Extra power = Safer bike.

[Grub]

Some of the justtifications here are funny. C'mon people your deluding yourself saying more powerful is safer.

If that was the case, the new motorcycle licensing rules would not have learners on low powered bikes. Reading the new rules thread, nobody thought it was a silly idea to limit power to new riders.

[Bonez]

Some of the justtifications here are funny. C'mon people your deluding yourself saying more powerful is safer.

Not unlike folk insisting low powered bikes are safer. It's all a matter of degree. IE not black and white or cut and dry. It may be safer for a larger proportioned person to be on a bigger bike than tucked up on a GN250 for instance.

Anyway dealers need riders to own high powered bikes to shift all those sticky expensive tyres every 6,000kms .

[madandy]

Extra power compared to what?
A Ginny 250 lacks the power to help you out of a spot of bother at speed and a Gixxer thou has much more than enough at virtually any speed.
For me a I4 600 lacks midrange muscle though is plenty fast enough.
When condidering power & torque I try to ignore peak figures so I choose a bike based on it power delivery - IE strong midrange. 130kw & 100+Nm is no use to me when its not delivered until 10,000rpm and 150km/h, even in 1st gear! Though what a rush that must be and yeah I know those sorta bikes do have a lot of grunt at 3000-8000rpm too but the temptation to keep winding it on is just too great
Maybe HTFU, you need to HTFU and forget what other people say about your choice in bike and how powerful it is :P

[sinfull]

Some of the justtifications here are funny. C'mon people your deluding yourself saying more powerful is safer.

If that was the case, the new motorcycle licensing rules would not have learners on low powered bikes. Reading the new rules thread, nobody thought it was a silly idea to limit power to new riders.

Learners yes !! Even to a point the mid life boys who have the coin to spend have the licence allbeit 25 yrs since they've ridden, go out and grab a R1 or a 1450 and out power their ability !
Not much anyone can do about the older generation who have held their licence since they did it on a step through 50 at age 15 !
But the folk who have never ridden, i feel the hew rules will be great !
Even an aproved Full on driving course being compulsory as someone just mentioned !
Was hard case watching Heidi do her learners ! Never even sat on a bike, all she had to do was a 5 hour BHS thing in a car park and away she went, did the test and they handed her a lerners licence !! She looked at me and said holy crap i cant go out on the road yet ! A couple of hous wiggling through cones is only gonna give ya balance skills not riding skills !

[DMNTD:Me]

I think more power is safer to an extent. For example a GN250 is probably less safe than a 400cc motorcycle in a lot of situations. But in all the situations i have been in on my vfr400, or my old fzr400, i have never been in a situation where i have thought i have needed more power. I think to an inexperienced rider more power than a 400cc sportbike is going to be more dangerous, not safer.

Agreed re GN vs VFR however where a bit more power is useful is if you're in the middle of an over taking manoeuvre and have maybe misjudged the distance of an oncoming vehicle...being able apply a quick squirt without changing gears is helpful and quicker if there's some torque beneath you....therefore safer.
Have been commuting 400kms to work lately on our ZX14...bloody fantastic I tells ya. Basically I can click on through into 6th gear and cruise.

BTW...I believe that 50cc scooters are dangerous re lack of power.

[slimjim]

yup reckon that it's a safe guard have the abilty to use what is sitting waiting to be released, when truely needed , however offset it's an extra bit of weight to pull up if used wrongly

[Speedracer]

What other people said

Scooter ==> more power is safer
125 ==> more power is safer
low end 250 eg GN250 ==> when you're overtaking someone you can get into hairy situations i.e. more is safer. But you won't get any tickets cos you will really struggle to go over 110
high end 250 or 400cc sports (40-60hp)==> perfect for the open road.

IMHO the only other reason you need power to 'get out of trouble' is if you're trying to outrun Either way that extra power is more likely to get you into trouble... Assuming you're actually using it.

I ride a high end 250 so I'm a bit biased. I like being able to push start my bike and lift/fix the engine without help of lifting gear, and the light weight is great for the twisties.

[Goblin]

The most terrifying ride I've ever been on was from Taupo to to Wanganui on the back of a BIG Harley. We pulled out to overtake, there was all this noise and vibration but very little forward propulsion. Next thing there was oncoming traffic! I thought it was all over. This happened everytime we overtook anything. Then when we got to the twisty bits it was scraping the floorboards in every turn. Big powerful bike with lots of CCs and HP yes. Safe ride? I think not. Give me a wee screaming 600 any day!

[FROSTY:Me]

I think its all about exprience. For an inexperienced rider more power will get them into shit a heck of a lot more often than get them out of it.
On the other hand an experienced rider with a powerfull bike has an extra OPTION available in a nasty situation.

[henry]

As with everything, it depends.

I have just gone from a 28hp bike to a 123hp bike. Here are a couple of observations...

There is nothing more frustrating than following cars doing 20ks under the speed limit on an under powered bike. Frustration can lead to doing dumb shit. Dumb shit leads to dead motorcyclist.

I never did dumb shit but having the extra power to overtake when and where I want means I'm way more relaxed. +1 for more power.

A scenario that I find quite common is following a car in the fast lane, they aren't gonna pull over so I move to the inside lane and accelerate to pass them. There has been shit loads of times when I have done this and the car has pulled over moments later. Not having the power to accelerate into a position to be squashed has saved my arse a couple of times. -1 for more power.

[Hahn]

How about,

Motorbikes are not dangerous, its the riders that put themselves in that situation (myself included).

In my line of work, "A good tradesman never blames his tools".
I am sure a few of you have heard this before.

Same could be said for riding.

[Bonez]

How about,

Motorbikes are not dangerous, its the riders that put themselves in that situation (myself included).

In my line of work, "A good tradesman never blames his tools".
I am sure a few of you have heard this before.

Same could be said for riding.

Let a motorcycle stand up by itself with out anyone holding it or on a stand and what happens?

Now sit on it in the same situation. What happens?

[FROSTY:Me]

Let a motorcycle stand up by itself with out anyone holding it or on a stand and what happens?

Now sit on it in the same situation. What happens?

Don't get the point you are making.
A bike in repose is just an ananimate object.
Without outside forces its unable to do owt.

[Bonez]

Don't get the point you are making.
A bike in repose is just an ananimate object.
Without outside forces its unable to do owt.

Just call it this weeks wee puzzle.

[madandy]

What other people said

Scooter ==> more power is safer
125 ==> more power is safer
low end 250 eg GN250 ==> when you're overtaking someone you can get into hairy situations i.e. more is safer. But you won't get any tickets cos you will really struggle to go over 110
high end 250 or 400cc sports (40-60hp)==> perfect for the open road.

IMHO the only other reason you need power to 'get out of trouble' is if you're trying to outrun Either way that extra power is more likely to get you into trouble... Assuming you're actually using it.

I ride a high end 250 so I'm a bit biased. I like being able to push start my bike and lift/fix the engine without help of lifting gear, and the light weight is great for the twisties.

250 and 400 are gutless. Unless you're ringing their tits off at 10,000rpm & over, way over in the 250's case. They just don't respond at cruising speeds in top gear or one down...hell even 2 down.
I can and do lift my 750 front and rear to remove wheels etc.
At 183cm and weighing 115kg you wont find me on one of them shrunken kiddies bikes regardless of how flickable they are. So it's horses for courses, we agree to disagree and you are missing out on a whole lot of real world torque.

The most terrifying ride I've ever been on was from Taupo to to Wanganui on the back of a BIG Harley. We pulled out to overtake, there was all this noise and vibration but very little forward propulsion. Next thing there was oncoming traffic! I thought it was all over. This happened everytime we overtook anything. Then when we got to the twisty bits it was scraping the floorboards in every turn. Big powerful bike with lots of CCs and HP yes. Safe ride? I think not. Give me a wee screaming 600 any day!

Sounds like the Hog rider needs to change to a more sporty bike or adjust his riding style to suit the knuckle dragger.

As with everything, it depends.

I have just gone from a 28hp bike to a 123hp bike. Here are a couple of observations...

There is nothing more frustrating than following cars doing 20ks under the speed limit on an under powered bike. Frustration can lead to doing dumb shit. Dumb shit leads to dead motorcyclist.

I never did dumb shit but having the extra power to overtake when and where I want means I'm way more relaxed. +1 for more power.

A scenario that I find quite common is following a car in the fast lane, they aren't gonna pull over so I move to the inside lane and accelerate to pass them. There has been shit loads of times when I have done this and the car has pulled over moments later. Not having the power to accelerate into a position to be squashed has saved my arse a couple of times. -1 for more power.

I know the exact scenario. I have had positive result from the extra power in that I was out the other side before the dumb cage had completed its manoeuvre.

How about,

Motorbikes are not dangerous, its the riders that put themselves in that situation (myself included).

In my line of work, "A good tradesman never blames his tools".
I am sure a few of you have heard this before.

Same could be said for riding.

There is the argument that if 130kw bikes were unavailable or much more difficult to obtain then fewer fuckups by the unwary would happen. maybe that's not the tools' fault but you get my meaning? Its like that gun argument - if people were denied the guns then they would be able to shoot in the first place...I don't agree entirely with it but there ya go.

Let a motorcycle stand up by itself with out anyone holding it or on a stand and what happens?

Now sit on it in the same situation. What happens?

You get your leg squashed?