Can't remember if anyone has already posted this, but I found it very interesting: I thought Baron von Grumble made the best point in another video. He said, any 1000cc bike is way more than the average joe can exploit either on the track or the street, so you might as well buy whichever one floats your boat in whatever way is important to you. Having said that, some of them cost double what others cost - so floating your particular boat might be a costly process.
Interesting. I'm off to Allan Jefferies to order my HP4 right now. ps. This months BiKE magazine put the Aprilia at the top of the pile :wink:
I quite like the shoot outs, but always get the impression that each magazine is biased to a certain manufacturer in one way or another. The RSV4 is an impressive bit of kit though... To most of us mere mortals, would we be able to tell the difference in general day to day use between the bikes? I used to have a 2006 R1, and came nowhere close to its maximum potential on the track or road...
I think where you tell the difference is how it rides and ease of power delivery. Eg.a ZX10R 2004 anyone will tell the difference to a 1000rr 'blade of the same age. So yes, your average punter can tell the difference
Yes, I think it comes down more to "feel" than anything else. So you should ride them all and pick the one which feels the best to you, having removed any that you couldn't stand to see in your garage. The whole thing is a little odd though, in some respects. Bikes have been so refined and worked on that what the consumer gets is now a product way beyond his or her abilities. And then we obsess over details and get all finicky about them. But somewhere, all the traction control and electronic aids are in the price tag. So we are actually forking out for a load of stuff we probably don't really need (but our heart tells us we do, if we want to be at the top of the banana pile).
I spent some time talking to one of Ducati's test riders when I did a factory tour. He was of the opinion that for most road riders 100Hp was more than sufficient. 10years on my 749 still laughs at my efforts. Duke
I agree, sports bikes now producing almost 200 bhp have become a pissing contest, a decent lightweight mid sized sports bike producing between 100 and 130 bhp is surely enough for 90% of riders
Fast bikes placed the aprilia on top again. I'd like to see a road only test I reckon the blade would be right up there still
Agree, the blade even without all the TC is only a fraction of a second off the lap pace but much more real world road orientated, superb bikes really. just shows what good old fashioned engineering can do when you get it right, imagine what they could produce if they wanted
