Let's put it another way, you can go to a fancy restaurant and spend thousands on a meal & wine or perhaps just dine at a cosy local pub with your mates for short change & have a better time.......their speaks a man without a 200bhp missile in the garage.
I'd rather be in the pub. Only way I'd be in a fancy restaurant is if I was the waiter. Nobody wants that.
I don't really care that my pani has 200 bhp I enjoy riding it and that's all that matters to me. But I also enjoy riding my fireblade with 170bhp which is more than enough for the road.
I miss the torque of my 1198. That was plenty. The 1299 is fine, but I spend more time trying to make sure Im not sitting on the bars under braking. But if you do track days a lot, then 200hp is a perfectly reasonable amount. You can use it, mostly. I'd rather some electrickery that could move the oomph up and down the rev range. Up top for track, in the middle for road. The kind of thing. Some days are lazy days, and some days someones lit a fire under your arse.
I’m quicker with 130bhp than I am 200. I find thousands better on the road because of the grunt but on track it’s like having a 12” pork sword and only being able to use a mere 8” of it
I think my 748/853 is a bit too much for the road and that's nowhere near 200hp. My S2r800 with 70-80 odd has plenty for nipping past the tourists although it can feel a bit slow after the 748 ! It'll still get to licence losing speeds very quickly though so it's all relative. I wouldn't want anything with 200hp but I am glad that they exist.
But would you rather have it and not need it, or need it and not have it. It's absolutely doable to use 200 bhp in the first 3 or 4 gears on the road. Anyone that says it can't, isn't trying on the right road at the right time. And before the usual comments, I think I'm Barry Sheene.
We can go on about 600’s passing 1000’s on track etc all we like. As the old saying goes a go big ‘un will always beat a good small ‘un. So it is with this
In terms of riding enjoyment and all that bollocks.. Actually and genuinely I’d rather have the 130. My gsxr is 100 in first basically on stock gearing. As was my gen 3. So using all of that 200bhp I’d suggest is either unlikely or you’re going to jail ‘if’ you get caught. From memory I think the top of 4th gear is over 160mph and you’re nearly loosing your licence in 1st alone. I’m not saying it’s impossible, it’s totally possible. But 3rd or 4th and using every bit of it on a 1000 on the road ? Really? I doubt it mate. I know decent bsb riders who will say that they can’t use all of what they have let alone us muppets. I ‘was’ a half decent club racer on a 600, albeit rusty as fuck these days and I can’t scratch the surface of what a 1000 can do on track. It ties me and itself in knots. I’ve looked at numerous data overlays for riders who are pretty good and it can be fucking embarrassing for the rider (most of us) to see truly how little of the available resource we are utilising.
Rumours that Yamaha are bringing out an R9, with MT09 engine, styled on R7 (the new one, not the superbike, pay attention at the back). If that is true I see a queue forming quickly - and I could well be in it. Elbows out
I have to admit the opportunities have got a lot less in the last few years. And the older I get, the more I think about the potential consequences. A good friend of mine who I am about the same as on a litre bike. Got a 3 month ban, and then later a 2 year ban with a 4 month suspended prison sentence. It was out in the boonies, no one got hurt, and there wasn't any racing involved. But his Barrister said he was lucky. If you're saying briefly touching 160 anywhere is doubtfull, even somewhere like the IOM, fair enough.
It’s highly possible. It’s just the ramifications of doing so isn’t it I’ve had two mates narrowly avoid jail in the last few months. One of them was extremely lucky that circumstances of the Polices recordings didn’t play out otherwise he would have been dropping the soap for a fair bit of time (on the limiter in 6th on an s1000rr). He’s now given up road riding and counting his lucky stars.
If you knew the guy, you’d understand that it wouldn’t matter. He’d still get nicked. He’d find a way lol
I had a test on a S1000RR, pinned the throttle in 1st gear, and kept it there until top gear. I didn't max it in 6th, but after my K6 1000, it was still quite scary. I bought a new one a week later, but in the 6 years I owned it, I don't recall ever revving it out in top. I've given up riding like that too.
I had an R1 and got fed up with having to close the throttle just as it was getting juicy. It would stall at less than about 20 mph in 1st gear. I did do 135 mph on it along the Cronk-y-Voddy straight (going the 'wrong' way round) without any difficulty at all - rev counter still in the Green ! This Suzuki will happily trundle along at 25 mph in 6th gear - now that is a useable road bike.
