An interesting article.. https://www.bennetts.co.uk/bikesocial/news-and-views/blog/how-much-horsepower-does-my-bike-use
So my little CBR250RR is right on the mark for a sports bike then. No wonder they are so enjoyable to ride..
The only flaw with this is that the CBR600RR in the article would not have to work anywhere near as hard to deliver the same level of performance. But my strangled screeching cat is still fun.
Most people misunderstand power, they think they want more power but are in a high gear, low RPM and cranking the throttle on. Power is achieved via gearing, so if you want more power, downshift. If you want more torque, get a big capacity bike and ride around at low rpm, like a Harley. But the 600+ LAMS bikes fit to what the article is saying.
My Yamaha 350 YPVS has more than enough power. Yamaha claimed 62hp. Even with pillion and all camping gear going uphill with head wind. That is why I bought all the parts to convert it to an RZ250. Still all the power I need but with reduced rego costs. I haven't got around to converting it yet though. Too many other projects. Now I will probably be able to get it on cheap club rego.
The high powered litre sports bikes are for the power ranger , wannabe market .... on the road The biggest enjoyment riding the Daytona 675 is hitting the throttle down low ... I look forward to overtaking anything ahead of me .... the grunt and the sound of that grunt are spine tingling As far as cruising goes u spend more time off throttling to stay at the speed limit but easy enough if the bike is setup right 127 bhp is no doubt way over my meagre skills limit but it is a track/racing orientated built bike. Thats why we are all here
It's a good article, however is it really a question of less power or less police patrols if you catch my drift
The Dayton 675 is a nice machine and they sound awesome. Particularly at lower revs. My son has one as a track bike. Still doesn't sound as sweet as my Honda RC162 tribute bike though. That is sublime. 250cc, 40+bhp, 117kg. Now that is a fun ride. Although a bit exciting on skinny rubber.
I think a 400 is probably ample, not that I've ridden mine. The little 250 is a great twisty scratcher but the 400 should be a happy compromise Not many 400s were brought into Aus coz of the 250cc laws at the time, I believe. My friend bought an MC19 as his learner bike and that was the first time I had seen one. Damn fine machine in the mountains.
Have to agree. When I moved to Sydney after finishing high school, I bought a new (ex-demo) 84 Suzuki GSXR400 from Action Suzuki. Loved that bike. Had it handling really well with a few mods and then my brother went to town on it (handy that he owned a motorcycle business back home) and we put a Yoshimura kit through it. Light weight, excellent power and handling. The national park road, putty road and Bells Line road got hammered most weekends with my mates back then in Sydney. I'll be on the lookout for another one once I finish off the GSF250 Bandit. I've seen one on Gumtree in Qld but the guy wants way too much for it.. $2800.. But then I might be tempted to buy a VFR400 or RVF400 instead.
I remember back in the day I would take my '89 Honda RS125 to a few track days to get some practise. There were always some street riders with their shiny new 4 cylinder Japanese 750RRRRRRRRR sport bikes. Middle of the day one of them asked me how much horsepower my little bike had. When I said 38, all I got was a bewildered stare. That was fun.
Many years ago at Eastern Creek, Aussie GP rider Garry McCoy convinced the organisers to let him practice on his kitted RS125 with the 750cc Superbike racers. I watched him round them up and make them look slow.
I have seen a guy on a 1920's Indian (boardwalk race replica) at Broadford make much more modern, large capacity bikes look slow. He went round the outside of my son on his 1989 GSXR750 as though he was standing still. I think a lot of it has to do with skill.
Yes. Skill. How many riders have the skill to make the most of a 250cc bike? Let alone anything bigger.
Back when electric bikes first appeared in Australia, I served as a flag marshal a few times at Wakefield Park. It was around the time that electric bikes first averaged over 100mph around the Isle of Man. One year at Wakefield Park they tested a few of the bikes on a dyno. I think the BMW had the top figure of something like 180 hp or kw or whatever. The electric bikes recorded something like 30 yet their lap times were similar to tail-enders in the 600 Supersport class. I think it demonstrated that peak power isn't the only measure of the performance of the bike. The torque curve or power curve of the electric bike is so different from the ICE powered bikes. I hope my recollection of the different figures is close to the mark. It was a few years ago. I'm sure someone will correct me if I am wrong. I had a similar demonstration of the importance of the shape of the power curve back in the 70s. It was at a much lower level of performance, but I think illustrates the same point. I had a Honda SL125 (remember that was the bike that was so docile that according to one motorcycle magazine it was the ideal bike for teaching your girlfriend to ride). I bored it out to 145cc using a 305 Honda sleeve and a Honda 750 piston. I stroked it to 175cc, fitted a warmer cam and ran it on alcohol at about 13:1 compression. It was very competitive at local short circuit races, not because it had an enormous amount of power, but because the power was always pretty much the same regardless of the revs. The power band was almost as good as a steam engine or electric bike. I could always beat 125 Honda Elsinores off the line and it made little difference whether I dropped the clutch at 2,000 revs or 5,000 revs. Since the Elsinores claimed 24 hp and the original SL 125 claimed 12 hp, I thought that was a successful development. It seems to me that only looking at a single figure of peak power only gives you part of the story.
If you are into Bike, cars, boats etc... can you EVER really have enough Horsepower??? No matter how much you have... you always want just a little bit more. I know with my Scirocco R when I first got it the 188kw (Engine) was plenty... but then I wanted to chip it... and change the induction.. fuel pressure regulator, Coil Paks (put in V10 Audi paks for more spark) and ended up with 207kW at the front wheels... I did change the tune to make it more flexible on the throttle as it was a bit touchy in traffic lol. In the end we all want a bit more... or to go a bit faster.. or to sound a bit better no matter what the machinery or lap speed tells us
Reminds me of just recently when I rode the Daytona to that hot rod show and parked up next to the big fat chrome couches that sound like a wet fart type bikes ... when I took off my helmet a young guy standing there said " bit fast for you isnt it? " with a wry smile on his face .... I instantly thought of so many reasons behind that comment but couldnt come up with anything smart in return so I just laughed .... he was a nice bloke though and we talked for ages
I have always hated chrome couches , then I bought my $100 vstar 1100 to be fair, I don’t like it ... I actually love it easy to ride , heaps of torque , and when I get off , my back isn’t sore. I am wearing out my boots from scraping the pegs I do miss a 19000 redline , maybe I might register that fzr250
When I first saw it , I dead set thought it was rooted from being left under a tree , lucky it was saveable.