Lets talk torque

[Pol Anorl]

https://www.luiemotorfiets.nl/motoren/koppel/Koppel-Vermogen-Klein.gif

How important is torque to you?

When buying/looking at new bikes i often look at mpg, mph, cc and bhp but ive never botherd with torque almost deeming it a pointless figure untill recently.

I was using a cbf 600 hire bike and compared to my xj wow! 6th gear 20mph open the throttle, tiny shudder and off it went pulling away where as my xj 600 would of stalled in 6th at 20mph which lead me to discover torque and look at it in a bit more detail.

Where would you prefer all the torque?

Personaly i would prefer mine bottom to mid range i have little use for torque in high rpm and can't see it being usefull to me.

How many of you actualy look at torque figures when buying bikes?

I know u haven't ever looked untill recently.

A couple of torque figures to look at.

[flyer]

For me its all about the Torque, probably more so than BHP. I love that lazy low down power, hang on time! feeling. Ive had full sports bikes and a few randoms such as a Buell xb9r fire bolt, theyre all fun, but once I bought my z1000 I realised that was were I was at. Get them up in top gear and pretty much leave it there. Ive now bought a Bandit 1200, which I know, not exactly exotic, but I love the oodles of low down power and the fact I can get her into 5th gear and pretty much leave her there.

Its all about the torque!
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[weasley]

One of my favourite and oft-repeated facts about the Thundercat is that it has more peak torque than all R6s that have followed it. It makes for an impressive quoted 1/4 mile time too.
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Yamaha XJ600 | Yamaha YZF600R Thundercat | KTM 990 SMT | BMW F900XR TE

[J4mes]

I have a T'cat, and half the time I am trundling through traffic I forget I am in 6th. It just pulls from wherever it is!

[flyer]

Always fancied a Thundercat, maybe next time! I was shocked to try and mates brand new R6 back in 2008 and see how little grunt it had. I know its all about the high revs on one, but I was really shocked at the ack of power ...until 14,000 revs!
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[G]

You seem to be getting 'torque' and range of power/range of torque confused.

Power=torque * rpm.
So, if you've got low down torque, you've got low down power.

I could offer you a bike producing 1000ft-lb of torque.
Would you want it?
Probably not, because being at low rpm (I'm thinking a push bike with weird gearing), it means that by the time you upgear it you've got hardly any torque.

Trying to represent a power graph (or an torque graph with rpm legend) with a single number is just still.

For instance, I reckon the old KTM350 I owned made around 45 ft-lb of torque. Great. Except it didn't have much low down go and was quite 'powerbandy'.

[P.addy]

[salty21]

never looked at torque figures at all when buying bikes. I'd much rather have to work the gearbox a bit more and keep the revs up.
torque is good if your old and lazy
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94 CB400 Super Four ---- 2000 VTR SP1 (sold) ---- 08 ninja p8f(sold, meh) ----05 CBR600rr

[lihp]

I believe it was caroll Shelby who said "bhp sells cars, torque wins races"

Why don't sportsbikes have lots of torque? They don't need it, they're designed to be used on a track where the box can be worked. Also they're extremely light weight and have no issue lifting their front wheel on power, more torque would just make it come up even quicker.

[The Shaggy D.A.]

It's a personal preference thing really, I only look at the figures to see where in the rev range torque/power is produced. I much prefer the characteristics of a big single engine for the majority of my riding - as an example :-

CB500, 58hp @ 9500rpm & 46Nm @ 8000rpm
LS650, 30hp @ 5400rpm & 50Nm @ 3000rpm

Low down grunt does it for me.
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[Hetzer]

I understand torque as grunt needed to move weight quickly, and it's to do with adequately powered rotational mass. So if you want to shift heavy weight quickly you want lots of mass (pistons, crank, flywheel etc) going around and powered well.

Fireblade: crap
Harley: good

The Blade needs time and gears, the Harley doesn't give a shit. Obviously we're talking heavy riders because a Blade will shift all day long if the rider is not a lump. Clutch...dump the clutch on a Blade with a heavy rider, it'll stall (poor torque). On a Harley it'll launch.
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[CoolBanana]

I'm enjoying the 'torquey' nature of the Monster twin at the moment (power at low rpm) - a very different riding experience to my GSX-R (power at high rpm).

The Duc needs to be worked too though as it has a very narrow band to keep it sweet - below 3k revs and it isn't really happy and the limiter kicks in at 8.5k so keeping it between 4-8k is ideal and this can be as much work as my previous sports bike. But it rewards with excellent overtaking capabilities.

I wouldn't want a bike that is all about its power at low rpm's though like a Cruiser: a good balance between the BHP/Torque figures is what I prefer, sorta somewhere between the output of a Cruiser and a Supersport.
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Bike: Ducati Monster 1100 evo
Previous: Suzuki GSX-R600 L1; Yamaha RZ350RR
Car: Range Rover Evoque Dynamic Si4 Lux

[mfactor]

Getting old and lazy nowadays, I used to ride tuned 2 strokes in the eightys and never thought I would have a four stroke, now find myself trawling Ebay for a FJ1200 with a nice comfy seat

[Hetzer]

[Kickstart]

Hi

As G says, power is just torque x rpm. If you have decent torque at certain revs then you have decent power.

Probably of more use is to compare the rpm that peak torque appears at compared to peak power. The further apart those revs are the more flexible the bike is (probably - assuming no massive flat spot between those figures).

Ironically 2 strokes tend to be very good for peak torque.

Personally I like something with peak torque quite high, but increasing with revs so it rewards you for using the revs and gears. Something with high torque at low revs, then dropping away just feels like it is punishing you for daring to rev it (with a bike like this as the revs go up your rate of acceleration goes down).

All the best

Keith
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[Slacker24seve...]

One of the reasons I went for a 675 rather than the other 600s was the more useable engine. It has plenty of go in any gear.

The lack of top end compared to an R6 is noticeable but I'm unlikely to get bored of it soon.
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[Dilyan]

[RhynoCZ]

Torque is like, well we can't make good engine so let's give the piston more space to play with.

I personally ride in-line four bikes only and since I rode 550cc, 400cc, torque was just a number on the paper, and I've never felt like I needed more torque. NC27 can go on 6th gear from 20km/h up to 190km/h and when I just ride home from a flatout trip I do the whole way home with 6th gear on, speed limits are 50/90/130 km/h and there's just no need to shift lower gear, I can go on 6th up to 12%+ hill with no problem.

Friend of mine has '99 CBR900RR and this bike has like 95Nm, the only difference between his and my bike is, that his bike can go up to 280 or more, don't know and you can actually have pillion rider on that CBR. NC27 has not enough torque for this. I tried and it sucks, but if you go just by yourself its torque is alright.

Long story short, if I wanted to tow a car, I would find a bike according to its torque
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'87 Honda XBR 500, '96 Kawasaki ZX7R P1, '90 Honda CB-1, '88 Kawasaki GPz550, MZ 150 ETZ
'95 Mercedes-Benz w202 C200 CGI, '98 Mercedes-Benz w210 E200 Kompressor

[P.addy]

[Vincent]

I havn't looked up the numbers but the VFR(800) seems to pull from most revs quite smartly, there's nothing like wringing the neck of a screaming stroker to get the last ounce of power tho Or a multi cylinder mid sized four stroke for that matter.
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[J.M.]

I sort of looked when trying to pick my big bike. I never looked at actual figures though. I wanted something with a good low-mid range because I do a lot of stop-start riding and a lot of filtering; it's nice having power throughout the range for that.

Not sure how I did with buying a GS500 for those requirements, but it's been effortless to ride power wise so far for my commute, so no complaints from me!
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2004 R1 & 2018 XSR900

[c-m]

You can't feel BHP, but you can feel torque.

I always check torque figures (and curves if I can find them) before buying a bike.

The Falco (a V-twin) has a similar torque figure to the ZX9R (IL4), but has a much wider torque range. i.e produces more rotational force at lower rpms, than the ZX9R, and similar force at high rpm.
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[Blau Zedong]

Folk are confusing torque with flexibility as per usual.
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[The Shaggy D.A.]

[Kickstart]