Quote:
Originally posted by TP Deej, I think you could get a bit carried away chasing horsepower. Having said that, I think it really depends on your riding. Take Jools for example. He has a similar amount of power and more than holds his own in the fast groups and on the rideouts. |
Nice of you to say so TP, but I wouldn't mind a bit more power myself.
In my mind it depends completely on how, and where you ride. If you do most of your riding on trackdays, then you will want every last drop of power you can lay your hands on, although even on the track there is something to be said for predictable power characteristics like a Duke rather than hitting the powerband on an IL4 and finding yourself spat off the highside. Control is more important than out and out bhp, as even the MotoGP teams are discovering.
If you're like me and do most of your riding on the road, with two or three trackdays a year, then how much power do you really need? Not much is the answer. I've only got 83 bhp on my ST2 and I can keep up with most people because 83 bhp is enough power to go as fast as most people would want to go on the road and remain this side of sheer lunacy. The limiting factor is not power, but the road conditions and the rider. The guys I ride with are pretty quick, but ride within their limits and the road conditions. There are lots of people who are quicker on the road than me, but that's mostly because they're better riders not because they have another 40-50 bhp.
I've said it before, and I will say it again, that my ideal road bike would be a grunty V-twin with about 100 bhp and weigh about 160 Kg. Paul Mort's Bloooooo Duke is not far off my ideal road bike (except that it still weighs a little more than my ideal....oh, and it's blue which is not my cup of tea - sorry Mort).
Any more than that and you can't really use the power on the road...except on the straight bits. The straight bits are not where it's at for me cos anyone can twist a throttle wide open on a straight bit.
Summat like the red beastie in the background with MBP testarossa heads, BST wheels, Brembo billet calipers, Brembo radial brake and clutch master cylinders and Ohlins all round would do me nicely ta
[Edited on 30-3-2005 by Jools]
[Edited on 30-3-2005 by Jools]