dmp
Senior Member
In the sportbike world, there exists a vast majority of people who suggest new riders start off on smaller, less powerful bikes. It's not just a matter of power; actually, it IS a matter of power. Today's newest 1000cc sportbikes are insanely fast. Most of today's "Litre-bikes" as they are called, can run the quarter mile in LESS than 10 seconds with trap speeds approaching 150 miles per hour. That's faster than a Viper. Faster than any Italian-made exoctic. That's approaching what Pro-stock cars of not-so-long ago were running; cars expressly built for the purpose. Today, the average Joe Schmoe can walk into a Kawasaki dealer, lay down $11K and ride home on a bike which can reach 100+ in FIRST gear en route to a stated top speed within a 10-spot of 200mph.
Now that we've had some background on what these bikes are capable of, let's talk margin of error. As riders develop a sense for riding, they learn to hone a vital skill: Throttle input. Because these bikes have blinding acceleration, it takes only small throttle imputs to build speed. Rolling one's wrist too much in any of the first 3 gears can induce a wheelie before one can think "Holy Shit!". One of the greatest advantages to starting on a less powerful bike is obvious - given the same throttle input, the bike will accelerate slower (than it would on a bigger, more powerful bike).
That obvious conclusion is lost on some people. There are guys (yeah, mostly male), kids really (generally younger than 25 years old), whose testosterone and other ego-enhancing hormones drive them to purchase the 'biggest and baddest' bike they can - REGARDLESS of their skill level. Id Est, youthful exuberance tends to blind riders (drivers too) to their lack of experience/skill/sound decision making.
With that said:
wow.
Darwinism Proven? Fate? I dunno. But there you go.
Ride safely.
Now that we've had some background on what these bikes are capable of, let's talk margin of error. As riders develop a sense for riding, they learn to hone a vital skill: Throttle input. Because these bikes have blinding acceleration, it takes only small throttle imputs to build speed. Rolling one's wrist too much in any of the first 3 gears can induce a wheelie before one can think "Holy Shit!". One of the greatest advantages to starting on a less powerful bike is obvious - given the same throttle input, the bike will accelerate slower (than it would on a bigger, more powerful bike).
That obvious conclusion is lost on some people. There are guys (yeah, mostly male), kids really (generally younger than 25 years old), whose testosterone and other ego-enhancing hormones drive them to purchase the 'biggest and baddest' bike they can - REGARDLESS of their skill level. Id Est, youthful exuberance tends to blind riders (drivers too) to their lack of experience/skill/sound decision making.
With that said:
wow.
Darwinism Proven? Fate? I dunno. But there you go.
Ride safely.
