Useable power?

[Old Git Racing]

I suppose in theory all power is useable if you are good enough. What do you reckon is
enough for you on the road? i.e. given the road and no plod (it happens occasionally) what are you comfortable with and what do you feel is too much?
Not a willy waving question or a 'you shouldn't be doing it on the road' thread, just interested in where most people think they are in relation to what's available.
For me a street triple is underpowered, a Gsxr 750 useable, an R1 too much, all bikes I've owned or ridden recently.

OGR
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2022 Tiger Sport 660 2019 Street Twin 2003 K3 gixxer 1000 1998 Srad 600 track hack

[sidewinder]

Found a cb500 was to slow tried a blackbird shit bricks.loved the mto9 tracer i test rode
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"Nitrous is like a cheap hooker, you want to hit it but are scared of the consequences

[Howling TerrorOutOfOffice]

I've thought about this too, but say we all agree on x amount of hp and z amount of torque. It's meaningless unless the engine is in a good chassis with good suspension.

How's about 100bhp and about 60lb ft of torque.
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[Pete.]

If an R1 is too much my 'busa must be five much
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a.k.a 'Geri'

132.9mph off and walked away. Gear is good, gear is good, gear is very very good

[Musketeer]

IMHO for me the Fireblade is a perfect bike for the road. And the power delivery is exactly as I want it to be. It makes the bike so easy to ride and use all that power.

I've owned only a handful of bikes, 125 2T, a few old 600, now 1000. I've tried a few others. Out of all 600 I had the ZX6R was the nicest, but eventually I thought it was underpowered.

So for me it has to be 1000cc.
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Current Bike: Yamaha XSR900 Previous bikes: Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade, Kawasaki ZX-6R Ninja, Aprilia RS125 2-stroke

[Tungtvann]

What actually is useable power? As far as being a faster rider goes, it's not my bike's 98hp(?) that is limiting me, far from it. I'd perhaps like a more powerful bike eventually and something that actually produces some power lower down the rpm. I think for me, the 130hp+ range would be ideal and is probably what I'd be looking for next.

[stonesie]

I like my Street Triple, it's got a great spread of torque and a nice character to it so you can be lazy with the gears and still make good progress on the road. But if you work the gearbox and keep it above about 8K it goes like hell, I did my first track day last week and at Cadwell Park and it was nipping the heals of litre bikes on the straights, which are not that long there so ultimate top speed didn't come in to it (where they would clearly have the advantage).

105 bhp with 50 Lb:Ft

Yes the MT-09 has more of both but less control, I thought the MT's suspension was crap and the brakes a bit meh The throttle? better than the early ones but still more snatchy than my STR even with it's quick action throttle. And I do still prefer an analog tachometer.

I think the biggest question is, What do you want to use the power for?
For track use a screaming 600 that revs to the moon will be much better than something like a 1200 boxer twin (the R1200R is on my test ride list), but for grunting out effortless overtakes and making good progress for hundreds of miles that same twin would get the nod over the 600 screamer.

[covent.gardens]

[barrkel]

I think a lot of this comes down to power delivery (+ gearing) and appetite for risk. If you like to shift, you'll be happier with peaky power with a possibly lower max HP, if you don't, you'll prefer broad power, but possibly higher max HP, simply because of how torque x revs works. If you don't mind risk, you'll keep pushing until you get bored, get caught or get killed; no fixed level of power will be enough.

I honestly don't think more than 30hp is needed for riding London traffic. I think it's better if acceleration is blunted once you hit 50. You're less inclined to push it even further, less likely to see court, less likely to be killed by (and kill) a pedestrian.

I think there's a point not far past 100hp where most of what you get is just better acceleration at illegal speeds. Now, I do the odd 3-digit blast on country roads, but I'm acutely aware that a deer at those speeds is close to a death sentence. It's a dice roll every time. I'm far more comfortable doing that on a motorway. And on a clear stretch of Autobahn, 100hp isn't nearly enough, not by a long shot.
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[DJP]

[talkToTheHat]

Haynes says mine claimed 46 mighty horses when new, MCN quotes 38 which i suspect is at the rear wheel. As the little runabout that spends most of its time cutting through urban traffic or exploring back roads, it's more than enough power to see off family cars at the traffic lights without having to try, and to give me a few moments where I think I've wound on too hard too early coming out of a corner but its not killed me yet. Pinning the throttle when cruising at 30 in 3rd gear quickyl shows me 60 as I change up and is still hilarious. Almost every time. And it doesn't rip my arms off.

Doing the same at 50 in 4th is a bit less good and I am acutely aware I need much more road to get past the twat sat at 45 in an NSL than my ducati riding friends. Hence I want more. But then with more power, I'll just be having the same fun at higher speeds, because I know what I'm like. I'm not sure I trust myself on a 100bhp+ bike however much I find myself drooling over them. I like using all the capabilities of the machine beneath me. It feels good. The it feels good shouldn't have me under threat of instaban or prison.
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[monkeybiker]

My Z1000 has around 120-130bhp and I don't feel I ''need'' anymore.

I only ever use max power briefly. To be perfectly honest I think for the road 100bhp is enough. If you have a bike with 100bhp and find yourself bored then maybe you should consider drag racing instead.

I got my Zed mostly for the looks. The extra power is cool to have but I could still have fun on it if had 100bhp.

Not saying I would ''want'' less power but it's not the main thing.

I'd like to try an R1 just to see what it was like but if I was to buy a sports bike again would probably for for a 600cc.

[stevo as b4]

I agree with this being a slightly pointless thread as the biggest variables that skew the answers are:

1, power to weight ratio's
2, Power vs chassis capability
3, Power vs Chassis geometry.

[Slacker24seve...]

My 675 is too fast for me to ride on the road. Its too easy to ride silly fast and after a nearly getting caught at silly speeds moment, I don't want to ride it on the road.

I've now tracked it and ride my girlfriend's Hornet when I get the itch. It's still plenty fast enough but you don't have to do 100 everywhere and ride like your pants are on fire.
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[P.addy]

I find my triple ideal for the road. The ninja is a chunk down on power but that doesn't stop you having fun on it.

The best bikes I've actually had on the road would be the triple and the GSXR1000 K6. It was easy to go fast but was still stupid fun.

So somewhere in the middle. 130hp.

[The Shaggy D.A.]

All depends on how it's delivered, but my reaction times mean I'm happier under the ton, and I can't tell the difference between 130 and 150 MPH anyway. 60BHP is good enough for me, anything above 100BHP would be overkill.
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[MarJay]

I've had a few bikes over 100bhp, and I don't think they were really as much fun as bikes with 80-100bhp. That said, it does depend on the bike. Personally I prefer smaller lighter bikes, and they are probably the ones which get scary over 120bhp ish.

Personally, give me a lightweight bike with 100bhp over a S1000RR any day.
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[chickenstrip]

I've got about 140rwhp on tap on mine, and I certainly don't need more. For one thing, much more and the chassis would probably tie itself in knots trying to use it, and I've been doing suspension mods to help it use what it's already got to better effect.

So I sometimes think, well, what about a lighter bike with less power that I could more easily wring the neck of? And that kind of appeals to me too, so I'm still thinking about a Street Triple once my situation is right for me to start looking at second bikes.

I remember when I had my SV650 and had to do a stretch of motorway. That certainly wasn't enough power. Although I was cruising faster than most cars, I kept getting Mercs and BMs stuck up my arse which the little SV didn't have the go to get away from (to the next opportunity to pull in out of their way), and if there's one thing I can't stand, it's having a car tail gate me. Also, the SV didn't have enough really for fast A road work. So I feel I want more than that had.

But having the litre bike with oodles of stomp almost anywhere in the rev range suits me because of the mixed riding I do. So it becomes more about how I use throttle and gears for any given situation. Having only one bike, that's what I prefer. I can just open the throttle in any gear for overtakes, or I can use the kick at 7k rpm if I want to go a bit more mental, but I couldn't, as said, reasonably use more than I've got now in that kind of situation.

So I like that higher power figures generally give you more flexibility. Then you have it all on tap for those occasions when you do fancy a bit of madness. But in an ideal world, I'd have more than one bike so I can experience the different characteristics they'd give.

And every time we get a thread like this, it makes me realise that for a one-bike person, I've made a good choice
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[Pete.]

The thing is - we're all taking about peak power. When do we use peak power? Travelling more or less upright in a more or less straight line. How often do we use full power on a journey? Not very often and the more power you have on tap the less often you'll use all of it and the lower will be your average proportion.
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a.k.a 'Geri'

132.9mph off and walked away. Gear is good, gear is good, gear is very very good

[chickenstrip]

But as I said, higher peak power (usually) gives you more flexibility lower down, which is more useful (I think) for everyday riding. OTOH, if you have say, 80bhp on tap, will you be tempted to use it all more often? So then you could say that you'll be going quicker more of the time, and so more likely to get into a sticky situation, or get a tug. We are talking about road riding here after all, are we not? I'm probably happier having more - it may actually mean I feel the need to cane it less. If that makes sense

E.g., I had a 350 ypvs. There was rarely a time I wasn't thrashing the nuts off it. With more powerful machinery, I don't feel the need so often. But actually, I'd like the choice of both.
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[Pete.]

I agree with what you say, but that's not the subject of the topic
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a.k.a 'Geri'

132.9mph off and walked away. Gear is good, gear is good, gear is very very good

[Rogerborg]

^^^
Beat me to it. If you mean to talk torque, talk torque.

I very, very rarely use the modest 70-odd hp on the Nazi Tractor. Peak power is at 7000rpm. That's 66 / 81 / 98 mph in 2nd to 4th gears, with the throttle still held wide open.

Given UK traffic, road layout, weather and surface conditions, and road policing, when am I going to do that, and why?

On my commute, the 20-something from the Enfield is sufficient, and actually - for my tastes - a lot more fun and rewarding to make full use of.

InB4 G and "ride a litre IL4 in 1st gear"
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[ocatoro]

probably not using most of what's there anyway.

mate has just taken delivery of a spanking new golf r... gives readouts of how much power you used on a trip meter style thing like the mpg etc... he's caning it in "race mode" and i think the most it's managed is like 209bhp so far of it's available 300.

much will be the same on a bike. if you've got 150bhp... you're likely to only ever use 100 of it.. safely anyway.

delivery is more important than figures. can have all the power but if it's delivered in a jerky terrifying way you'll be less inclined to use it than something that's nice and progressive. just my 2p
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[Matt B]