Community Corner
Viewfinder: Sport Bikes Ride into Royal Oak on Thursday Nights
High performance, highly customized motorcycles are a crowd favorite during weekly gathering.
The nice summer weather brings out the high performance sport bikes, better known as "crotch rockets," to downtown Royal Oak on Thursday nights.
Unlike the , Sport Bike Night on Thursdays brings in a variety of imports, such as Yamahas, Triumphs, BMWs and Suzukis.
Sport Bike Night was spun off from Royal Oak's original Bike Night started by Harley riders, so sport bike riders could show off their unique blend of style and high performance.
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A common point of pride among the Thursday night bikers is how fast their motorcycles can go.
Ray Hartung, of Grosse Pointe Farms, said he's not sure how fast his 1983 BMW goes because "the speedometer only goes up to 85."
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Other bikers claim they have gotten their sport bikes up to speeds approaching 180 mph. These bikers are more concerned with performance, said Andy Kruz, who rides a 200 horsepower Suzuki GSXR 1000.
The crotch rockets usually don't roll in until after 9 p.m., so you can head downtown and catch a movie and dinner first, then enjoy the sights and sounds of the bikers.
