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sportbikes - usable power question

Geez, a thread from 2008???
Well, I'll add my 2 cents. I've had a Haybusa and a Kawi ZX-14 years ago. Maybe 15 years or so.
I didn't ride for a few years and as I was getting older I bought a used BMW R1200RT. Loved the bike, very comfortable, enough power, etc. But after a year I was totally bored with it.
Last December I sold the R1200RT and bought a used BMW S1000RR that has a full Akra exhaust and a Rapid Bike tune. It's a blast!!
I don't have time for long rides so a short speedy jaunt is fine with me. It's like owning a Ferrari for the price of a used Civic. The power is unbelievable, torque is out of this world. It is so much fun - loud and crazy and fast. Exhaust pops and crackles on every downshift, heads turn, cars get out of the way. And the mods for this bike are endless. I love it.
 
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First off, every size bike can be FUN!
I have owned all sizes and kinds and put some miles on almost all of them.
I used to ride 12-15K a year and that is just weekends and some vacations.
My riding was mainly two lane fun roads up north with light traffic.
Where the big hp bikes are nice is getting around slow traffic. It is like having a time machine that can propel you to a new location in a blink of a eye. That works both on the street and the track.
Smaller bikes limited my passing antics ( probably not a bad thing) but were fun to carry more corner speed ( not necessarily a good thing).
Most of my big sport bikes were actually more comfortable to ride longer distance . Generally less rpm, less buzz, just less tiring.
For me I probably used similar hp let's say, of a Gsxr 750 and a cbr 1000, just didn't have to ring it's neck as hard and some in reserve if needed.
My issue was I ended up riding faster most of the time on a big bike due to the lack motorcycle input ( more bike input makes me feel they i am going faster). Not to say this goes for all bikes as I have demoed some liter bikes I was trying to shift to 7th by 60 mph..lol
DT
 
Riding bikes of different displacements are analogous to eating different types of food. You can be pretty happy eating hot dogs and burgers, but once in a while an honest to god expensive steak is a real treat, and lot of horsepower is the equivalent of that. I felt my '13 Multistrada had power in spades but after renting some large displacement bikes with crazy power recently (R1250GS, S1000XR, 1290 SuperAdventure S, etc.), I feel like I could use more. Even on pretty twisty roads like Page Mill and Mt Hamilton it's nice to have all the power to pull out of each corner.
 
Power is awesome.

Nimble is awesome.

The combination is where I seek to be.

Still want a 170 HP 425lb multi.
 
Pretty cool to see these conversations dating back to 08! I like to have a balance between usability and excitement. A bike that's too usable isn't very exciting for me personally. I like my bike to scare me just a little when I have the throttle pinned. On the flip side, if a bike is too exciting and you only ever end up using 20% of it's rev range in the real world, it can be frustrating and feel a little pointless (for me). I think a ~120-150hp naked liter bike is ideal.

Another consideration is that small bikes are good for high corner speed which isn't my goal on the street. Even though I spend 99% of my time in the twisties, I slow down in the turns until I can see the exit and then use my MT10's grunt to blast out of corners.

For track duty, I'd love to have a Ninja 400 to learn how to maximize corner speed, body position, etc. But for the street, I enjoy pointing and shooting out of corners. Keeps me safer.
 
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littlebeast said:
are these extreme - top end of the performance spectrum - bikes really that fun to ride?
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It's funny replying to this post now considering how far bikes have advanced since you broached this question.

There is a way in which you literally cannot use all the power on the road but it's not the way most people think. A typical 200bhp literbike makes peak power around 12k rpm. It also redlines 1st gear around 90-100mph. So peak power literally is not reachable at 50mph. If you are at a stop light or cruising on a surface street (or even on a hwy at 70mph) you will not see your peak power.

That said, if you're willing and able, you can choose to get into that peak power on public roads by riding faster.

I have enjoyed my 200bhp monster on the road and track.
 
Odd, 129hp on the street is more than enough on the street to keep up with whatever is out there on Sonoma County back roads.

In this.

Clearly not enough for a motorcycle though. :laughing
 

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My current bike doesn’t seem to have the midrange grunt I’d expect a 150hp bike to have. It’s still more than adequate entertainment though.
 
fadkar said:
Pretty cool to see these conversations dating back to 08! I like to have a balance between usability and excitement. A bike that's too usable isn't very exciting for me personally. I like my bike to scare me just a little when I have the throttle pinned. On the flip side, if a bike is too exciting and you only ever end up using 20% of it's rev range in the real world, it can be frustrating and feel a little pointless (for me). I think a ~120-150hp naked liter bike is ideal.

Another consideration is that small bikes are good for high corner speed which isn't my goal on the street. Even though I spend 99% of my time in the twisties, I slow down in the turns until I can see the exit and then use my MT10's grunt to blast out of corners.

For track duty, I'd love to have a Ninja 400 to learn how to maximize corner speed, body position, etc. But for the street, I enjoy pointing and shooting out of corners. Keeps me safer.
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I never would have thought it, but the Indian FTR 1200's with a few mods are an excellent track/ street bike. One of the best non-sport bikes I've ridden so far.

Blankpage said:
Bikes are neutered anyhow so 200+hp is mostly marketing
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...by how riders ride them. IOW, the IMU's are giving a % of total power available based on the bike's relative position. Many of the riders on the IMU bikes use the rider aids to mask bad habits like not picking the bike up off the corner, etc...which inevitably restricts power delivery and slows them down. Neutered!

Blankpage said:
My current bike doesn’t seem to have the midrange grunt I’d expect a 150hp bike to have. It’s still more than adequate entertainment though.
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Torque to get off the corner, HP to get down the straights.
 
The ride modes also can soften the throttle while giving access to same power levels.
With one of my bikes putting it in race mode makes the throttle really abrupt but not really any better performance than if left in street mode.
At lower speeds the bike wants to either accelerate or slow down but not happy to maintain a constant speed.
I kinda like the jerky feel of it on the backroads but blows in an urban environment.
 
That's interesting. What brand? Stock ECU? the throttle mapping on stock ECU's is horrible in the first 1/16 of movement.
 
Holeshot said:
That's interesting. What brand? Stock ECU? the throttle mapping on stock ECU's is horrible in the first 1/16 of movement.
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Yep, I've found myself using rain mode in the city to make the throttle modulation less mentally taxing. Can always crank it if needed, especially since you REALLY gotta crank it before power output starts to get unwieldy in city streets/traffic.
 
Holeshot said:
That's interesting. What brand? Stock ECU? the throttle mapping on stock ECU's is horrible in the first 1/16 of movement.
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Below, missing the stock power valve and chipped for its current exhaust makes it no good as a putt putt bike. Fun in the correct environment though.
150hp bike I mentioned is a SpeedTriple

Gs8bNJah.jpg
 
Almost all sport bikes come with really tall gearing. Bikes can be brought into their sweet spot for the street for very little money by changing sprockets.

Almost all my bikes get at least a -1 front sprocket. Stock gearing on the RSV was ridiculously tall. Had to go -2 make it almost useable on the street.

Front sprockets are $30-$50. No reason not to try a couple of combo to find your favorite spot.
 
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Woha!
Does this exhaust make my but look big?
 
littlebeast, as a former moto tech who's owned quite a few of and test ridden a helluva lotta different bikes over the years of all engine sizes, I can tell you that I prefer a more nimble, smaller displacement bike for Bay Area traffic.

My current favorite street sled is a modified 2nd gen SV650 with a gixxer rear shock, gold valve emulators in the forks and low rise handlebars for a more sport oriented seating position. For my riding style and comfort preference. I absolutely love the flickability and instant turn in response of the 160 rear tire versus the more common 180 size rear tire or especially the 190 standard size of most liter bikes.

But. The most fun bike I personally have ever ridden (on the street) was a 2010 Ducati Hypermotard 1100 Evo SP. That insane low end grunt of the 1078cc air cooled motor is just grin inducing. I would trade/sell any, or even all, of my current bikes to own that particular bike. On paper, that bike has "only" about 95 horsies, but it has almost 76 lb/ft of torque. Having that extra power on tap is why I ride. :thumbup To each, their own. :ride
 
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