Discussion How much horsepower do you really need?

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.

 

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 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.

 

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.