| I used to believe the maxim "rider makes the difference" and to some extent it does. But then power is just as important. Put a bunch of riders of equal skills on the same bikes with varying engine outputs and the faster bike will mostly always win. No matter how good you are a 10bhp difference is a CHASM.
This year in MRO I've been struggling. I am rarely passed into a corner, never in a corner but, almost always passed in a straightline particularly when it comes to acceleration. I've had to resort to outbraking as the only means to make a pass because even if I was tucked up the exhaust pipe of another rider, once he was onto the straight he would power away. Anyone who is suffering from a lack of power compared to others will know exactly what I mean. It's incredibly frustrating and leads you to taking chances you wouldn't normally take in order to make a pass.
I got my bike on the dyno a few times and found it was only delivering 64bhp so, I was some 5-8bhp down on other bikes and it showed. Now I've done some more work on it I'm back up to around 70 with a 5bhp gain at 6500rpm so, it'll be interesting to see what difference it makes.
If you get any work done on your bikes then I recommend you verify and compare readings against those obtained on another dyno. I believed the outputs that were quoted for my bike when it was given a workover earlier in the year. Since then I have spent most of the season castigating myself for getting whupped, getting down about things and losing faith only to find that the bike was indeed not right.
Power does matter a lot.
[Edited on 15-9-2005 by twpd]  |