Struggling to see the point. To expensive to track for most if us. To fast for the road. Wasn't 2008 better?
Even in 08 they were too fast for the road. Good fun though. Road use, with the amount of traffic and cameras they are of no use to me now. Thinking back to my 06 R1, it only started to work around 80mph.
It’s why you see yanks add lots of bling and do all these roll on tests: that’s the future. Drag races onto mway slip roads
if you look back to the start of the Panigale series 1199 and compare it to the v4, the main developments seem to be more Electronic rather than mechanical, as power increases between the 2 seem limited other than the usability /functionality of the EL packages. I for one would like to see some more retro fit resources to keep the 1199 1299 etc up to date, as they have more than enough 'power'
Before this Covid lockdown stuff I was considering getting something faster - not 200bhp but more than a '97 Supersport 900. Not now though, as last year I started exploring the back roads on a 40 year old 200 2-stroke twin and it is more fun - it is a coitusing hoot to ride! Even the famed Mr Millyard with the V10 creation loves riding his 1960s 100cc Yamaha so much that he has been known to do over 500 miles on it in a day. As has been mentioned, there are too many CCTV cameras, speed traps etc. now that at times you spend more time looking for them than looking at what you should be.
be nice to have it, though not for me if the increases in power drive the prices of new bikes up even higher
Too expensive to track is all relative. I have been track riding for a long time and now only ride at probably 90%, having learned my limits, so I ride new bikes. When I was younger I rode at 100% so I had cheaper bikes that I could afford to throw down the track. You are on the upward cycle so different scenario.
Fair point l however it doesn't legislate for a fucktard like me thinking he's something special and sending us both into the kitty litter.
don’t know about better but in the same 13 year timeframe that the bikes have been getting quicker and feeling slower (in terms of how useable they are) the roads have been getting busier and busier. regardless of what we all think the evidence is there, they are selling in the ‘teens’ of fireblade and R1’s etc. Fireblade for example I happen to know they only sold around 6 in the period June-sept. The manufacturers have realised it now I think though, they’ve finally twigged, look how much is going into smaller capacity sports type bikes that are aimed at the road
My 2019 Panigale V4 is a far better bike to ride at my limit than my 2008 1098R which has roughly the same rwhp. Andy
Totally agree. My go to ride these days is my 1979 DT175 2 stroke off roader as you can have a lot more fun on a slow bike going fast than you can on a fast bike going slow. Having said that, needing to pull and clean the spark plug in order to get it to start about half of the time is olde worlde charm I can do without. I spent most of yesterday on the S4R and I’m of the view that it has pretty much the perfect amount of grunt everywhere in the rev range and an analogue delivery system which makes it a fantastic real world road bike. Tbh, anyone who says they “need” more than 120 BHP for the road is full of it IMO. I was considering getting a Panigale a few years ago but then I rode a V4 hire bike on track for a day and while it was a real beauty and a technical marvel, it kind of left me cold because it felt too easy to ride and kind of distant/detached, like a PlayStation game. Its supreme capability also meant was also way too fast for the road; for example, at one point I felt as if I was doing about 90 - 100mph but when I looked down at the speedo it was reading 147mph!
Many are mixing two thighs (things) up: a need for a big power bike and the fun of a small bike. Small bikes are great. For 30 mins or popping to the local cafe 5 miles away for a coffee. For long rides etc they are a pure pita and very tiring. Riding low power at speed means momentum overtakes and lots of forward planning, slipping into small gaps, revving its tits off, sore right wrist
Well, I hope my thighs remained resolutely unmixed as I referenced the joy of both small capacity 2 strokes and largish (but not over-powered) 4 stroke twins.
It’s not just something limited to sports bikes, look at the furore over on the V4 Multi thread over it’s “lack” of power compared to its Panigale/street fighter brethren. I think it’s a mixture of pub top trumps and the required homologation for racing. Once I started doing track days I lost all interest in riding sports bikes on the road and even then there were a few people on track on R1’s etc who were quick but a lot who just did 150 down the straights and thought they were V Rossi and I got far more enjoyment passing them on my 600’s than riding a litre bike round the track. (Then you’d get the club racers practicing on their RS 250’s passing us all ) The thing that makes me laugh is that everything now seems to have traction control and rider modes, even stuff that’s sub 100hp
I'd much rather have a new RS250 than any 200bhp (or is it 170?) bike thats the size & weight of a horse. But each to their own.
