Bought my first bike at 17 years old. I am now 18, but I have a 2008 Kawasaki Ninja 250. Yes...i know its a 250, nothing near a 600, but i don't feel like killing myself anytime soon either. For now the 250 is a great starter bike from what people have been saying.
Actually 600cc isn't much power either. Last bike I had was a 750 and spent a lot of time thinking about more power. You learn how to use it after a while. I would go for a Hayabusa if I had the bucks and the wished to keep riding. Beyond that it gets pretty hard to maneuver at slow speeds due to the added weight. There seems to be a sweet spot in power to weight ratio at around 1000cc. The argument motorcycles are safer with less power is lost on me, I don't buy it. You need to actively use the acceleration advantage a bike has to keep out of harm's way. Less than 600 and there is not generally not enough power to get out of trouble with.
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Newer 600's produce 110+hp, and weigh less than 380lbs. My old 600 probably makes 85hp and weighs over 400lbs(still has a steel frame, not aluminum). My old dog will "do" anything a newer bike can, just not as powerful or quick out of a corner.(my brother owns a 01' GSXR750 and burns me out of a corner every time, but in corner I hold just as well and my bike is 6yrs older)
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Newer 600's produce 110+hp, and weigh less than 380lbs. My old 600 probably makes 85hp and weighs over 400lbs(still has a steel frame, not aluminum). My old dog will "do" anything a newer bike can, just not as powerful or quick out of a corner.(my brother owns a 01' GSXR750 and burns me out of a corner every time, but in corner I hold just as well and my bike is 6yrs older)
I owned a mid 80's Yamaha Radian 600 and it was fast up to about 60 mph, something like 3 sec but had no top end. A Honda Nighthawk 750 I had was a bit slower at low speeds but a higher top speed and more torque. I had a friend with a new Suzuki SV650 and I used to ride it sometimes, and it was faster than the NightHawk but it did not accelerate as well. That might have been because it was 2 cylinder. I was not impressed with the low end torque on that bike. I almost went in on a Honda streetfighter at one point, because low end performance is what counts for me.
You are correct they have been getting more power out of engines in the last ten years as a general trend. Any idea how? Fuel injection, shorter strokes with higher rpm bands would be my guess.
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Last edited by Cubdriver : 02-19-2009 at 06:23 PM.
I owned a mid 80's Yamaha Radian 600 and it was fast up to about 60 mph, something like 3 sec but had no top end. A Honda Nighthawk 750 I had was a bit slower at low speeds but a higher top speed and more torque. I had a friend with a new Suzuki SV650 and I used to ride it sometimes, and it was faster than Hawk but it did not accelerate very well. That might have been because it was 2 cylinder. I was not impressed with the low end torque on that bike. I almost went in on a Honda streetfighter at one point, because low end performance is what counts for me.
You are correct they have been getting more power out of engines in the last ten years as a general trend. Any idea how? Fuel injection, shorter strokes with higher rpm bands would be my guess.
A new inline 4 600cc bike is way different. They all have FI and the motors have been developed for so long that they are really optimized. Anything bigger than a 600 is really unbalanced if you ask me, especially with stock suspension/ tires.
My gsx-r 600 has power enough that's for sure.
Sure a gsx-r 1000 will outrun it when you near top speed.
But 0-60, maybe 0-100 wont be a very large gap I would say.
this thing tops out at 160mph just about, and it doesn't take that long to get there
My gsx-r 600 has power enough that's for sure.
Sure a gsx-r 1000 will outrun it when you near top speed.
But 0-60, maybe 0-100 wont be a very large gap I would say.
this thing tops out at 160mph just about, and it doesn't take that long to get there
What you describe is true to my experience with my friend's SV650. We used to smoke the highways between Atlanta and Athens Georgia (GA 78) doing about 150 mph. I used to wonder how a cop could write us a ticket if he couldn't go that fast. The SV had very nice top speed against a larger 4-banger like my NightHawk 750. But the thing is you don't want to go 100+ mph all that much if you are using the bike for normal transportation. If you are using it for normal, daily transportation then low end torque is more desirable and there is no substitute for large displacement to give you that low end torque. That's all I am really saying.
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