Does size matter...

[Steve H]

The vast majority of bikers wish to progress through the ranks to enjoy a larger capacity sized Machine.

My question is…

Do you think that reducing the engine size of your bike would make any difference to your riding style or the pleasure that you obtain from biking?

For example if you ride a litre bike do you believe your enjoyment level would be diminished if you rode for example… a 600 or 750? If you rode a 600 would riding a 400 make much difference to you?

Debate away…
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Mellow Yellow
The BCF Top TEN - 2010, 2009, 2008, The Original.

[Bendy]

The only reason that going down to a 400 from a 600 would reduce the enjoyment for me is that the 400s tend to be physically smaller bikes and I don't find them very comfortable.

In terms of power, wouldn't make much difference at all on the roads, other than a few extra gear changes and a bit more throttle twisting. In fact the other day I was pondering how interesting a 'bhp-o-meter' would be (Veyron stylee) cos then you could see how much power you were actually using at any given time.

[palmer]

From only riding a handful of fairly low capacity bikes, my opinion might not be worth while.

But after riding a 50cc all day every day for a few months, coming out of corners, wacking on the throttle, hearing the engine revs build from a low gargle to a high pitched banshee scream, and then slowly going back down to a gargle with the more than adequate brakes, i think i prefer smaller bikes atm.

My riding style had to totally change when i was having a go on a mates converted crf250. you could not manhandle it as much, only twisting the throttle half an inch when coming out of corners, only going full throttle when your sure the bike is upright. and braking from any real speed took a long time to get the hang of. i was faster that my 50, alot faster, but it didnt feel fun. it pulled from any gear, whereas on the 50, you must be in the right gear, above 7/8k revs to be able to put down any decent pushing power.

The big bike felt lazy, easy, and my small 50 feels like its on steroids, twitchy and agressive, like a small jack russel

[killa]

My VFR is more fun around corners, the Kwak murders all vehicles i see on the road.

I don't know, some bikes ride shit, i rode a SV650 and got off and thought "DIDNT THEY EVER BOTHER TEST RIDING IT FIRST?!"

HA
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Cleverly disguised as a responsible adult.
Bike:- Yamaha TRX850 | Killas Biking History | Killas Gaming History | Killas autmotive history

[dainesefreak]

I was talking to Suzuki about this the other day. As you may know, or can see, I have an 05 Blade. I tend to use 3rd gear mostly as I can roll to an almost stop and accelerate to three figure speeds in one gear. The performance of the bike is immense and you can't possibly use all of it on the road, no one can. Yes you can go ridiculously fast, corner like a bastard and all those other exciting cliches that we all like to bandy about, but you can on most sports bikes of a middle weight capacity. Here's the "But" . . . I like the flexibility that the engine gives me and I'm lazy. I like the one gear fits all and the madness of it when I'm in the mood.

I have considered trading in for a 600, something like the new R6. Something that I can feel that I'm enjoying thrashing, rather than I'm playing with and it's sighing and laughing at me. But it's those times when I'm tired or I need to be somewhere distant down long roads or I'm not in arse up throttle pinned mood, the Blade can coset with it's grunt and mild manners too.

[Dark]

It would definitely change my riding style, having so much power allows me to be lazy with the gears.

But my enjoyment wouldn't diminish on a 600, i will still go through the corners at the same speed and corners is where most of the enjoyment lies, its nice to have power though.
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My Bikes in order:- Yamaha RXS100 / Suzuki X7 250 / Yamaha RD350LC / Kawasaki
KR1S 250 / Kawasaki ZXR750 H2 / Honda C50 / Kawasaki ZX7R P5 / Kawasaki ZX10R / Suzuki GSXR 400 / Honda CBR1100 Blackbird & Yamaha FZR 600

[dainesefreak]

Liter bike users, the George W Bush's of the biking world. All that power but neither the brains or talent to use it all.

[Dark]

[FreshAL]

I was thinking about this the other day. Riding the 8 miles through town to work I don't get above 3rd gear, an never open the throttle more than a 1/3rd.

I think for commuting I could swap down to a 125 and not really notice much difference.

Weekend blasts are very different though, and I wouldn't go smaller than a 600 for motorway work

[dainesefreak]

Dark - Do you find it amusing when you get someone go, "Cor, the GSXR1ZX1000RR is fantastic, so much better than the 10R, Blade, etc" and they ride a 125 or something similar. It just amazes me the sort of performance that the liter bikes have and someone can slag one off for the other, when they've never ridden one, especially on the road. FFS, if you want one, buy the one you like best.

[Dark]

[craigs23]

Hmmm, not sure if I've got a recognised or significant riding style

The last few months learning to ride the Blade have been some what eye opening - notibly how much power I can lay down on the exit of corners before the rear end starts complaining - made me wonder why I was being so tentative (relatively speaking) on my previous RVF. However, I did have to stop myself using too much throttle as a couple of weeks into riding the Blade I noticed my cornering was becoming hurried, clumsy and a bit crap. I kept to a certain personal rev ceiling thereafter and began concentrating on cornering again, gradually building up that rev ceiling as and when I felt necessary to do so - helped me learn a bit about the bike, its gearing, speed, what it needed to be put into a corner more smoothly.

Riding the Blade has also shown how much more counter steering I use - or maybe used before but never noticed on smaller machinery - I also move my torso around on the bike a bit more as to me, the tank is quite obtrusive.

I recently had the pleasure in borrowing a my mate's CB1 again (he doesn't use it much and wanted me to keep it running for him). The 400 felt like a toy in comparison to the recent miles on the Blade. The same efforts in steering had the bike laid on its side quick enough to have me picking it up and laying it down again as to not hit corner apexes too soon. The lower overall speeds allowed me to think and plan corners a lot better (well, in comparison to before I noticed my cornering was getting clumsy on the Blade). The throttle never seemed to produce any power either, so frequent red line shifts and throttle-to-the-stop actions were implemented so much earlier in corners to try and get some kind of drive on corner exits.

Although different from the VFRs and RVFs, which are more like scaled down superbikes in comparison to the CB1, I would imagine the same thrash-to-within-an-inch-of-its-life style would be needed to make decent progress. On a clear road, in good conditions, for a bit of a laugh, they'ld be a hell of a lot of fun.

Long term? Well, I made the choice to opt for more cc's for a reason - I wouldn't want a main bike that I felt I needed to thrash to get everywhere and a bigger engine gives a less frenzied riding experience.

Still thinking of getting another NC30 for those times I want to ride like a loon though (or start taking up track day riding on one).

[paulodd]

Nobody can give an exact answer as you know it would be different for everybody.... but i personally think that a smaller capacity bike can make you a better rider.

If you ride with fast people on bigger bikes then the only way to keep up is to learn to break late or to take corners the best/quickest way.

When i did the trackday at Llandow in Wales last month on the R6 (its restricted again atm) i was being eaten alive on the straights by the other 600s and bigger bikes. Because of that i had to do overtake people by outbreaking them or on the corners. The only way to do that was to have more confidence and pushing myself. If the bike wasnt restricted i wouldn't have pushed myself as hard as i knew i wouldn't have had to try as hard on the bends.
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Paul
1999 Yamaha R6
www.coventrybikers.co.uk / www.norfolkriders.co.uk

[Dark]

and the hence the reason why starting on smaller bikes and progressing through the cc's to the big bikes can be a good idea
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My Bikes in order:- Yamaha RXS100 / Suzuki X7 250 / Yamaha RD350LC / Kawasaki
KR1S 250 / Kawasaki ZXR750 H2 / Honda C50 / Kawasaki ZX7R P5 / Kawasaki ZX10R / Suzuki GSXR 400 / Honda CBR1100 Blackbird & Yamaha FZR 600

[Sculelos]

I don't think I could move down much on power from my Buell Lightning XB12S, I had the blast for a year and I had to do alot of shifting and it was quite anyoing, not to mention that my fuel consumption is was about the same as on my lightning I got 44mpg low and 62mpg high where on my blast I did 42 low and 65 high, after all I woundn't want to sacrifice any power as I can be lazy on my lightning and keep it in low revs for a fairly quite bike a low vibes or I can rev the shit outa it for alot of horsepower.

[McGee]

[Wave2k]

i just downgraded power wise and its great, from about 130bhp to about 105bhp.
Most noobs go why did you do that, well because it has more torque, looks 1000x better, sounds 1000x better and handles 9000x better.

I may not beat your diposable jap bike in a straight line, but your meat on the twisites.
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Ducati 1299 Panigale
2009 Corvette C6 z51
RS125->CBR400->RXS100->GSXR750K2->Ducati749S->CBR600RR5->TL1000R->DRz400->RSVR1000->Honda VTR SP1->CBR400->GSXR1000K6->Honda H100->CBR600RR3->Ducati1299

[getyerkneedow...]

[Annabella]

[ram_doom]

My view may not count, only bikes I've ridden larger than my 400 were an old shape speedtriple 955 thing and a honda vtr1000. Found them both difficult to ride fast, especially the vtr, due to the weight and gross v twin power delivery (its just not my thing, not on a soft sprung vtr anyway). Both of them took a lot of effort to turn at speed, especially with quick changes of directions, like riding through a series of s bends. Worst thing though was all the available torque, making the bikes volatile unless they were stood upright, throttle couldnt be opened properly until they were well past the corner apex and it felt unatural and half assed.

Very fast though well the triple was! For me the weight and plantedness didnt inspire confidence, if you get the line wrong on those particular bikes then not much can be done about it without losing speed
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TL1000s, KDX200

[Robby]

If I was going to downsive, it would have to be to something with shit handling.

I find the SV a very balanced entry level bike, and it compliments my riding style nicely. I can ride it with plenty of lean, lots of full throttle, or I can pootle. But I like the feeling of going towards a corner too quick and feeling it all squirm under braking, or getting upset on a bump mid corner.
I like the feeling of a little unpredictability.

If I was to go down to something smaller it would probably be a 250 sports, due to my hate for 400s. As I see one of these, I'd be forever at full throttle, forever changing gear, and not feeling a lot of power. At least if it was an XBR500 or something the comparably poor handling would scare me occasionally.

So I wouldn't like to downsize. I would like to try something different, like a 660 supermoto.

[phantomtek]

Anything I would get for downsizing would probably be a dirtbike, because they are still pretty powerful even with lower bhp because the gearing means they have better acceleration. I think once I get a bigger bike I am going to miss my bike, because it has a lovely sound, reliability and goes quickly enough, a real students bike.

[Itchy]

[phantomtek]

[crazymotorbik...]

I love my 400. I don't care what anyone says. I was out most of last summer with a group who all had 600's and i had no problems.

It does about 120mph max and thats enough for me. Where can you done 180 mph anyway? Without having your licence taken off you.

Saying that i'll probably end up buying the 600 version next year.