I was talking to a super quick rider recently. He owns a Superleggera and was telling me how fantastic the new 1299S is. Which I don't doubt. He reliably informed me the 1299S is 'Superleggera' quick. Wow, thought I. But its got me thinking. If you buy an all singing and dancing superbike these days is there any going back? Will the electronics de skill you? I love the rawness and savagery of my 1098R but its a dinosaur compared with latest and greatest. I'm thinking of getting a 1299S but worry the electronics will dial out all my shitness and when I hop back on my 1098R I'll high side to the moon at turn 1. Thoughts??
I like the idea of having an 'electronic guardian angel'. I wouldn't have a permanent limp (and five ankle ops) if the bike I was riding at the time had ABS. Now it's compulsory on anything above 125cc. I can pin the throttle on my 1199 and watch the amber TC lights flash knowing there's very little chance of a 'slip-grip-flip':Hurting: But there is something that's still old school in me, not having the minerals to grab a handful of front brake whilst cranked over (1299/DVT have cornering ABS). My brain just won't let me do it! Hell, you're supposed to be able to do it in the wet too... I suppose old dogs and new tricks becomes applicable here
Agreed. I'm all in favour of the game moving on and I embrace it. As you say, grabbing a handful to the apex (wet/dry) requires brain recalibration. And you can indeed hold the lever hard, knee down to the apex.... Weird maaan.... But what if the ECU goes tits up? You'll bin it on the next bend. Perfectly illustrated by Dani Pedrosa last year when MM bust his TC cable in the previous corner.
I remember the Pedrosa TC sensor getting knocked off. Amazing how GP riders have to trust these digital bikes. It would be good to stick them all on 500 2-strokes again... I wonder who'd come 2nd?
You only have to watch the onboards to see how much they rely on it. Full throttle at 8/10th lean sir?! No problem!
The only logical conclusion is that yes it will deskill you but it will also enable you to go faster safer.
I was lucky enough to meet Chaz Davies at the Donny WSBK round and he said his racebike was faster with the electronics on then with them off. He had tried both to test the theory. I suspect we have reached a point where the power the bikes produce is more than any human can cope with without some assistance. Some of us just need more than others.
always been a bit scared to test it, so does that mean if i pin it on a corner it wont drop me off? honest answers please. :smile:
electronics make us faster, but numb/disable developed skills. I like mastering the clutch, I like rev matching, I like knowing the limits of my brakes without abs cutting in, but I do like the quick upshifts (sounding like an Aldi advert) Downshifts, and wheelie control? flyby wire is bad enough! Where will it end? auto brakes, auto shift? it will get to the point where you just hold on, and the bike does it all, then you can just nod off as the flapper valve mutes the ride for you, and be awakened as it opens on your destination. I can understand how people like the electronics getting them round the track quicker, but for the rest of us, lets keep it real. Before long, if Audi get their way, we will have pretty hondas, badged as ducatis. :Vomit:
was thinking the 848, lets say i am half way round a corner the grips good and it wont slide away for any other reason than snapping the throttle to quick. not a slow acceleration where you just lose grip but a big handfull?. if you know what i mean.
There's been a huge paradigm shift in riding bikes with the advent of lean-angle TC + ABS. Standard TC/ABS still demanded respect on entry/exit. Lean angle electronics has significantly reduced the critical rider skill in judging the fine line between grip/slip where it matters most to staying on 2 wheels and is the most exhilarating from a riding perspective. Is it better? Depends on what you intend to be better at.
As Spareparts states, i think its the lean angle electronics that have taken everything on to a whole new level. Tipping a bike into a bend changes a whole lot of parameters on a bike which the older TC and ABS cannot fully understand but add a lean angle sensor and then it receives a lot of new information that is useful.
