| RCA states that a 749 is underpowered (presumably in comparison to his R1) - but this is bound to be the case given that the R1 has a 250cc capacity advantage and is a four pot. even if the capacity was the same, it is recognised that a four pot will make more power than a twin of the same capacity and racing eg: supersport rules reflect this by allowing 750 twins to race with 600 4 pots.
he misses the point somewhat i feel. ultimate power is not everything and in fact on an everyday road bike huge power can compromise the all round ability of the bike and certainly limits the enjoyment of it - low down grunt is where it's at on a road bike. i'm sure some of you must have read the magazine article which demonstrated that although the R6's bhp has gone up year on year (due to marketing pressures), this has been at the expense of midrange torque and driveability. the testers got readers to blind test a "detuned" R6 and a stock R6 back to back, and all of them thought that the detuned R6 was a better, faster bike. why? because road riding doesn't sit well with revving the living daylights out of a bike with a narrow powerband.
i digress...
nonetheless, if RCA is insecure enough to need the pub bragging rights provided by a couple of tenths off the 0 - 60 time or 15mph on the top speed which is never, ever going to be used, then good luck to him. we ducati owners are secure enough in the size of our tackle and our sexual orientation that we don't feel the need to rely on arbitary and largely meaningless bhp figures to bolster a nagging sense of self doubt which can only be assuaged by having the fastest, most powerful sportsbike on the market (which incidentally, the R1 is no longer, having been surpassed by the gixxer thou and, i think, the kwakker).
i seem to remember reading an interview with a certain mr v. rossi (apparently he rides bikes for a living) wherein he stated that his R1 is far too fast for the road and so he prefers riding his FJR1300 or his 450 supermoto. i'm sure than none of us would argue that rossi isn't capable of handling a powerful bike, so when he makes such a statement, we must treat the words falling from his godlike lips with something approaching reverence.
[Edited on 26-8-2005 by zhed44]
[Edited on 26-8-2005 by zhed44]  |