The Thing About a Liter Bike ...

Yeah that is a sexy sexy machine.

I saw a couple last weekend, the Girl 5'4" cute, blond in shape with perfect fitting leathers and a Panigale S her dude with a RSV4.....

So a hottie on a hot bike and the sound of that RSV with an akra exhaust winding up the mountain, damn shame that.

+1

Its not that hard, I'd consider it at best novice throttle control, I have three bikes with very different engine characters and throttle methods, even then I'm rarely static speed, slow to apex and accelerate after....the only variance is how hard. My Speed Triple is a tractor with a LOT of sprocket (I'm -1/+3 on the cogs) thing comes off a corner like a 500 pound super moto, the 675 is a screamer with a short throw race throttle on it.... smooth as butter, just a little wrist and is transistions from coast to go, no upsetting anything, the Duke is just an animal, but the ride by wire compensates for low gears with the throttle throw. The animal IS there but you have to reach for it, and the lower the gear the MORE you have reach, in 4th gear in sport mode, it doesn't take much, 2nd gear you really have to add some wrist to bring the crazy.

Yeah. I've noticed that as well.

It takes one heck of a blip on the throttle for smooth downshifts. I think the computer is softening the throttle in low gears possibly. There's no hiding my downshift, traffic a mile away can see my hand jumping.

But when I'm riding hard, the throttle is more responsive and blips to downshift are way easier. Might just be the way the engine is. Blips are way crisper above 5000rpm.

My first novice track day is set for next summer. Hopefully I'll get a better feel after a few trackdays where there is more time spent leaned over to learn from. On the mountain roads, I only get a few seconds of practice for every 5 miles I ride. In the fall I plan on cruising through Deals Gap.

Who cares what traffic is seeing, its the "correct" method. Necessary, not really, required, likely not, but the idea of upsetting the chassis as little as possible is a MAJOR goal of nearly all of my riding....and its something that can save your bacon if you can accomplish it on the brakes when surprised by something.

Just go practice it, you should be able to reach three or four gears at damn near any given speed, shift it up and down without rocking the suspension. No curves required. Once you get smooth at that add brakes.

Thanks. I'm going to practice that.

I have it down pretty well in the DRZ. A couple spots where I smoothly chirp the rear tires downshifting into third, then again in second, but my rear tire on that bike is toast.

Keeping my hand steady on the brake lever is a chore sometimes, need more practice with that as well.

Not nearly as easy as heel and toe in a Mustang is it? Actually, I "toe, toe, knee rock", to downshift in cars.

Still, I'm not seeing litrebikes or superbikes as the death traps many claim they are. If I'm riding within my limits, I can screw up a bit without exploding into pink chunks.

As long as I'm not pushing really hard or charging into something blindly, doesn't really seem a whole lot more dangerous than the DRZ was. It has to be gross operator error combined with overdoing it. The throttle and brake aren't nearly as touchy as I thought they would be. And only tar strips really seem to unsettle it. Potholes and gravel midcorner has been scarier to me, than the bike.

I never learned to heal toe, I have a size 13 foot I can just twist my ankle to get on the throttle and brake at the same time. What I DID learn was left foot braking......when I was young watching Pike's Peak when it was still dirty, the ralley drivers started using the method, so I tried it.

The downshifting and braking thing is hard at street paces, its a lot easier when you are hauling ass and actually pulling on the lever.

That's kinda what I'm doing. I have my gas pedal adjusted just a little lower than the brake pedal when it's applied. My foot covers both at the same time. I just roll my right knee to the right, and the right side of my foot drops to blip the gas.

That's good news that this gets easier with speed. So I might get this perfect with some track days under my belt. Does seem easier when I can safely haul arse higher up in the RPM. I rarely get anywhere near redline, just end up overdriving the roads I'm on and lose any sense of smoothness pushing that hard.

I have plenty of twisties. But we can't go too fast in them. We also have plenty of blind turns, thousands of Amish and horse droppings, gravel, and tar stripes that sometimes get smeared by traffic paper thin across the entire road. Even though it's sticky, it upsets the bike completely and sends it sliding.

So we're hanging off like pros, with the bikes barely leaned over. Desperately trying to keep them upright on those filthy roads.

If you want to run a 200 HP super sport through its paces a track should be a no brainer

Which kinda begs the question.....


If you never intend to do track days....is a super/hyper sportsbike really worth having? Surely you'll have just as much fun on a Fireblade or some other equally mediocre bike?

Worth what to who?

If we were all perfect line nazi's we would be riding 250s in highligher yellow stictchs. After all what more do you need.

Fuck that shit.

I ride to have fun, my idea of fun may not be what yours is, I give neighbors' kids riders, do wheelies when I feel like it, go entirely faster than the local LEO would agree with and commute wearing jeans.

.....on a 180hp hyper sport naked.

Yeah, I'm going to die, but so are the rest of ya.

The 1199 had clear design intentions of Superbike track use, impressing moto journalists (where do you think that gay super thin slippery seat pad came from, lamo journalists loved those $%&^ seats.), and being top dog on the power to weight ratio nonsense all the internet jockeys come up with.

Then they decided to make a better sportbike, one that worked better on the street and didn't really chase after the opinions of the internet bench racers, and came out with the 899.

I've dreamed about hitting real race tracks for years, so I picked the 1199 model. But no doubt, the 899 has it's place as well. If they come out with a 899 SP, it'll have all the cool features of the 1199, I'd expect.

I looked and rode many of the Japanese bikes. Liked the GSXR and ZX10 the best. But I didn't like them as much as the BMW. The Ducati was by far the most memorable ride for me.

And the jap bikes needed some serious $$$ work to pretty up. Ugly exhaust, mirrors, wheels, etc. etc. I like the Gen1 and 2010 Zx10's, but the newest one, looks more like a Artic Cat snowmobile than a sportbike. Ugly.

If I have to group ride with othes on normal bikesr, or a pirate parade, the DRZ400 is way more fun than either. Can just hop the curb and park at the destination, lean it up against a tree or something. Way more care free than a Superbike, and no wrist pain, just bum pain.

So that's a yes then?

No I'm saying practicality is a moot point. There is literally NOTHING to make you ride a motorcycle.

My idea of what I need is different from yours. I don't own a so much as a tank bag, if it can't fit in a small back pack and go that way I don't take it.

The grin on my face says not only yes, but

HELL YES!!!

I will eventually do some track days on my 10R but I'm sure as Hell NOT going to leave it sitting in the shop until that day comes!! I ride the Hell outta that bike! And even when my back, legs, wrists, shoulders and neck hurt like Hell, when I hit a posted 40 mph corner at 90+, it all goes away. Yeah, I'm going to Hell, probably going to jail soon too!

Had a buddy of mine when I was stationed up in Oklahoma. He had a GPz 750 Turbo that he had heavily modified. The thing was a beast.


One day he talked me into trying it out on one of those improbably long, straight empty roads that were all over that area (straighter than a preacher, longer than a memory, as Steve Earle once said). Sure, sure, let me try this thing out...


So we ride out away from everything, pull over and swap bikes. He's telling me "Now, at around 5000 rpm the boost will come on...there is a bit of lag, then it hits really hard!" Yeah, yeah, sure, whatever.


So we take off, doing the speed limit (55 mph). Looking ahead, we see the road is clear, so he signals me to punch it. So I grab a handful of throttle and just like he said, it's accelerating but nothing really spectacular...then the boost kicked in.


Holy. Freaking. Hell.


It was like hitting the warp speed button, the whole bike just suddenly surged forward like it had a Shrike missile up it's tailpipe. I've never experience acceleration like that. I mean, eyeball flatting, sphincter tightening "omg, I'm going to die" feel the G's arm-stretching acceleration.


Intoxicating. Terrifying. Sublime. Did I mention terrifying?


The road seemed to contract into a narrow ribbon, the roadside a mere blur, the small hill in the distance seemed to be sliding towards me at incredible speed. Enough, enough....


I rolled back off the throttle and eased on over to the shoulder and stopped. I have no idea how fast I ended up going, but it took him a full thirty seconds to finally catch up.


I got off of that beast and back onto my mere 550 that I once thought was pretty quick. Now speed had a whole new definition.

This thread needs more pictures. How about the Aprilia FV2 1200 concept?

Holy Cow, that's Beautiful!:eek1

Interesting. It kind of looks like a constipated camel

What can I say.