Why is their so much male bravardo regarding CC? Rant

[spannermonkey...]

Hi all

Been ready various post around the web about the mentality of riders. A lot of youngsters and new bikers claiming bigger is better when it isn't. Just watch them corner compared to a kid who's come up through the CC's.

I just seems to be a vanity thing to me. I've ridden bikes of all sizes from 2 strokes to 4 and my first big bike was a GS500K2, did some 12000 miles a year on that thing in all weathers, I had a car just preferred riding, find driving boring and unconnected from the world around you.

I started on small machines and when up to a ZX7r which was great at mile munching and corners but heavy, fast that you don't exactly enjoy the journey or ride because your so focused on the next bend or looking out for things. yes I can slow down and I did and it's not the same as riding a smaller engine machine.

But now I only have 2 strokes in the garage (he he) bikes that is. When you say what you own, people only seem to understand CC like car drivers. One is RS250 and the other a H1 500.

I've heard all the rubbish about reliability regarding 2 strokes. It's mostly rubbish based on other mates of a mates views or they once owned a knackered moped and their lack of mechanical sympathy.

I go to a lot of bike shows and events and I've fixed quite a few machines for people over the years due to the massive problem off car mentality. You know the folk who start a bike then rev the back wheel off. Then the folk who bounce off rev limiters when cold to the folk who go balls out on a could engine. Great cars are designed to except that mentality but not motorcycles who's tolerances are a lot closer and tighter hence the power from such a small engine compared to the car world. I just think for lack mechanical sympathy. Many folk don't even fix their own machines but pay a lot to do it and some don't bother. Its a sad world. That's why so many machines are knackered way before their time and people call themselves bikers. I just use the word user as that's what many are. It shouldn't matter what CC you ride or what your lap time is around a route or track.

Lots of litre/600 cc boys would laugh at a BSA bantam in a car park but has their machine been around the world? Its the rider/user not the bike.

[MarJay]

it annoys me that people seem to think they need a litre sportsbike when they just pass their test. This is part of the reason why bad things happen to motorcyclists, is lack of experience for the machinery they are on. Not even accident wise, but in learning to use the bike and go around corners.

600 is basically a dead class, and yet the average sports 600 makes 120bhp and weighs the same as a gnat. I do understand why the giant adventure bike phenomenon has taken off after Long Way Round. It's a way of buying a huge bike without scaring the life out of yourself.
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British beauty: Triumph Street Triple R; Loony stroker: KR1S; Track fun: GSXR750 L1; Commuter Missile: GSX-S1000F; Cheap project: CBR900RR FireBlade
Remember kids, bikes aren't like lego. You can't easily take a part from one bike and then fit it to another.

[stevo as b4]

Why is 600cc a dead class especially in new bike sales though?

Is it because they are too focused?
Is it because it costs little extra to buy and insure a 1000cc?
Or is it because people are not even interested in supersport racing anymore?

I think some of the best race bikes and the best TT victories were all achieved on 600's, and some of the best racing too.

I loved my 600cc sports bike, and the only reason id not own one again is that I'm not into sports bikes these days.

[spottedtango]

Because manliness is directly proportional to the size of your cylinders

Everyone knows that

[Tierbirdy]

I love my 600, dont really want anything bigger. Just costs more to insure for little to no bonus I was considering a 500 for my first "big" bike, liked the look of GS500s and ER5s, but when looking for bikes to buy I found almost everything I was looking at had something like a single brake disc at the front and drum brakes at the back which put me off. Comparatively almost every 600 I looked at had dual front discs and at least a single rear disc. Maybe Im being overly paranoid but I wanted something with decent stopping power, admittedly Ive only got my YBR125 to compare it to, but that had a single front and drum rear and the brakes SUCKED. Stopping distance was measured in light-years not meters

I didnt want to go any smaller than a 500 because Id been stuck on a shitty 125 for long enough, I wanted something with a bit more grunt that could happily and comfortably destroy motorway miles without ringing its neck the whole time. I cant see any benefit in getting a < 500 unless youre stuck on an A2 licence.

I neither want nor need a litre + sports bike, whats the point? It gets you up to the speed limit a little bit faster, but anything beyond that is pointless because I like having a driving licence Obviously exception if its a track day bike or whatever but Im assuming we're ranting about daily rides here.

[stevo as b4]

[Ste]

What if there's no replacement for displacement?

[blueglue]

i agree two stroke smells nicer.

[notbike]

[M.C]

Of course people don't understand 2-strokes, they're barely around anymore, and were seldom used in cars.

Most people don't understand about engine types either, for example cos I ride a 600 people think it must be fast, the fact it's a single doesn't seem to mean anything. I find that a little strange as with cars people normally understand a V6 or V8's going to be more powerful than an IL4 (in most cases anyway).

I do agree with the bigger isn't necessarily better opinion. A 125 teaches you to carry speed through the corners, and you carry that through to bigger bikes. If you start out on big bikes then why would you worry about that, when with a flick of the wrist you make up any loss from not carrying as much speed as you could.

I think weight's the killer with big bikes, even more so with current models. It always seems to be lighter bikes (like KTM's), and smaller machines doing the spirited riding, and even sports bike are actually quite heavy. Most people overlook this and just look at bhp.

[spottedtango]

[chickenstrip]

For me the point of a litre bike is I do a lot of long trips, sometimes covering 400 miles plus just for a day out. A litre bike eats the miles effortlessly, is not so tiring to ride as something where you need to stir the gearbox a lot, and has a better physical size for my 6' 2" frame, so greater comfort on those long runs. And it is quite capable of staying with many a lighter sports bike rider on all kinds of roads when the mood takes me.

Litre power is awesome!
But that doesn't mean I consider anything smaller to be irrelevant, hence also owning the Street Triple, which satisfies my want for something a little more engaging (I think of it as "the hooligan" ).

I think most folks who have ridden a good spread of capacities would say all have their place. It's about what you do with them, not their capacity per se.

[Howling TerrorOutOfOffice]

Seems to be a point of view non bikers hold as anyone who has ridden a moped around a field will tell you it's fun regardless of cc's.

[Insert pics of annual BCF BBQ.]
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[Pjay]

Sometimes all you need is the skillz™

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zTILvfT3oI

[Nobby the Bastard]

[winz]

I enjoyed my 600 for a while. But chicks dig 1000cc+.

Saying that, I have only ridden a 125 during my CBT, my mates CB250 around Cheddar gorge and the bikes that I've owned.

Would give a small one a go (OOSH), but I haven't got an inkling to buy one.
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Current Bikes: BMW K1200S
Previous: Honda CBR929RR, Honda CBR1100XX, Honda CB600F

[Albigularis]

[Fin]

you need over 500cc unless it's a SM/MX or a 2 stroke.

Not talking out my arse

[M.C]

[Dave V4]

[redeem ouzzer]

My 1100 identifies me as the strong, straight homophobic CIS male i am.

That is all.
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Be a REAL MAN!

[stevo as b4]

Bless you fools that think you need a 200bhp litre BMW to enjoy a nice ride out on the so wonderful, not badly damaged or surfaced roads, with no signs of over crowding or heavy traffic,and where all the other road users are so skilled and courteous to everyone else.

Also people that think that more power, more weight and a huge amount of complex electronics makes for a better road bike.

Oh how I lol'd at the people that said a 98 Blade was slow, boring and could be ridden really hard at full throttle most of the time on today's roads and still be boring.

Would hate to live in your world tbh!

Probably the same people that think a 300bhp 1500kg hatchback full of electronics is a better drive than a 150bhp 900kg older version of the same car.

[redeem ouzzer]

My favourite activity of late is pottering around on my X5 with it's nominal 24bhp, but it's not the only side of biking I enjoy. So I need multiple bikes.
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Be a REAL MAN!

[Albigularis]

[RhynoCZ]

The old rule says, it's always more fun to go fast on a slow motorcycle, rather than slow on a fast one. It's got its limitations obviously, but I go by the rule anyway. The CB-1, that I had, was way more fun than the ZX7R ever was and I had to sell the CB-1 to find that out. I just thought I needed more power, as I got more skilled and confident on the road.

Don't take me wrong, the ''superbike'' was a plenty of fun, but it turned me into a lazy rider. I know that even when you ride a ''superbike'' at
relaxed pace, it is way faster than what you could achieve on a smaller displacement motorcycle, but the fun is just not the same. Being on a smaller displacement motorcycle, using the throttle like it was a on/off switch, shifting gears right before the rev-limiter kicks in, braking late (as it's very light), grinding the pegs in every corner etc. is just more fun, eventhough you're going about 50+mph slower that you would on a bigger displacement motorcycle at ''relaxed pace''.

Those that started riding on smaller displacement motorcycles know what I'm talking about, those that started on the bigger motorcycles might never experience the joy of gradual performance improvement with each motorcycle, with slightley more power than the previous one, that you buy.

TL; DR: I enjoy smaller motorcycles, but I am going to buy a ZX10R, some day. I've got a list of motorcycles, I'd like to have, that goes from a 50's CZ150c up to the ZX10R. I'm talking sports motorcycles here. It is obvious that a GPz1100, ZRX 1100/1200 have bigger engines than a ZX10R, but then, even a ZX6R would be quicker than those, and maybe even a ZXR 400 would outrun a GPz/ZRX.
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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