it seems the brain does not heal like other parts of the body. I have had the chance to ride in Ireland and also at the Isle of Mann. I was even able to ride aroud the TT circuit on Mad Sunday. I have done the Cabot Trail twice. I have been able to ride with some great guys thru the years made lots of freinds, I could go on and on.
Yep, life is great, looking forward to lots more riding in my life.
Greg

I just barely made did 160km/hr on my 72 cb350 on the Gardiner Express way once...
She was vibrating like a chicken shit and reving at 13000rpms...LOL...

I do the ton almost everyday in my car. I once got caught doing 89 MPH in a 40. My friend had just gotten his Audi S4 back from the performance shop with the works. KO4 turbos, intercooler, programming, lightened clutch/flywheel, turboback exhaust with no cat. I quickly blipped the throttle, and didn't realize that i was doing over 100. Luckliy he only clocked me at 89. The cop looked like he wanted to punch me. I kinda wish he did. Would've probably gotten me out of a ticket.

I rarely speed (excessively) on the street. Mainy because there isn't any room left. I save it for the dry lakes. Much better to be able to lay on the tank and not have to worry about getting a ticket. But if you really want bustin't the ton try John Noonan's 'Busa. 259+ at Bonneville. My ride is a lot slower.

Once got caught doin 240 in a 40 Glad the cop that got me was a buddy from H.S ;D

thebronze said:

Once got caught doin 240 in a 40 Glad the cop that got me was a buddy from H.S ;D

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Whoa Dude... I'd say you are glad...
Otherwise he would have taken away your licence along with your parents, siblings, grandparents, and neighbors' licences.

Mine were 75 in a 50, 87 in a 50 (twice), 137 in a 100.
And 85 in a 50 on the bike.

Did he give you a ticket for running your afterburner too?