Whats the "sweet spot" for you | GTAMotorcycle.com

Whats the "sweet spot" for you

rinomato1

rinomato1

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I been talking to a few motorcycle friends about the sweet spot in terms of Motor Horsepower on a bike. For me I'm happy anywhere between 40 and 75hp max.... my friends had a few comments making fun of my latest purchase being "too small" and underpowered..... (recently purchased a KTM 390 DUKE, after taking a break from riding for 5 years) ...anyways the bike has 43HP stock out of the box and that is plenty power for me.... I used to ride a Harley Softail deluxe, and a Sporty both double the displacement but made in and around that. Anyways, they were saying that their sweet spot is 100HP + and above which is cool. different folks different strokes.... what's your sweet spot?
 
I would say 50-70hp is perfect. I just bought a 390 Adventure - same engine as the Duke - and it has plenty of horsepower once you get the RPMs up there. It lacks torque though, something my Harley has lots of. I'd like 100hp too, but it comes with drawbacks like poor fuel mileage, higher insurance and the temptation to use the HP and lose my license. I have no interest in riding on the GP track either. I would prefer a nice 250 dirt bike.
 
High hp is bot necessarily terrible fuel economy. For me, I'm not too concerned how much fuel it burns, I just need a decent distance between fill-ups.

For a fun toy, I like ~100 hp.

I want to try a four cylinder 250 that revs to the moon. That sound is intoxicating. I'm not sure if the sound would be enough to make me happy. The new zx-25r is ~45 hp so that may be an awesome bike for me. Well, I'd prefer a more upright ride but I doubt that motor will ever be put in a standard or adv package.
 
Your friends sound dumb

Spec sheets and hp numbers in general are pretty meaningless (at least for the street)

Torque to weight is the magic ratio that I care about.

I've ridden 100 hp bikes that I couldnt wait to sell, i've also ridden 70 hp sv650s that I adored(light weight, sharp handling, torquey, reliable, cheap, characterful, whats not to like?)

id say a good torque-y middleweight is about all the useable power I would need or realistically want on the street
 
0.7399 HP/ kg :cool:
 
Gonna sound like an idiot here but 2008+ supersport/superbike or bust.

We all know the reasons; just ride sensibly in plain sight <_<

But I'm honestly comfortable on anything...except maybe cruisers because the pegs drag with my riding style lol
 
Note this is not the order I have owned/ridden these bikes

2008 Suzuki GS500E - not enough, passing is harder than I would like
1986 Honda VF500F - still not enough. it's not slow but... boring, somehow
2011 Ninja 1000 - too much, can't hold the throttle open for more than 1 second on the street
1997 Triumph T595 - way too much, and this bike is encouraging me to be very stupid (I got a ticket)

2005 Suzuki SV650 - felt just about right. also sounds cool
1990 Yamaha YX600 - felt just about right. geared a bit short for the highway though
1996 Kawasaki ZX-11D - also felt just about right (on the high side of the curve). I question if it was ever running properly though

2006 Honda 919 - ??? it's ok, I guess? I have failed to bond with this bike so far. was really nice on the track

2008 Honda CBR125R - teehee! this does a lot with 14hp
20?? Kawasaki Z125 - this does even more with even less
 
TwistedKestrel said:
Note this is not the order I have owned/ridden these bikes

2008 Suzuki GS500E - not enough, passing is harder than I would like
1986 Honda VF500F - still not enough. it's not slow but... boring, somehow
2011 Ninja 1000 - too much, can't hold the throttle open for more than 1 second on the street
1997 Triumph T595 - way too much, and this bike is encouraging me to be very stupid (I got a ticket)

2005 Suzuki SV650 - felt just about right. also sounds cool
1990 Yamaha YX600 - felt just about right. geared a bit short for the highway though
1996 Kawasaki ZX-11D - also felt just about right (on the high side of the curve). I question if it was ever running properly though

2006 Honda 919 - ??? it's ok, I guess? I have failed to bond with this bike so far. was really nice on the track

2008 Honda CBR125R - teehee! this does a lot with 14hp
20?? Kawasaki Z125 - this does even more with even less
Click to expand...
I used to own - Harley Sporty 883 to 1250 upgrade kit

Harley Softail Deluxe

KTM 990 ADVENTURE (best bike I've ever owned)

amd now after 5 years hiatus 2020 KTM 390 Duke
 
bigpoppa said:
Your friends sound dumb

Spec sheets and hp numbers in general are pretty meaningless (at least for the street)

Torque to weight is the magic ratio that I care about.

I've ridden 100 hp bikes that I couldnt wait to sell, i've also ridden 70 hp sv650s that I adored(light weight, sharp handling, torquey, reliable, cheap, characterful, whats not to like?)

id say a good torque-y middleweight is about all the useable power I would need or realistically want on the street
Click to expand...
lol and you bought the SDR over the 890 R!
 
When I first got into motorcycles, I was all about the power.

I had a 140 hp sportbike which I took out on the track. There were faster bikes with more horsepower, and slower bikes with less. I was about mid-pack yellow group in terms of lap-times.

So I figured more power = faster laptimes, right? I upgraded to a 186 hp bike. To my surprise, lap times were slower than on my old bike. Other than having to adjust braking markers because of the speed differential, the bike turned out to be quite a pig to turn. But the biggest thing I learned is about being fast on the track is not how fast you go in a straight line, it's how fast you can keep your speed up in the corner and how quickly you accelerate out of it. That has nothing to do with horsepower - it's got to do with skill, which I obviously didn't have.

I started paying attention to the really fast guys (not bikes, but riders). The king of the track was a guy on 125cc 2-stroke who was smoking guys in Red Group. Every straightaway, he'd get blitzed by the literbikes, but he'd *always* catch up to and pass them in the twisty bits. I also noted that some of the 600cc bikes were faster than some of the liter-bikes in Red Group.

It's very embarrassing to have a fast bike and have guys on slower bikes pass you because you park it in the corners. Then you have no excuse for being slow.

There's a saying: Better to ride a slow bike fast than a fast bike slow.

Anyway, right now I ride a 40hp bike that weighs 270 lbs wet. I'm happy with it. Gives me an excuse to be slow, which I would be anyway, regardless of horsepower...
 
For a track/race bike, on the tracks around here, for ME, 40 - 80 hp is the optimum range. I'm no faster on a 600 that is above that range, than on my old FZR400.
 
I just want displacement indicated somewhere on the bike where everyone can see...

Like "Bandit 1250" "FJR 1300"...

'The chicks will think I'm all that and a bag of chips.
The dudes will think "He must either be rich or old to afford the insurance on that bike"
 
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