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Post by mekon on Nov 3, 2021 22:05:25 GMT
My mate who races only a had GSXR600 but could keep up with just about any cunt on the road as he would literally treat it as a race track (that's why he gave the road up). If you're willing to ride like that or have the talent to then it's possible to get the better of even a fairly well ridden 1000. I think the only dude that ever got the better of him on the road was Dennis Winterbottom who used to ride at the TT.
600cc record for TT is 129mph. Even in 2000 the 600s were doing near 120mph laps and even in the current era once you drop out of the top 10 rides you've got guys on 1000cc bikes not lapping as fast as the 600 winners from 21 years ago. Big power bikes are about not keeping the pot cooking all the time but it doesn't mean they're unbeatable. I remember when I was doing the Krystal Racing superstock thing, they ran at Mallory in the BSB class and literally just put slicks on the superstock bike. I think he finished midpack or so with a decent power deficit.
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Post by beefus on Nov 4, 2021 7:46:40 GMT
We all know that 100bhp is more than enough for the road... This is actually quite a contentious point. Do you mean 100 usable bhp or 100bhp peak? You're right in the sense that most of us barely use more than 100bhp but none of us are constantly bouncing it off the red line on the road so ideally a bike needs considerably more than 100bhp for that figure to be usable. A bike with a peak bhp of 150-180 and a healthy torque figure of about 80lbft bang in the upper middle of the midrange is perfect for fast road riding. Useable...peak power and torque way up the rev range is pointless IMHO, I ride a twin so it's got plenty grunt from lower down the range and perfect for the roads, I had a K1300S a few years ago and that was a belter of an engine, it could pull from 2000rpm in 6th no probs. Probably the best I4 I've ridden, with the Blackbird a close 2nd. I know what your saying though, I'm not against 200bhp sports bikes, far from it...I'd have one in a heartbeat but it wouldn't be my sole mode of two wheeled transport. |
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Post by Diego the toe clipper on Nov 4, 2021 8:36:01 GMT
This is actually quite a contentious point. Do you mean 100 usable bhp or 100bhp peak? You're right in the sense that most of us barely use more than 100bhp but none of us are constantly bouncing it off the red line on the road so ideally a bike needs considerably more than 100bhp for that figure to be usable. A bike with a peak bhp of 150-180 and a healthy torque figure of about 80lbft bang in the upper middle of the midrange is perfect for fast road riding. Useable...peak power and torque way up the rev range is pointless IMHO, I ride a twin so it's got plenty grunt from lower down the range and perfect for the roads, I had a K1300S a few years ago and that was a belter of an engine, it could pull from 2000rpm in 6th no probs. Probably the best I4 I've ridden, with the Blackbird a close 2nd. I know what your saying though, I'm not against 200bhp sports bikes, far from it...I'd have one in a heartbeat but it wouldn't be my sole mode of two wheeled transport. Transport... that's a contentious point too I think, are litre bikes designed to be transport? Even the Aprilia 660 is clearly track oriented. I used to think I liked using my bike as transport, but since my situation changed and I haven't had to use it as such (this year I've done more kms on the track than I have on the road) I realised that I actually don't have much desire to use my bike as transport. Living in a city centre , I confess that I'd potentially look at an electric moped as "transport" if I had somehwere to charge it. I did enjoy the long Madrid - Basque Country trip on the GSXR, I did in July, but going back to daily commuting at temperatures ranging from -5º to +45º makes me shudder now! |
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Post by beefus on Nov 4, 2021 8:57:01 GMT
Useable...peak power and torque way up the rev range is pointless IMHO, I ride a twin so it's got plenty grunt from lower down the range and perfect for the roads, I had a K1300S a few years ago and that was a belter of an engine, it could pull from 2000rpm in 6th no probs. Probably the best I4 I've ridden, with the Blackbird a close 2nd. I know what your saying though, I'm not against 200bhp sports bikes, far from it...I'd have one in a heartbeat but it wouldn't be my sole mode of two wheeled transport. Transport... that's a contentious point too I think, are litre bikes designed to be transport? Even the Aprilia 660 is clearly track oriented. I used to think I liked using my bike as transport, but since my situation changed and I haven't had to use it as such (this year I've done more kms on the track than I have on the road) I realised that I actually don't have much desire to use my bike as transport. Living in a city centre , I confess that I'd potentially look at an electric moped as "transport" if I had somehwere to charge it. I did enjoy the long Madrid - Basque Country trip on the GSXR, I did in July, but going back to daily commuting at temperatures ranging from -5º to +45º makes me shudder now! I would class "transport" as any method that gets you where you want to go....might not be ideal riding a RSV4 in MAdrid city centre in 40C but feel free!! |
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Post by mekon on Nov 4, 2021 9:46:01 GMT
I can't really be arsed using the bike if it's not at least suitable weather to put some pace on these days.
I can ride in the wet and I'm not scared of it or wet roads but I just get no joy from it at all. Actually proper wet is better than that slightly wet greasy shit you get in Autumn.
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Post by beefus on Nov 4, 2021 10:39:14 GMT
I can't really be arsed using the bike if it's not at least suitable weather to put some pace on these days. I can ride in the wet and I'm not scared of it or wet roads but I just get no joy from it at all. Actually proper wet is better than that slightly wet greasy shit you get in Autumn. It takes me as long to get kitted out for the commute as it does to get in my car and drive there...so I only ride to work occasionally and if it's dry. I don't mind wet weather if I'm on a trip, I get satisfaction from being able to ride reasonably well 'sans fear' in those conditions. |
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Post by armstrongracer on Nov 4, 2021 14:01:35 GMT
I commute about 60 miles daily on a litre+ bike (K1300), 40 of that is motorway though. I actually only bought the K for 2 things, shaft drive and fuel consumption. Keeping it under 80mph gets me close on 50pmg, no orther big bike gets close. I f**n hate traffic and cars. Am willing to sacrifice lack of comfort of a bike, even in winter, to being wound up in a box. If I had a town commute (and the money) I'd actually consider something like a zero FXS. I've ridden E-MTB's and theyre a hoot, an electric supermoto on sticky tyres would make every commute a trackday.
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Post by elnoodle the reasonable on Nov 4, 2021 14:05:26 GMT
It's just not practical to take the car into Glasgow and in any case my old Merc will soon be banned from the new low emission zone (LEZ, fnarr).
So for me it's the bike or the bus but obviously, since working from home it's been neither.
Tbh, I don't really get the kick out of riding that I used to. Yeah I love that surge of acceleration and nailing a corner is fun but I don't really get excited at the prospect of going out on the bike and it's been years since I went for a ride for the sake of it.
So, aye, it's just convenient transport for me but it might as well be fast as fuck transport.
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Post by elnoodle the reasonable on Nov 4, 2021 14:14:09 GMT
Keeping it under 80mph gets me close on 50pmg, no orther big bike gets close. I can get that on the 'Blade no problem and my riding could accurately be described as "brisk." I never understand the consumption figures on the magazine reviews. MCN tested mine at 32mpg. What the fuck were they doing on it? The lowest I've ever managed was 39mpg and that was proper throw-away-the-key levels of illegality. |
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Post by Eddie The Bastard on Nov 4, 2021 18:26:34 GMT
Keeping it under 80mph gets me close on 50pmg, no orther big bike gets close. The lowest I've ever managed was 39mpg and that was proper throw-away-the-key levels of illegality.  |
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Post by Diego the toe clipper on Nov 5, 2021 8:17:53 GMT
I guess it depends on the bike.
Commuting (about 25 miles each way, 90% motorway) I used to get 40 mpg, maybe a bit more but no way 45. On the track I'm getting about 30.
I hadn't actually calculated that until now reading these other posts, but I think its about what I'd have expected, perhaps a bit more frugal on the commute would have been nice! But nobody buys high capacity bikes (or cars) for fuel economy do they?
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