BHP Sweetspot for you?

[Yorick]

Seeing the Aprilia today with 215bhp it makes me question as always...


"who the heck wants 200+"

me...….! its simple innit really....better to have and not need that need and not have ! that's the truth of life !

Quite.

[Cousin Jack]

My VFR was abut 105. That was nice. V4, but designed for torque at low revs, rather than ultimate power at the top.

My current 500 is 46 and is adequate rather than nice. Lacking in top end, and in low/mid-range grunt.

My ideal would be a v4 or triple, about 100 at the top end but lots of midrange. If it was nice and light it could manage with 80. 200 would scare me silly on a twisty wet road through the trees in autumn - I would need a "Chicken" setting in the engine modes.

[porter_jamie]

100hp and 100kg but 6000 mile service intervals

[Taipan]

I clicked on the twin 60-110 option, but anything over 70bhp is probably wasted on me? On teh roads I ride anything bigger is, not somuch wasted as just less involving? Basically in one gear, just blatting from apex to apex. On smaller bikes you're up and down the box and feel like you're riding the thing. My SV650 was much more of a hoot than my Blade or ZX9 on my roads.

[Trinity765]

Seeing the Aprilia today with 215bhp it makes me question as always...


"who the heck wants 200+"

me...….! its simple innit really....better to have and not need that need and not have ! that's the truth of life !

That's just greedy.

There's a lot of fun in ragging something to within an inch of it's life and getting everything you can out of it, where every gear change is important. You can't do that with 215bhp.

[Supermofo]

I clicked on the twin 60-110 option, but anything over 70bhp is probably wasted on me? On teh roads I ride anything bigger is, not somuch wasted as just less involving? Basically in one gear, just blatting from apex to apex. On smaller bikes you're up and down the box and feel like you're riding the thing. My SV650 was much more of a hoot than my Blade or ZX9 on my roads.

Exactly how I feel about big power. I get that some people can use it and that it's exciting, but for me I can't use a lot of it. Looking at my next bike it's hard not to look at GSXS 1000's as they are in my price bracket and come with a proper frame/swingarm etc, but they are 158BHP which puts me off a lot. I'd end up using maybe 3rd or 4th and riding it like a scooter a lot of the time or going 'fuck fuck fuck' as I realise just how fast I'm going thinking I'm doing 40 mph less. Whereas with the 690 I'm tapping up and down the box like Fred Astaire and using all 6 gears all whilst doing maybe 85 max in the whole ride.

[Yorick]

Seeing the Aprilia today with 215bhp it makes me question as always...


"who the heck wants 200+"

me...….! its simple innit really....better to have and not need that need and not have ! that's the truth of life !

That's just greedy.

There's a lot of fun in ragging something to within an inch of it's life and getting everything you can out of it, where every gear change is important. You can't do that with 215bhp.

I find mid power bikes a bit dull. Twist and go. Riding a monster bike is more challenging and ultimately more rewarding when you get it right.

Courses for horses.

[Trinity765]

I find mid power bikes a bit dull. Twist and go. Riding a monster bike is more challenging and ultimately more rewarding when you get it right.

Courses for horses.

Indeed. And and this is one of those discussions that could go on forever because of that. I've only really ridden on UK roads where ragging a 1000cc bike isn't advisable. Also worth noting is my physical size - I rode a Honda CB1000R around the Pyrenees during a heatwave and I got exhausted pretty quickly.

[porter_jamie]

I clicked on the twin 60-110 option, but anything over 70bhp is probably wasted on me? On teh roads I ride anything bigger is, not somuch wasted as just less involving? Basically in one gear, just blatting from apex to apex. On smaller bikes you're up and down the box and feel like you're riding the thing. My SV650 was much more of a hoot than my Blade or ZX9 on my roads.

me too. i reckon i would enjoy a 100hp/100kg bike more than a litre bike. so a gp250 bike with 100 reliable hp but for the road, and probably a 4 stroke twin

[Scuffmark]

80-120 bhp triple or twin is my sweetspot


Yes my MT10 doesn't fit in that bracket, and it is fun having more power but it does take a lot more concentration to keep at or under the speed limit and that gets tiresome.

[Horse]

Wasn't it PB a few years ago, once sports bikes got to about 165 BHP, that measured what the average punter uses in road riding.
I believe the figure they came up with was most people never used more that 80 BHP ...

ISTR a similar article I think it was the cross plane R1, it was impossible to use full power on the road legally. To get to the peak power rpm you had to be breaking the speed limit, even in first.

We had a Blade at work, i used it for a brief while. But had to wear a hi-viz with the company name on display, so stay legal.

Even for Mr Boring like me that was fuggin boring.

[Slenver]

Without wishing to miss the point or be pedantic, I think bhp is just one factor of many, even when just thinking about performance.

I had a ZX10 for many years (182bhp) and loved it. It never felt too much even if it was capable of going very quickly. It was balanced and comfortable and just an all-round pleasure.

I had a K5 GSXR1000 (176bhp) which the previous owner had fitted a quick-action throttle to and it was nuts. Pulling away from standstill meant either bogging down, stalling, wheelieing or bunny-hopping, and usually all at once. He'd also fitted an aftermarket shock to suit his 18st weight it turned out (I'm 12st), so I frequently left the saddle over bumps. It was too much for the road, for me anyway and I didn't like it.

My current SD1290GT (175bhp) is big and heavy and, while quick enough, never feels quick quick.It feels like a big bike with plenty of grunt. I'd take more power if I was handed it.

So even just those 3 bikes with similar power have been too much, not enough and just right. And on top of that I've had some of my best rides on a 23bhp Enfield, albeit not quite as quickly

My next bike will probably be smaller and lighter and 100ish bhp I think, though I'd be happy with anything 70+ . And I'm toying with the idea of getting a track bike too, but would specifically not want much more than 100, ideally less tbh. I'm old and get scared.

[Horse]

I find mid power bikes a bit dull. Twist and go. Riding a monster bike is more challenging and ultimately more rewarding when you get it right.

Courses for horses.

You called? All of my 1000cc K bikes had a torque curve like a pancake. If it's an every day, all weather, transport, bike, why make life hard for yourself?

[Skub]

Bhp in itself isn't a thing for me.

I like powerful bikes that blow me away and leave me laughing like a loon. The ZH2 was the last bike to do that.

Having said that,I had fun on a 9bhp Innova,and a 26bhp Sh300i. I like riding bikes in general and it can be fun making the best of the little you have,so Mrs Skub tells me.

My Z1000 is probably about 30bhp down on my previous ZX10R,for the most part it doesn't bother me,because it's a different riding experience,so for me now the everyday pleasure and lower speed hooning wins out against tucking behind a fairing and letting the thing loose. I'd still enjoy that on a track,but I've used several lifetimes of luck on the road and at 65 I'm not getting sharper.

My real driver for change is the loss of a fairing,that forces me to stop doing what I could easily do on the ten. It's just too much work. So the crux of the matter is not so much any particular bhp,it's how easy or difficult that bhp is to use.

As far as the bhp sweetspot goes,I suppose it depends on what the intended uses are. Enough to get your job done.

For me,good suspension and brakes are way up the list compared to outright horses.

Edit. Sweet fueling is a lovely thing too.

[Bigjawa]

On the roads 70-90 would do me fine, I liked my "girlie" SV as it was easy to ride slow, but went OK buy not mental at the top end, VTR was good too, just ride the torque with the ability to get up to ton plus speeds quickly. Road riding is all about torque for me. I've ridden 600s with screaming top ends that put out as much power as an old GSXR1100, the old bike is easier to ride, even my SRAD felt like an RGV that had hit the gym.

Speaking of that SRAD, they have something like 115-120 bhp at the wheel, but on track I longed for more power when Mad Mick pulled away on his R1, I don't think you'll ever have too much power on track.

The 85bhp thing surprises me, I sometimes ride with a mate on her CBF600, if we swap bikes I always seem to be wringing the thing's neck to keep up with the BMW. The BMW is too much, you can get to locked up speeds without going above 7k.

Power wise, any superbike made in the past 30 years is too much for me on the road. Maybe I should buy a Himalayan?

[Dodgy69]

But we don't get bored of too much power, it's a tricky one. Do we need to use it's full power on the road and save the rest for the track.

[Yorick]

But we don't get bored of too much power, it's a tricky one. Do we need to use it's full power on the road and save the rest for the track.

For the first 5 miles of yesterday's ride I stuck to the speed limits. Didn't have to control any wheelie or slides

200 BHP can be ridden gently without falling off. It's that clever twisty thing on the right handlebar

[DEADPOOL]

10% more bhp with 10% higher redline.

True for any bike...

[mangocrazy]

I'd make the point that any BHP sweetspot has to not only include engine config, but weight of bike. I'd be deliriously happy with 80-90 bhp in something weighing 125kg, far less so in something weighing 225kg. Bike weight is probably more important than anything these days to me, even more so than engine layout or BHP.

[Cousin Jack]

200 BHP can be ridden gently without falling off. It's that clever twisty thing on the right handlebar

Very true, but modern* FI bikes don't like zero throttle, they fart and generally make for uncomfortable and jerky riding. A less powerful bike would let you give a whiff of throttle to smooth it all out, without going faster than you want to.

* Alternatively we could get a real-world emission test that didn't require such silly emissions at tickover.