Thumping singles, pulsating v-twins or purring fours?

[Samurai]

have owned some 2 stroke 250s and a 4 stroke 250 but the ducati monster S4R I ride now has stolen my heart, oh how nice it is to have torque!

[raziel1983]

I just don't know about the so called "vtwin torque" having moved from an SV1000 to a new CBR1000 the CBR just pulls stronger at all revs in all gears, vtwins have more low down torque? The SV used to shake its self silly and just generally not enjoy being under 4k rpm.

Did I have a faulty unit??

[FlangMasterJ]

My avatar.

[warewolf]

In this age of high fuel costs, heavily policed speed limits and increasing ACC levies we have to move away from the pursuit of ultimate speed and find different ways of enjoying our bikes. What engine configuration provides the most fun ridden sanely at legal speeds?

Any adventure bike engine.

Youse tar babies are missing out on a heckuva lot of the fun with narrow-focussed road-only bikes. Adventure bikes may not have the outright horsepower of a litre-class 4, but they are just as quick in the tight stuff (on Kiwi-class streets with shite surfaces and traffic) and shitloads quicker off sealed roads. Can do licence-holiday speeds if you insist, but are much more fun at legal or quasi-legal speeds. And much of the off-road fun is nowhere near any speed limits.

[tigertim20]

In this age of high fuel costs, heavily policed speed limits and increasing ACC levies we have to move away from the pursuit of ultimate speed and find different ways of enjoying our bikes. What engine configuration provides the most fun ridden sanely at legal speeds?

fuck fuel costs - im tryna use as much petrol as I can before every other cunt gets it all
fuck the police, Ill take my chances and accept tickets as a consequence of my actions
Fuck ACC, Im not paying rego

Ive been fortunate enough to ride most cinfigurations, off the top of my head an rotary bike is the only production configuration ive not ridden.
they all have their place, to me it tends to depend on what kinda riding I wanna be doing. cruising = Vtwin, chug along with more tourque than Oprah winfrey makes lazy passing a breeze, but raping an IL4 to the end of its rotational ability just seems to invoke a sense inside me thats not replicated my anything else.

I will say though, that configuration aint all there is to it, compare 2 and 4 stroke of same configuration, and same (or different) capacity, and you have another factor to consider, which makes it a bit harder.

Bottom line?
I dont give a fuck, If its a bike, I'll ride it

And that includes your mother

[DrunkenMistake]

And that includes your mother

Calm down Westy-Mate.

[Coolz]

Yes. Still, its for each person to find the best type of bike for that person.

My thoughts:

• motorcyclists enjoy speed
• racing on track days is an excellent way to satisfy the speed demon
• as a result road riding slows down because you can hammer it on the track
• the ergonomics of sports bikes encourage more speed
• by contrast wide handlebars and an upright riding position places you fully in the airstream and tells your brain you are moving quickly
• the perception of low down torque from a twin cylinder is powerful
• the guttural snarl of a twin feeds some primitive part of the brain and just sounds right. FTW

I've lived through the ownership of an Italian V-twin - just. Ohhhh how I loved that bike. However it was watercooled and the torque didn't start until 4500 revs, and at 7000 it suddenly got interesting and took off. I'd innocently thought that was only an inline 4 thing.

No regrets of course but speed became addictive an in hindsight, an air cooled tamer machine would have been better. A Thruxton or Ducati ST2.

Great point about the perception of power. I recently rode my mates new fully fared IL4.I was well into the demerit zone half way through the gearbox yet didnt have the sensation of speed.It was so smooth and quiet that I wondered was it really an internal combustion engine or did the cases hide a huge battery? I got back on my old vtwin, selected top gear at 60kph and rolled the throttle on. The bike came alive, I could feel the power of the motor working beneath me, and hear the deep roar of the exhaust,all was well in the world,yet when I looked at the speedo I was doing nowhere near the speed I had just done on me mates bike. I wondered was this just a case of what I was used to and was I missing something about the other bike that my mate couldnt stop raving about?

[Banditbandit]

In this age of high fuel costs, heavily policed speed limits and increasing ACC levies we have to move away from the pursuit of ultimate speed and find different ways of enjoying our bikes.

Why???

What engine configuration provides the most fun ridden sanely at legal speeds?

At legal speeds? None of them...haha.

Agreed !!!!

[Ender EnZed]

Any adventure bike engine.

Youse tar babies are missing out on a heckuva lot of the fun with narrow-focussed road-only bikes. Adventure bikes may not have the outright horsepower of a litre-class 4, but they are just as quick in the tight stuff (on Kiwi-class streets with shite surfaces and traffic) and shitloads quicker off sealed roads. Can do licence-holiday speeds if you insist, but are much more fun at legal or quasi-legal speeds. And much of the off-road fun is nowhere near any speed limits.

And all that's why I've just bought a DR650. Don't think I'll get rid of the VFR just yet though.

[Swoop]

Whatever floats your boat.


However... V4's.
Low down torque + epic sounds form the flugelhorns. Best of both worlds.

[been_there]

The bark of the single....(YZ450)
and the growl of the triple as you go past 6000rpm

[pritch]

Ummm had several singles, both two stroke and four.
Had IL4s both standing up and lying down.
Had a V twin and a V4.
Current bike is a triple.

Liked 'em all.

Learned on parallel twins but I'm not old enough to own one yet, maybe when I'm seventy five. God willing.

At this stage though the next bike is likely to be another triple, they seem to have some of the advantages of both twins and fours without the disadvantages of either.

[reggie1198]

V-twin with a proper exhaust system attached.

I love the pop and crackle on deceleration, it's like she's talking to me, egging me on again.....the bike made me do it officer, honest.

[Corse1]

As has been said by a few enlightened posters, its gotta be a triple, 1050cc at 6k rpm sounds awesome through a set of Neptunes

Had the triple and I reckon its best enjoyed at speed...as you say above 6k.
Vee twins have the charactyer and enjoyment through the entire rev range so I will vote for the V2

[cheshirecat]

70's MV Augusta with straight thru pipes, alway remember that. Next Honda 250 6's, next my V4, great low down, great mid range, great top end and ah those gear driven cams - never bored with that noise.