IL4 to a Twin/Other Engine Types - YOUR opinion

[Fawbish]

Anyone who has, how did you find it?

Any other types of engine people think are the DB's? Triple? V4?

Why?


Im thinking about my next bike (currently have a 99' zx6r) come next spring. Ive had many thoughts (Buell? RC8? Ducati 748/749, 916/996 etc) but Im pretty sure I dont wanna jump up to a IL4 new thou yet I dont even know why, I just dont want one. (Well...If someone gave me one I wouldnt say no ) Im thinking about even downgrading to a four

My other main interest is hopping on a twin. Thought about a HyosungGT650R/SV650/some other type of twin, or maybe a triple!

Just wanted to know what everyone feels like the transition from screamer to linear grunt/mix of both went like
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"Oh....it looks like Average Joe's is forfeiting the match!" - "Yeah, its a risky strategy but lets see if it pays off for 'em Cotton."

[mark83]

oh oh, think you just opened a can of worms......

cue G.......
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Kawasaki ER6n -> Honda CBR600RR -> Honda VTR 1000 -> Moto Guzzi Norge 1200
Buy my Mercedes 350 Sport AMG Evo

[Fawbish]

Yes, cos asking for peoples opinions is "proper bad" mate

And putting 'G' is obviously gonna cue him.
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"Oh....it looks like Average Joe's is forfeiting the match!" - "Yeah, its a risky strategy but lets see if it pays off for 'em Cotton."

[ram_doom]

[G]

*Appears*, as requested.

A few things to consider....
People often compare much bigger capacity twins than in line four cylinder bikes.
An r6 may be as quick around a track as an RSV, but the litre bike is obviously going to have more midrange torque.

Compare the RSV to a GSXR1000 and you'll probably find the 4 cylinder bike probably has a broader range of torque as well as revving longer and making a fair bit more peak power.

Generally I find a four cylinder is like the same capacity twin, just with an extra few thousand rpm; where the twin hits the redline, the four starts to really kick you up the arse.

I personally like the revvy nature of smaller capacity four cylinder bikes.
Riding litre twins after my ZX6 they felt bland and while I could feel I could go slightly faster in a straight line with less effort, it felt a lot less rewarding to ride and I found actually /felt/ slower than the 600.
Talking to other people who has done the same, I'm definitely not the only one; someone that owned a TL-S as well as ZX6 said they'd take the ZX out for fun everytime.

If you find you're not fully revving your 600 all the time, you might find a lazier engine configuration suits your riding better. Or you could just turn the throttle more .

Considered a GSXR750?

[veeeffarr]

Absolutley love my V4, prefer the power delivery to a twin, makes a fantastic road engine.

But as usual, it depends on the specific engine tbh, as a GSXR1000 engine is radically different from that of a GSF600.

T

[Fawbish]

fair

I think youve said everything, and now I wont get any more replies G

but thanks. I never said I didnt twist the throttle more! lol and if I do keep the throttle pinned, it tends to hurt my bank balance considerably with the fuckin petrol prices atm lol

I make it go when I want to Im just genuinely wondering what other engines feel like. Which you've nicely cleared up ta

Ive thought about all the 750's. My mate has just gotten a K5 Gixxer 750, and its bloody beautiful. He hasnt ever really described the power delivery much, just its handling which he thought was spot on. But his face when he got off it was a picture.

Ive been considering zx7r aswell, but Im thinking, will it feel that much different to my bike? Will any 750? I suppose I just gotta get out and test ride a few.

I know what you mean about a 6 feeling fun, this bike is awesome. Im only considering changing it for just that...a change.

I assume all you who have been on all these type of bikes prefer a bike which you have to work to ride, but to be honest, I wouldnt know this. My zx is my first big bike, and Im getting to a point where Im reaching my limits, and now winters kicked in its a bit gay. But come summer again, I'll be pushing my limits again
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"Oh....it looks like Average Joe's is forfeiting the match!" - "Yeah, its a risky strategy but lets see if it pays off for 'em Cotton."

[mark83]

Following on from what G said, there's nothing like the thudding of a twin!

I've had enough of IL4s and am going back to a nice twin sometime next year.


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Kawasaki ER6n -> Honda CBR600RR -> Honda VTR 1000 -> Moto Guzzi Norge 1200
Buy my Mercedes 350 Sport AMG Evo

[tintin]

The only way to fin out what you like is to blag a bunch of test rides....
Have fun!
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The older I get the better I was

[Blau Zedong]

Two strokes FTW

I find alot of four strokes quite bland, too smooth and lacking the viscious power deliver even small strokers have in lower gears. Some inline 4's are quite nice, my Gixxer has that loose mechanical sound and feel a bit like a stroker, and a definite feeling of coming on cam (though not comparable to a stroker powerband) at 9K. I would say Suzuki and Kawasaki inline 4's tend to have more character and be more memorable than Honda's or Yams. CBR's / FZR's feel to me like they are powered by electric motors rather than internal combustion engines. I've not really got enough hands on experience to comment on big twins, only to say that the Firestorm I rode irritated me with it's engine braking.
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18:54:48 Rob Fzs: jews don't give away stuff for free

18:54:59 Rob Fzs: unless its their clothes/ hair/ golden teeth

[garth]

I like singles.

IL4 600 is fun, but a bit too quick on the road (I'm talking sportsbikes)

On the road I've had singles, twins and IL4's. I'm going back to the goose.

Less is more!
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You ain't a has been if you never was

[Fawbish]

[G]

First off, obviously not everyone feels the same as me, though I might suggest they just don't understand the reasons they think differently .

I wasn't suggesting that you didn't rev the bike, just that it is more likely, in my opinion, to be this sort of person that would enjoy a twin .

The ZX7R is getting pretty long in the tooth these days. For performance, I doubt you'll notice much over the zx6.
It does have more power, but it has more weight and is generally a bit more barge like (but then 'stable' handling is always put forward as a big plus point for the older Ducatis, etc).

On what mark said, I'm not nearly as much of a fan of the sound as many; the majority opinion being that the twin fart rumble is 'better' - I much prefer the Banshee wail of an inline 4 on-song.

However, on the sound I have a theory that part of the 'feel' of a bike's engine for many people comes from the sound; just as in the way the smell of food is a significant contributing factor to the taste.
Thus people often promote the incorrect (for most bikes) idea that you should 'ride the midrange' of a twin. I've often been told that this is why I don't get on with twins so much. The reality is that the twin still makes more power towards the top of it's rev range, so if you want to ride it faster, you need to use peak revs.
Going from an R6 to a SV650 race bike it took me a while to get used to knowing at what point I needed to change gear from the sound as the twin's tone changes a lot less with revs.

Given two bikes, both geared the same, but one redlining at 10k rpm and the other at 15k rpm, some people will ride either not revving past say 9k rpm. Often mentioned that they just don't like the impression that the engine's stressed, despite that they may actually be stressing the lower revving engine more.
Obviously this isn't a big disadvantage on the lower revving bike, but on a higher revving bike will probably lead to it feeling relatively gutless because the few times they did rev it higher they noticed it offered so much more.

As mentioned, test rides are probably the way forward; but even then, you might find you grow to like a bike you might not be so enamoured to on a test ride.

Garth;
Tried a 250cc 2 stroke?
Maybe a TZR or similar, with not a massive amount of power.
I'm actually on a similar-to-the-goose bike (well, DRZ400e based) and quite enjoying it. However, I reckon for thrashing rather than commuting, I'd go for the revvy nature of a 2 stroke.

[Fawbish]

[phk6]

from a ride out a few weeks ago where there was a few twins and a few il4's

(ducati 1098, sv1000s, ducati 916)
(r1, gsxr1000, gsxr 750, gsxr 600)

the il4's kept spitting out on the greasy roads where as the amazing v's just layed the power down and fucked off

just summut i notice
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Current .. 2008 BMW R 1200 GS Adventure ..
Before .. 2003 Yamaha Fazer 1000 .. 2004 Kawazaki Z1000 .. 2003 Suzuki Sv1000s .. 1999 zx6r Track Bike .. 1999 CB 500 Cup ..
/Phil

[DavyB16]

agree with G, and imo its all down to personal preference. iv ridden a good few engine configurations wud like to try a triple tho.
(will only talk about those that are worth mentioning)
I find that IL4s are all the same, just some are quicker than others but basically feel the same, and get just what u expect from them. the variable valve timing on the 400 bandit was kinda cool tho (similar to the vtec i imagine).

The v-twin i found nice enough but lazy, undecided on whether i wud want to own 1 although they wud probably suit me well.

The V4 was what it was designed to be, a cross between the IL4 and Vtwin altho more towards the 4. Has a special feel to it, just a pity they dont make more.

My favourite (so far) is my KR1S parallel twin 2 stroke, being a 2 stroke fan i dont think u can beat it (again personal preference)

My current gsxr750 has more than enuff power and torque, is super smooth and all round a nice engine but nothing special tbh
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CBR600RR3, KR-1S, Pre97 #16

[Fawbish]

Or maybe you just ride with some wimps, eh fatboy?

Wimps like me

But to be fair Phil, it did take you rather a while to get going past me on the way back from cadwell (IL4 600 vs Twin Thou)

But then to be fair to you...your master brake cylinder was hanging off
____________________
"Oh....it looks like Average Joe's is forfeiting the match!" - "Yeah, its a risky strategy but lets see if it pays off for 'em Cotton."

[Fawbish]

[Blau Zedong]

The Goose is a road bike based on the DR350 lump. Far too much chassis for the engine but that's the charm.
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18:54:48 Rob Fzs: jews don't give away stuff for free

18:54:59 Rob Fzs: unless its their clothes/ hair/ golden teeth

[garth]

Goose is a slow, 350 33~bhp air cooled single.

Haven't tried a high perfomance 2T. Rode a 70's TS250 through winter. Doesn't really count.

On paper the goose is crap. But for the road it really works. You can thrash it and not go too fast, it handles well, good on fuel, yet you can still cruise at 80 odd.

Want an rs250 for shits and giggles. Wouldn't mind a go on ya ccm moto too.
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You ain't a has been if you never was

[NSR Mick]

I dont get on with big twins, I tend to try and over rev them. I'm sure I'd get over that in time if I had one for long enough.

I'm not too keen on the sound either although it can be better than a il4 with a cheap noisy can on it.

As for 2 strokes, I've got an NSR250 at the moment and am going to keep it forever (or at least as long as I can)
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If you dont like the way that I ride.......Stop trying to keep up!!!

[Fawbish]

I want a go on a race prepped RD350. Rip my pants off, it would

[Kickstart]

Hi

[NSR Mick]

[dodsi]

After a whole batch of IL4 600's (Bandit 600, ZX6R's, Thundercat) plus various others ridden I managed last week to borrow a...

...BMW R1100 Boxer cup replica of a friend of mine.

The torque through the rev range was far greater than any 600 sports bike (it is a 1100cc boxer engine duh!) but it was certainly slower than the thundercat I own at the moment.

And when I got to a petrol pump I phoned my friend up and asked "which sort of diesel do you put in your bike usually?"

But in real world riding it was certainly a lot more like a tractor the way it just vibrated along the road shaking your skeleton about inside your mushy externals.

Initially I just could not get used to it, I had ridden from York - Northallerton - Thirsk - Northallerton - Middlesbrough - Northallerton - Leeds (squires) which were only mainly fast M and A roads but between Squires and York on the B1222 the bike then started to make sense and I really enjoyed it and saw the appeal for the first time, You just put it in one gear and just ride a wave of torque between the corners. I certainly was not going very fast as

a) I couldnt ride a rollercoaster properly, let alone a motorcycle

b) refer to above + it was not my bike

c) refer to above 2 points + it is a limited run special edition bike of about 500 made I think.

But it really is down to you and how you think it feels.

I got back on my thundercat, fired it up and wondered if it was actually turned on it was so smooth after the BMW.