Sprot Bike v Motard

[SixPackBack]

Not that I would ever get involved with such anti social behaviour as riding over the speed limit on deserted country roads with good mates while tunes blasted through my helmet and induction roar through my soul
But if I did.............gravel, slips and teeth jarring road surface was the leveler

[Ocean1]

The more I think about it the less obvious the differences are. The feel and technique sure seem different but it's hard to put a finger on what makes it so.

There's a few cross-over bikes that blur the boundaries, which might make things clearer, if we had the spec's.

So which dedicated soul (not on dial-up) is going to round up some specification comparisons? Weight, rake, trail, wheelbase, suspension travel/quality...

[Sam I Am]

with a lower powered motard you can stay on the throttle
all the way corners or straights.
no need to slow down cause your'e not doing 200k's into the corner.

translation.... If I rode slower I would get there a lot quicker.....

[xwhatsit]

I wonder if there would be a difference in results between the amateurs here and the guys at the very peak of professional riding in sportsbikes and motards.

I suspect, at least from a DRZ400SM, that the biggest gain you get from a motard is simply confidence. The suspension soaking up your mistakes and excess enthusiasm, the amount of leverage on the bars and lack of horsepower meaning you never need to worry about grabbing too much throttle for your current situation. Plenty of other things too.

Talking out of my arse (hell, I've ridden one small motard for a couple of hours and a couple of 600-fours/850-twins), I don't think they're inherently faster (maybe if the road is particularly rough and shitty, and/or really, really tight), but in short, the guy on the sportsbike is constantly (comparatively) shitting himself and having to temper his riding to keep the thing on the road, while the guy on the supermoto can simply open the throttle and thrash the shit out of the thing without worry. Sportsbiker can only ride at six tenths or he'll fill his pants or highside, whereas the motard can ride at ten tenths.

If you got a international-level sportsbiker, and an international-level supermoto rider, and sent them up a hill that they both knew well, you might see different results -- confidence and the rider's abilities have much less of an influence then.

[Big Dave]

xwhatsit

[xwhatsit]

xwhatsit

Am I really that far off?

Oh, you mean the name? Changed it just to make it easier for you ^^

[Big Dave]

Am I really that far off?

I didn't actaully read the post. The name change got me.

[Motu]

For me it's the wide bars,quicker geometry,higher CG and longer travel suspension that make a bike with a dirt bike set up much better on twisty roads.I don't ride motards,but have used adventure bikes for the 21st century.A road bike (I don't ride sports bikes either) with slower geometry (not really for the sprotsbike) narrow bars,arm weight on bars and short travel suspension is a lot harder to change direction on...they are more committed to a line and need much more input is needed to change course.Big bars make a road bike much more flickable.

[Gremlin]

Motu sums up a lot I would say, but one thing I don't think anyone has said is power delivery. Not just usable power, but how it delivers it.

Currently have a modified zx10, all custom dyno'd etc, yet, in tight twisty stuff, its easier to push a cb900 through, because the power comes on from down low, traction isn't really an issue and wide bars make it very easy to flick from side to side.

Less power can actually make you go faster. With the 10, I constantly have to keep the throttle in check, as the tyres can't cope with the power. As soon as it opens up a bit more than really tight twisties, then yes, the zx10 would have a naked bike for breakfast, but then you're over 100kph constantly...

I have more fun on the naked too.

[Bass]

Motu sums up a lot I would say, but one thing I don't think anyone has said is power delivery. Not just usable power, but how it delivers it.

I seem to recall that when F1 went from 1.5 litres turbo'd to 3 litres normally aspirated, the horsepower halved but the lap times came down for exactly this reason.

[Motardman]

For me its front end confidance.....even though my old gixer felt planted I always knew that it was a fine line between grip and fooked (front end wise....backend isn't so bad unless its highside violent..)

With my motard sliding the rear is very easy but what's more surprising is that when the frontend starts to move its not sphincter tightening as recovery seems easier....whether it's the light front end, higher centre of gravity, softer suspension or greater travel......I'm thinking it's probably a combo of all....then it gives the rider more confidance to push further.

On the racetrack the sportbike will get closer to that confidance as you remove dodgy road surfaces etc. so hence the times tighten up again (dependant on circuit style of course).

Having ridden both I can honestly say I love both for their different merits.....gimme a sportsbike for the track (unless you live in perfect asphalt land) and a motard for the road and I'll be happy.

[Kiwi Graham:Me]

Motu sums up a lot I would say, but one thing I don't think anyone has said is power delivery. Not just usable power, but how it delivers it.

Currently have a modified zx10, all custom dyno'd etc, yet, in tight twisty stuff, its easier to push a cb900 through, because the power comes on from down low, traction isn't really an issue and wide bars make it very easy to flick from side to side.

Less power can actually make you go faster. With the 10, I constantly have to keep the throttle in check, as the tyres can't cope with the power. As soon as it opens up a bit more than really tight twisties, then yes, the zx10 would have a naked bike for breakfast, but then you're over 100kph constantly...

I have more fun on the naked too.

+1. To much power on the wrong type of road is going to slow you down. There's alot to be said for 'usable power', the confidence to explore limits without fear of catastophe!