I was out driving with a friend of mine having a Suzuki GSX R1000 -05. That bike is 166 kg and has 174 horsepower compared to the CBR's 235/135. To my big surprice I had no problem at all to follow him with the CBR on straits and twisties. In fact, when I was in front he could not follow me and I had to wait for him to catch up many times. I felt so confident that I stayed behind on a straight, and then bypassed him at the entrance of a double curve. Even though he was rusty at this early time of the season (here), there is definitly no question about the CBR beeing a very well performing bike. The bike feels so balanced in high-speed-corners and also in town it handles almost as well as a modern bike. One thing that helps this bike to be ridden quite hard is that one can apply full throttle very soon after initiating the turn, the power is good but not so strong that it easily overpowers the rear and the heavy front helps to keep the bike planted in turns. The bike also feels very well balanced and also give a reasonable feedback about what is going on. The only time it feels to heavy to me is when it has to be towed by handcraft.

 

Hell, I'd vote for it!

 

Having read about your airtravels in 280 kph I think that it´s more likely that this is a driver issue :-)

 

Just an ordinary trip to work

To be quite honest, there is no need to do that all the time, but it was worthful by providing real evidence that the bike runs like hell and more important, doesn't give up before the driver. I guess those kind of experience is good to have in a real crisis situation in order to be commited, and just try to do what is needed if something goes wrong. And when there is traffic around, it's not a good time for playing.

 

I've caught up to some Gixxers and I've had some walk away from me in the curves. I think it's how experienced the rider is, and how daring.

 

I was following some CBR600RRs and well... there is no question that a smooth torque curve is a nice thing, I followed them for about 50 miles, I was in 6th the entire trip while they were shifting away.. and as far as power and handling goes.. they didn't outrun me by any means, and I'm sure MY skill could be greatly improved upon... there was a new 1000RR and he was walking away from me, but a very experienced rider as well.. I thinkif i was able to get in frontof the 600's ahead of me and didn't have to pass, then i would have been able to follow a the 1000 rr a little better

 

I vote the CBR1000F for president!

 

Yesterday I came behind two bikes just at the entry of a 30 km long favourite road with a hughe amount of nice curves. The first bike was an Aprilia RSV 1000 and the second another red modern sportbike. The two bikes where driving in company. I passed the second one already in the middle of the first double-curve and went up behind the Aprilia. The driver noted me in the mirror but held back behind two cars in front of another close curve setion. There was enough room for overtaking so I gave full throttle and passed them. The Aprilia driver runned up behind on the next straight where I held back some, and then I began to drive at the highest appropriate speed on straights and thrue curves. I runned at about 90% capacity all the time (way to much on public roads...), because I didn't plan to give this opportunity up easy and have got a great confidence in the thrusty CBR. The Aprilia stayed very closed behind on straights and curve entries, but lost some distance in all curves where I came out carrying a better speed. Since he had a much better power to weight ratio, he had no problems with that, and always caught up on me very soon after each curve.

I gave the bike my best shoot for about 15 km's and then signalled by the turn light on a straight that he could overtake. I knew he had much more power and could easily do that on any straight. He didn't, so I backed off full throttle for a few seconds, but he still didn't overtake so I proceeded at full speed for the remaining 15 km's.

At the end of the road there is a small café where I stopped and went in and ordered some food. The Aprilia driver went on to the end of the park close to the road, so I planned to go out and have a chap with him while waiting for the food. When I came out the second passed on the road and the driver rised his arm friendly to me. The Aprilia guy then went after him so I never got a chance say hello.

The ride felt real good, and I can't se many reasons other than the Aprilia rider thought it was about fast enough, and didn't feel comfortable to overtake and stay in front. He knewed from the beginning that he had far a quicker bĂ­ke, but also that he could be overtaken again in just about any curve if not able to get enough gap between us. He could also not have missed that the CBR pulled far beyond expectations also on straights, well above 200 km/h. If the pace would have been below his natural comfort interval, he would not have been staying behind being bored for 30 km's when he already have taken the decision to temporary leave his friend for a quick blast. I'll probably never get the complete answer, but am real happy with the CBR which didn't turned me down.

I put a link to show what bikes with crazy drivers are capable to, which probaly is not any kind of news. A modern bike is however far more capable than most people would imagine. In this case I guess it is semi-pro's, running on drugs...I'm not impresses by crazy driving, but it sure confirms that a bike will do the work as long as the driver can stay cool.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQF6L4qvAsE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtM9grPU6Jc

On sunday there is a track day I'll attend. A little later in August I'll test the CBR on the same GO CART track where i rode the GSX R reported in another thread. I'll report coming events in a new thread later.

 

Please R1000, tell me that you will be using that CBR on that track day! Or maybe you don´t dare? I think you´re a "Better safe than sorry" kind of a guy, and will use your Suzuki Consider yourself dared! BTW, while your at it, put a videocam in a pal´s hand and share your day with us in living colours in the "About Track Day" thread...

 

Well I thought about taking the CBR on sunday but the track, GellerĂĄsen, is very technical so I don't dare to take the Honda when I want to go as fast as possible. The Honda will have to wait until the GO CART track, I need to know it's behaviour better at safer/lower speeds. So, you are right, I'm definitily a better safe than sorry person when it comes to lethal stuff like running a bike. I have already have several loss of grip on the rear tyre with the Honda in high speed corners when pulling to hard. I have corrected this by selecting a higher gear in such situations and the pace also went up by that. If one is not a very qualified driver, which I'm not, one needs to have very good margins to save the ***. Saying that, doesn't meen that a better driver would come behind me with the Suzuki if he drives an old CBR. On a low speed track like GellerĂĄsen with less than about 130 km/h average speed for track record holders, whats inside the head is much more important than the type of bike. A real good driver could run maybe about 6 seconds (1.13) above track record (1.07) on almost any bike in good condition having about 70 horses, and a real fast street guy not used to track driving will do maybe 1.15 at best. My fastest lap is 1.13.59 with the Suzuki, and after 12 laps in that pace it was my time to eat gravel.

Sorry to disappoint you, but there is really no reason to take more risks than this sport has in it self.