Need a faster, bigger, more powerful bike...

[dart1963]

"Here are some interesting stats for people that think they need more power on their bikes for street use. Or bigger bikes. Ultimate street course: Isle of Man TT lap (37+miles) record is set on Superbike(same as FIM superbike) at 131.578 mph. The Superstock TT (basically a stock bike with DOT tires and minor modifications for safety, brakes etc... stock engine) - 130.741 mph. And 600 Supersport is --- 127.836... that is less than 4mph difference over 37 mile lap with long straights and a mountain...."

from a good riding friend on fb. says it all... learn to ride, that's where its at!

 

[Nastybutler]

To be fair, their average speeds are more than the 6R's top speed. Just sayin'.

 

[dart1963]

^^^ troublemaker

lol

 

[Marthy]

The stock 6R is a little flat on top but got enough power to get around. Once you do few mod the bike is quite good. With the FZ6 cams and all tune properly... this is a very solid street bike.

 

[bleedinblue]

To be fair, their average speeds are more than the 6R's top speed. Just sayin'.

Wich is also double the speed limit.

Good thread though, it makes alot of sense to me.Going up a mountain road or something, 600cc would be able to stay on the power alot better then a liter bike could.

 

[JonKerr]

I have a friend who's had 5 'Busa's, R1's, currently rides a KTM 990SM. (The hardest bike to ride that I've ever been on! Hello wheelie monster. 1st gear is pretty much worthless with all the torque and power of that 990cc V-Twin.) He rode my bike and the smile on his face was awesome. His words "That's all you need for the street. It's perfect." Another friend who's had an R6, KTM SuperDuke, and a couple other bikes is in the process now of getting rid of his supermoto and buying a FZ6R. If you know how to ride, you can easily and safely go as fast or faster than you should ever go on the street. I'm usually the one out front of street rides with friends who are all on much more powerful bikes and many times they fall behind.

Now I would really love to have a bit more power just because I'm a guy and I like power. I've ridden very powerful bikes. (ZX6, R6, R1, even a Hyabusa) I'm not going to lie, the power was extremely fun to have. But I don't need more power. One of the most fun bikes I've ever been on was a 40hp DRZ400 supermoto bike.

To be fair, their average speeds are more than the 6R's top speed. Just sayin'.

And enough to get you thrown in jail.

 

[Nastybutler]

And enough to get you thrown in jail.

Not on the Isle of Man. Which is what we are talking about.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

 

[redwing-2001]

To be fair, their average speeds are more than the 6R's top speed. Just sayin'.

the point is what I calll useable power. On the track... that's one thing, but for a street rider, especially going over your favorite mountain with technical turns, how much power do you need? How much can a street rider even effectively handle anyway? Unless you are a professional racer, triple digit speeds attained ridiculously quickly on the street is just not necessary. INHO, of course

 

[bleedinblue]

Not on the Isle of Man. Which is what we are talking about.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

Wich rider races a 6r at the Isle of Man TT?The topic is about displacement more than being model specific.

The same concept even applies to motocross/supercross now.A decade ago a 125 2stroke wasnt capable of taking the same line as a 250 2stroke or a 426 and most tracks were built with multiple lines for that reason.Now the 250 4strokes have the torque to clear any jump that a 450 can, and most riders are actually faster around the track on the 250.Ktm has the 350 SX-F in its lineup for this reason, competing against seasoned pro's on 450s with respectable results.

 

[MistahT]

To the original post, our bikes are clearly not 600cc supersports. Ever ride one, they are much different. However, I see and completely agree with your arguement.

To JonKerr, you're right, we all love power. I love twisties, but the rush of blasting off in a straight line always gets my heart pumping on bikes or a fairly fast car. I know someone who bought a gsxr-1000 his second year riding. He's been down twice and in the hospital once. His riding skills are lacking at best. His argument is "I just love going fast in a straight line." With bikes, it's not just going faster in a straight line. Everything about those big bikes is different. I wish it wasn't so, I'd go get one!

...and you're right, you don't need power to have fun. One of those most fun things I've ridden only had 4 hp

 

[Brock Kickass]

The 6R is more than enough to have some serious fun. I did not need to upgrade to an FZ1. I also do not need to click down to first gear at 50mph when I am setting up for a pass and then peg the throttle and shift when the tach turns red. I have done it, however, and it is fun to the point that words escape me, and it is something my 6R just couldn't do.
I've driven big power cars, and the fun is the same. I can have a ton of fun in a Miata, or a Tercel for that matter, but the truly excessive power of a GT3 or an M3 literally makes me laugh out loud as I tramp on the narrow pedal and shoot forward like being shot out of a cannon.
Another consideration, which is unique to commercailly available street bikes, is that, when going to a larger displacement bike, you often get more features. Although simillar in style and ergonomcs, the FZ1 is a lot more than an FZ6R with almost twice the power. The little details of the bike reflect the increased cost, both in performance features that need to be upgraded to accomodate the increased power, and in comfort and detail features that are included, mostly because customers who are paying the bigger ticket demand these features.
Purpose-built race bikes have the best suspension and chassis, regardless of displacement, because it is part of racing. Moto2 bikes look almost identical to MotoGP bikes, and cost almost as much, but an FZ1 is a completely different bike than an FZ6R, and costs way more.
Sometimes the features consumers want aren't available on smaller displacement bikes in the street bike market. The FZ1 and FZ8 are a perfect example of this. Besides the extra 200cc, FZ1's come stock with much better suspension, and a bigger price tag than the FZ8, even though they are the almost identical chassis.

 

[BKP]

The 6R is more than enough to have some serious fun. I did not need to upgrade to an FZ1. I also do not need to click down to first gear at 50mph when I am setting up for a pass and then peg the throttle and shift when the tach turns red. I have done it, however, and it is fun to the point that words escape me, and it is something my 6R just couldn't do.
I've driven big power cars, and the fun is the same. I can have a ton of fun in a Miata, or a Tercel for that matter, but the truly excessive power of a GT3 or an M3 literally makes me laugh out loud as I tramp on the narrow pedal and shoot forward like being shot out of a cannon.
Another consideration, which is unique to commercailly available street bikes, is that, when going to a larger displacement bike, you often get more features. Although simillar in style and ergonomcs, the FZ1 is a lot more than an FZ6R with almost twice the power. The little details of the bike reflect the increased cost, both in performance features that need to be upgraded to accomodate the increased power, and in comfort and detail features that are included, mostly because customers who are paying the bigger ticket demand these features.
Purpose-built race bikes have the best suspension and chassis, regardless of displacement, because it is part of racing. Moto2 bikes look almost identical to MotoGP bikes, and cost almost as much, but an FZ1 is a completely different bike than an FZ6R, and costs way more.
Sometimes the features consumers want aren't available on smaller displacement bikes in the street bike market. The FZ1 and FZ8 are a perfect example of this. Besides the extra 200cc, FZ1's come stock with much better suspension, and a bigger price tag than the FZ8, even though they are the almost identical chassis.

I can understand that... definitely.

However, when I went to the FZ6R, I thought "man, how did I get along without the additional power." And, it works for me. I'm quite sure if I went to a liter bike, I'd have a few of those same thoughts. In my case, a 250 was under-powered, and I felt that. Never had those feelings with the 600. As for the little luxuries, I don't miss what I don't know in that dept. Any mods I feel are functionally worth it, I'll do.

So, with one exception, if someone wanted to *give* me an FZ1, to replace the 6R, I might have taken it. However, that one exception is I'm too damned pragmatic to own a bike that gets lower mileage than my car...

 

[nismos14]

By this logic though, our bikes are even overkill. We should all be riding Scooters or 250's or 300's. Nothing more.

 

[Brock Kickass]

My FZ1 gets horrible mileage. I used to get better mileage out of a 2000 Honda Civic 1.6L SOHC, no VTEC.
I never felt my 600 was under powered. Quite the opposite, I find my FZ1 over powered. There's really no point, but it makes me grin.
THe creature comforts aren't that important, nice to have but won't be missed. I like the suspension a lot, though. At 6'1" and an even 200lb I always found the 6R to be a little soft in the suspension department. That's just me, though. I'm no Valentino Rossi. Sometimes I wonder if my FZ1 suspension feels better because I think it feels better. I can decipher the difference in handling when I dial it in differently, or so I think. Maybe I'm just riding better because I feel more confident. In any case, there are a whack of suspension upgrades for an FZ6R much cheaper than buying a whole new bike.

 

[dart1963]

By this logic though, our bikes are even overkill. We should all be riding Scooters or 250's or 300's. Nothing more.

the point is.. people who think they need a faster bike to keep up with someone else (or just go "faster"), should learn to ride first... (won't even talk about the "Trying to keep up" part, that's a whole other issue that's been discussed over and over).

Obviously there are street bikes that will go faster, but a a road, that most of us like to ride... top speed isn't what makes you "faster". Those guys at IOM are pushing hard, and across the three different classes, their top speed is within 4 mph of each other... limits of the road conditions, not the bike.

and again, nobody has a place to ride these speeds except a race track without serious liability... and a good track with a long straight, you may want to go faster than 130mph, nothing wrong with that.

 

[Invader Jim]

Unless you have access to a race track or don't care about possible speeding tickets, I think more power could easily lead to more frustration. What good is a bike that can do 150 - 180+ when the speed limit is 65?

 

[Brock Kickass]

Unless you have access to a race track or don't care about possible speeding tickets, I think more power could easily lead to more frustration. What good is a bike that can do 150 - 180+ when the speed limit is 65?

What good is a bike that will do 66mph when the speed limit is 65?

 

[Marthy]

What good is a bike that will do 66mph when the speed limit is 65?

By the time I hit the rev limiter in second gear... I pretty much blown up every single speed limit in this country! (And getting there quite fast too) And still 4 gears to go... :wav:

I might try to get some data to confirm how fast I can get there...

 

[Invader Jim]

By the time I hit the rev limiter in second gear... I pretty much blown up every single speed limit in this country! (And getting there quite fast too) And still 4 gears to go... :wav:

I might try to get some data to confirm how fast I can get there...

Maybe the FZ6R actually only needs 3 gears; 1, 2 and 6.

If I am gunning it from a stop and want to rapidly get to highway speed I use 1st to maybe 25-30 mph then shift up to 2nd and easily can get to 80+ in 2nd if I am not watching to ease off at 65. Then I shift up to 6 to cruise completely skipping 3, 4, and 5th.

 

[JT]

As I look into these SS liter bikes compared to SS 600's and see that it only shaves off a few seconds and increases top speed just slightly as well I don’t see what the hype is about to need more power?

that said I can’t say that I don’t salivate when I see these beautiful machines.

Anyhow my 6R is perfect for me! For now anyways. lol