CaptCrash
Dazed and Confused
In Praise of 35 Horses
Yup. This is about the joy and excitement of 35 ponies. If you're asking yourself, "Really? Does he intend to try and convince me that 35hp is a good thing?" you'd be wrong. I figure that my audience for this is broken into 3 groups.
1. Folks who automatically say, "You can never have enough horsepower and you're always better off with more."
2. Folks who say, "Really? Won't you get bored and need to trade up? Low power is for beginners right?"
3. Folks who say, "Hell yes. Nothings better than going fast on something slow!"
If you belong to one of the first two groups--give me a chance and think this through with me and I believe you may find that low power bikes aren't just for beginners or things we outgrow. Low power bikes are where we can build a basic skill set and exploit our inner intellectual rider. Low power bikes help hone our craft and craft is the first step to becoming "crafty".
Low power bikes are interesting because if you want to ride with real speed you have to create the speed yourself. With 30 or even forty ponies you can't come out of that corner, stand the bike up and unleash hellfire; you need to pack speed with you. Big horses allow you to spank it on the straights and then park it up in the corners. Too often riders with excessive power race from corner to corner only to gently bend the bike around the next turn and then turn the dial to eleven before wildly backing off and carefully making the next turn.
In order to ride quickly on a low power bike you need to "carry more speed". This means you want to enter a turn with good speed but you also need to exit with as much as you possibly can. The concept of carrying speed is vital to low output bikes because you can't just twist and go. You don't have 150 ponies--you have 1/5th that available and you not only need to make the most of that meager number you need what the military would call a "Force Multiplier". According to the DOD a force multiplier is defined as: "A capability that, when added to and employed by a combat force, significantly increases the combat potential of that force and thus enhances the probability of successful mission accomplishment."
The force multiplier that small bikes employ is (drum roll): Smoothness.
Generally we talk about big horsepower getting you into big trouble quickly and that's true, it will. But, an important conversation to have is that big power will camouflage poor riding and give you a false sense of grandeur. Because you can tap the ton on that straight you think you're fast when in fact you're only fast on the straights--in corners? You're a roadblock. That abundance of throttle and lack of corner speed is one of the reasons huge power should be avoided by newbies; it's the basis of that hard saying "In slow, out fast. In fast--out dead". Trying to make time in the straights is often why we crash in corners. Being able to run up into triple digits can lead to leaving the paved roadway and striking fixed objects--comprehende?
With 30 ponies you have to manage your throttle and brakes and ride with real awareness of speed because once you lose speed it's very difficult to get it back. Since you're trying to have as much speed as possible at the exit you pay real attention to entry and line. A sloppy rider is hard on the gas and hard on the brakes trying to make time in the straights figuring horsepower will fix things. A smooth rider will be more in control and not as ragged and out of shape as they coax more out of the bike. Where do you think sayings like "smooth is fast and fast is smooth" come from? They are bits of wisdom garnered in the real world.
Are 35 ponies too few? Not for me. Riding is fun. BIG fun. I won't turn you down if you offer me a chance to ride that SS1000R, I'd be happy to twist that things tail. But I won't turn down a ride on a 250 twin either. Why? Because if it's got two wheels I'm gonna have a good time with it AND because I learned to ride on underpowered bikes I know that it's not the size of the wand it's the magic in the wizard that makes things happen.
Don't be afraid to learn to ride. Don't be worried the bike is 'too small'. It ain't. Only thing that might be too small is your mind. Open it.
Yup. This is about the joy and excitement of 35 ponies. If you're asking yourself, "Really? Does he intend to try and convince me that 35hp is a good thing?" you'd be wrong. I figure that my audience for this is broken into 3 groups.
1. Folks who automatically say, "You can never have enough horsepower and you're always better off with more."
2. Folks who say, "Really? Won't you get bored and need to trade up? Low power is for beginners right?"
3. Folks who say, "Hell yes. Nothings better than going fast on something slow!"
If you belong to one of the first two groups--give me a chance and think this through with me and I believe you may find that low power bikes aren't just for beginners or things we outgrow. Low power bikes are where we can build a basic skill set and exploit our inner intellectual rider. Low power bikes help hone our craft and craft is the first step to becoming "crafty".
Low power bikes are interesting because if you want to ride with real speed you have to create the speed yourself. With 30 or even forty ponies you can't come out of that corner, stand the bike up and unleash hellfire; you need to pack speed with you. Big horses allow you to spank it on the straights and then park it up in the corners. Too often riders with excessive power race from corner to corner only to gently bend the bike around the next turn and then turn the dial to eleven before wildly backing off and carefully making the next turn.
In order to ride quickly on a low power bike you need to "carry more speed". This means you want to enter a turn with good speed but you also need to exit with as much as you possibly can. The concept of carrying speed is vital to low output bikes because you can't just twist and go. You don't have 150 ponies--you have 1/5th that available and you not only need to make the most of that meager number you need what the military would call a "Force Multiplier". According to the DOD a force multiplier is defined as: "A capability that, when added to and employed by a combat force, significantly increases the combat potential of that force and thus enhances the probability of successful mission accomplishment."
The force multiplier that small bikes employ is (drum roll): Smoothness.
Generally we talk about big horsepower getting you into big trouble quickly and that's true, it will. But, an important conversation to have is that big power will camouflage poor riding and give you a false sense of grandeur. Because you can tap the ton on that straight you think you're fast when in fact you're only fast on the straights--in corners? You're a roadblock. That abundance of throttle and lack of corner speed is one of the reasons huge power should be avoided by newbies; it's the basis of that hard saying "In slow, out fast. In fast--out dead". Trying to make time in the straights is often why we crash in corners. Being able to run up into triple digits can lead to leaving the paved roadway and striking fixed objects--comprehende?
With 30 ponies you have to manage your throttle and brakes and ride with real awareness of speed because once you lose speed it's very difficult to get it back. Since you're trying to have as much speed as possible at the exit you pay real attention to entry and line. A sloppy rider is hard on the gas and hard on the brakes trying to make time in the straights figuring horsepower will fix things. A smooth rider will be more in control and not as ragged and out of shape as they coax more out of the bike. Where do you think sayings like "smooth is fast and fast is smooth" come from? They are bits of wisdom garnered in the real world.
Are 35 ponies too few? Not for me. Riding is fun. BIG fun. I won't turn you down if you offer me a chance to ride that SS1000R, I'd be happy to twist that things tail. But I won't turn down a ride on a 250 twin either. Why? Because if it's got two wheels I'm gonna have a good time with it AND because I learned to ride on underpowered bikes I know that it's not the size of the wand it's the magic in the wizard that makes things happen.
Don't be afraid to learn to ride. Don't be worried the bike is 'too small'. It ain't. Only thing that might be too small is your mind. Open it.
Or more... :thumbup
