Why do we buy high-powered motorcycles?

[Spiffious]

Why do we buy high-powered motorcycles?

BECAUSE THEY ARE AWESOME.

[Sport-Touring]

[jfurf]

My current bike only has about 65 horses. I think my next one will be around 100. I don't need any more than that. I'm discovering that I sometimes lack self-control and ride too fast as it is.  

The last thing I need is a Jap missile. Maybe I'll get one of them fancy eye-talian "Goosey" bikes that Orson Welles character is always ranting about.  

[Thunderbox]

It has everthing to do with consumerism.  The premise is we can't get you to buy another bike if we don't give you something extra with it.  The easiest thing to do is increase the HP by 1 or 2 each year and you buy buy buy.  Thats why HP are so high.  Stupid thing is, it works.  Look at most of your bikes.

[Lon]

I don't.  I seem to be stuck in the 100hp bike rut.  The past 3 bikes have been:

2000 Kawasaki ZX6E - 100hp @ crank.
2001 BMW R1100S - 98hp @ crank.
1991 Honda VFR750 - 100hp @ crank.

Oddly, when I rode the K12S, the thought I had was "Great, now what do I do with the other 75 horsepower?"  

That said, I still want a gen-1 Hayabusa...  

[Zerosum]

Oddly, when I rode the K12S, the though I had was "Great, now what do I do with the other 75 horsepower?"  

I was on the highway the other day, on my VFR.  I saw a guy on a K12S behind me, holding steady with me.  In the time it took for me to take my eyes off the mirror and focus on the road ahead, he had passed me and was about 10 maybe 12 car lengths ahead of me.    

[staedtler]

  ...  

[kevin_stevens]

It has everthing to do with consumerism.  The premise is we can't get you to buy another bike if we don't give you something extra with it.  The easiest thing to do is increase the HP by 1 or 2 each year and you buy buy buy.  Thats why HP are so high.  Stupid thing is, it works.  Look at most of your bikes.

Umm, not in this case.  Hyperbikes have been around for over ten years, and Suzuki went eight years, I believe it was, without changing the Hayabusa except for BNG.  It was a consistent seller for them throughout that period.  I don't think Honda has changed the Blackbird, which is still sold in Europe, since 2001.  And the ZX-14 has been out since 2006 with only a minor tweak for emissions in 2008.  The K1200S is four years old, and from my review above you can garner that IMHO they are just reworking some of the issues to come up with the K1300S.

KeS

[Scoop]

I recall a nice sunny fall day last year, riding back from a favorite stretch of road across the border in the US.  We had been there with a group of riders, most with liter sport bikes.  Basket and myself had left earlier and were a few minutes ahead of the rest of the pack, and hadn't seen them in our mirrors for 30-40 miles.  There is a nice straight stretch just past the Canadian side, and we usually will open things up a bit.  For my Strom, that means getting up to maybe 110 mph before it starts to weave.  There I was, all flat out and with no warning I was passed by 2 of our buddies.  One on an RC-51 and I think the other was a GSXR 1k.  I had just checked my mirrors moments before.  They did come out of no where and passed me like I was toddling along on a Harley Sunday cruise.  
I do like power.  I love to be able to blow past whatever needs to be blown past.  I loved the feel of the slight wheel lift when my old VTR shifted into second.  But, I also think about 100 hp is enough for me.  I was a bit envious of those guys as they blew by, but power is relative.  I think that my next bike might be a step down even....

[Powder Addict]

I didn't

[nomagnashn]

Size of the bike.

I've noticed that the liter bikes tend to be larger physically.  A couple years ago, I really wanted a ZZR600.  The problem was when I sat on it, my knees tended to rest too high on the tank and it was a little uncomfortable.  I sat on a ZZR1200, a ZX-12R, Hayabusa, Bandit and several others.  All of the bikes with bigger engines fit me a lot better than the smaller ones.

Just my .02

[chimera]

The rush.  It's like crack.  I'm an addict, so I have to ride slow bikes/drive slow cars.

Hi, I'm chimera and I'm happy to be here at horsepower anonymous.

[Magnarider]

I wanted a change.  Went from 87hp to about 112hp and haven't looked back since.  Oh, and it's nice to have a 6 speed gearbox again, the Magna NEEDED one.

[atypical1]

The rush.  It's like crack.  I'm an addict, so I have to ride slow bikes/drive slow cars.

Hi, I'm chimera and I'm happy to be here at horsepower anonymous.

Which one of your bikes is the high-powered one?  

 

james

[TuffguyF4i]

I enjoy the 140hp on the xx every time i ride.  

My F4i needs to be worked over the grab hp.  The XX has it there, on tap, at any speed.  Both are fun, just different.

[Fun Dog]

So putting those red herrings to the side - why do *I* prefer to ride a motorcycle with almost 200HP?  The simple answer is that I treat my motorcycle as a riding tool, not a riding companion.  I want the engine to be smooth, silent, and as nearly as possible a direct extension of the throttle grip.  I want it to have enough power to accelerate the motorcycle as rapidly as the motorcycle itself can support, and I don't want to have to stop and think about what specific point I'm at in the powerband, and what the engine is *about* to do in the next 500rpm.  I have a turbo car running over 21lbs of boost if I want to do that.  I want that power available somewhere at or near the normal operating rpm of the bike, and I want it to be able to cover a range of at least 30mph without having to shift.

The reality of engine design and motorcycle sales means that the best fit for my needs is one of the "hyperbikes" - the ZX-14, Hayabusa, or K1300S.  I said "best fit", not "perfect fit".   The 14 is probably over-powered for my needs.  I don't have a need to go 197mph (unrestricted top speed), or 186mph (restricted top speed), or even 164mph (fastest I've gone).  I'd be just as happy if the bike had a top end of 120mph.  But bikes that have a top end of 120mph don't meet the requirements above.
KeS

Excellent, thorough answer to the question.  And I particularly agree with the above two paragraphs.  But the whole post was perfect, inside and out.

[shah269]

It's like this....how big do you want your wang to be?
10cm? 15cm? 30cm?
Why go small when you can go so big that it gives soccer moms instant orgasms!
Latin accent “Yo, momi! You in the Honda Minivan listening to Bon Jovie….you like the size of my rocket….really? It’s long is it not….yes and it purrs….yes it does…I think it likes  you….you want to touch it’s long blackness? Feel it’s purrness? Oh yes you do…no don’t look away, you can’t help but stare and want me!”
 

[Squareman357]

Size of the bike.

I've noticed that the liter bikes tend to be larger physically.  A couple years ago, I really wanted a ZZR600.  The problem was when I sat on it, my knees tended to rest too high on the tank and it was a little uncomfortable.  I sat on a ZZR1200, a ZX-12R, Hayabusa, Bandit and several others.  All of the bikes with bigger engines fit me a lot better than the smaller ones.

Just my .02

That's the biggest reason I bought mine.  At 6'3" and about 235 pounds I felt like a circus bear on a tricycle on a lot of the smaller bikes.  My comfort level is MUCH higher on my ZX, and I can ride 1000 miles with no issue.  Not that I mind the extra power that came with that though...

[chornbe]

The rush.  It's like crack.  I'm an addict, so I have to ride slow bikes/drive slow cars.

Hi, I'm chimera chornbe and I'm happy to be here at horsepower anonymous.

I just had this very same talk with a friend the other day.

It's why I'm perfectly happy with my Corolla and my 883.  

[FBRR]

Not really. I'm a mid-size breast man myself.

james

Two words...Man bra !!!

[Jeremy Z]

I bought the FJR because I wanted a quick bike even two-up and with luggage. My SV650 and Concours were quick enough one-up. But adding the weigh of another person brought be back down into car territory, which was unacceptable.

I would have been OK with less than 100 hp as long as the bike had plenty of torque.

It is also nice that when I'm cruising at 75-80 mph, the bike is not working hard. I get better fuel economy out of the 140 hp FJR than I did out of the 100 hp Concours because of this & fuel injection.

One doesn't need a high-powered bike to have fun riding. It just opens up another way to have fun.