In a perfect world, how would you define 'supersport'?

[2motors]

What's the deal with the older cbrs and r6s they said mines a sport not a ss..... Make any sense of that a bike that can hit 270 and pull hard when hitting 10k rpm..

 

[fastar1]

There should be no need to define it. Total claims for that specific vehicle compared to some sort of average. The vehicles that have high versus low claims costs sort themselves out.

This is the ideal way to go. But, I think there aren't enough of each model to be able to determine reliable risk statistics for them all. But there are patterns that as others have said, are quite obvious to observers but difficult to pin down in quantifiable terms. Some insurers have grouped bikes strictly by displacement, which is of course retarded. Others try just lump bikes into high risk based on how it looks. Also dumb.

If there's a quantifiable way of grouping similar risk bikes together, I would say it's power-to-weight and riding position. Other values that might help clarify the distinction between risk levels are rake, trail, engine redline, wheelbase.

If an insurers want to hire me to go out and get all these values and crunch the numbers, I'd love to see what all the numbers might reveal.

 

[conundrum]

I love how people like to twist words and meaning on this board. My point about race bikes adapted to street vs bikes made for the street and used in races still stands imo. Both a BMW M3 and Ariel Atom are street legal cars, but look at both and tell me which one was made for track first. Again, really it should come down to power vs weight if you are just considering the bike, given there is a much bigger difference in that ratio between a 250/300 and a 600/1000 SS. Also, should someone want to make a 300cc bike that can make say 60-70hp and only weigh 200 lbs, then that should be seen as a higher-risk vehicle in the same way a 400 lb bike making 120-140+ hp should.

I also tend to find it funny how the people who complain the most about SS insurance typically are the same who say a 600cc SS is too slow for the streets. In a fair word, insurance would be based on driver first and vehicle far second, to the point that if you are a new rider you should be paying a ton of money because you have no record/history. If you can get through a large number of years with no accidents and no major tickets, then insurance should be next to nothing until you do something that causes your record/history to change.

 

[nobbie48]

A few years ago my accountant was dealing with an older couple that had a bunch of cash from selling a business. The hubby mentioned he wanted to buy a Corvette. His wife said no way but was OK with him buying a Cadillac. So he bought a Cadillac XLR, built on a Corvette chassis. Definitions?

 

[TwistedKestrel]

Interesting topic, I'll see what I can find out and let you guys know if there is a definition.

I just found out that apparently none of the insurance companies CNIB quotes will insure sportbikes at all, so you may not have much luck