1000cc twin vs inline-four 600s

[Edbear]

Wot's all these here "quarks"? I know wot "quirks" are... Got a few o' those!

Only prob wit my 'F' is the high frequency vibes thru the bars, but mebbe that's just perculiar to the old GSX motors.

[flyingscotsman]

Don't piss around with squidly bikes. Get yourself a big naked: XJR1300, CB1300, ZRX1200R or even a Bandit 1200. And there's always that piece of consumate magnificence, the 900 Hornet -- as a banging buck it can't be beat! At least ride one of the above before you condemn yourself to life on a bone-jarring squirter.

I went from an XJR1200 to a Multistrada. The XJR was pretty smooth and you could idle around town in top gear but it had enough power to get off the mark pretty damned quickly. The Duc is whole different animal. Anything below 3000 rpm, especially in town, and the clutch gets a lot of use. Anything over 4000 rpm and the grin factor is immeasureable. It pulls like a schoolboy. Handling is stunning - it's ability to be flicked through the corners is way beyond my skill and comfort level. Happy shopping

[madandy]

Coming from a 250 I suggest a 600 I4. They are pretty Fn quick and with only low to mid 60's of Nm are pretty forgiving. Most will handle much better than the bigger twins which in my mind are lazy bikes...My last ride was a 600 & I happen to be looking around for a big twin myself, cause I love a strong midrange...but a Litre I4 may wind up under me for a number of reasons.

Good luck making your mind up

[MD]

Well, I'm upgrading from my 250 after getting full license.

Been riding around on a CBR250RR for the past year and a half and loving it. Wanting to get something with a bit more HP now. Was all but set on a VTR, then test rode a ZX6R today and really enjoyed it too .

Strewth. Why do so many people feel the need to go straight from A to Z and miss out everything in between?
Personally I would discourage anyone from going from a 250 to anything above 600. Enjoy climbing the ladder one step at a time and take in the views, instead of leaping to the top, falling off and hopefully surviving to regret the decision.
Why not try a 500 twin (ER5 or GS500) or 650 twin e.g. sv650 or Hyosung
My 636 clocked a measured 263kph at the sprints.. is that the performance level you now need?
As soon as anyone gets a faster bike human nature is to try it out. How are you going to react when the acceleration rush kicks in and 3 seconds later you discover that you have reached the next corner at twice the speed you feel you can take it at... Of course I've just made that up and it never happens in real life -that's why we had zero motorcycle fatalities last year. We really need another funeral like a hole in the head people.

[DMNTD:Me]

I have always found twins to be smoother...interesting that other feel the opposite but that just reinforces the fact that every rider is different and interprets differently.
I believe the Twins are easier to cruise on...roll on grunt not "peaky" as mentioned early. IMO inline4's encourage faster riding due to the "chop it down and fang it to pass" (unless on a 1000cc IL4 which I don't recommend yet) theory,ok it's my theory
Ride as many bikes as possible and preferably with different set ups on each style. A Twin with a -1 tooth front sprocket will change its personality hugely!

Good luck and enjoy

[manyrevs]

I started riding 2 stroke bikes which were the order of the day back then. Anyone remember the Kawasaki triples, well I owned just about all of them from 350cc to the 750cc, then when the 4 cyl 1000's appeared on the scene, I bought into them - GS1000, Z1000, Z1R's, (many of them) GSX1100, Katana's then the rocketships started appearing, like GSXR's, FZR's and I also owned many of these missiles of the day. They got better and better as time went on. The one type of bike I never wanted to own was a twin cylinder of any sort as they either represented huge dollars ( Duc's) or gutlessness. I had to give up bikes in the mid 90's but got back into them just last year.

I was never a Honda guy but wound up buying a VTR1000, simply because I didn't want to scrub myself out on something like a GSXR1000, CBR1000, ZX10, R1 after having not ridden a bike for 13 years. I thought that they were just too fast and potent. I will eventually buy one of the big 4 Yam, Hon, Kaw or Suz but right now after fine tuning my VTR to such a point that it just isn't the same bike I bought last year, I am reluctant to part with it because it has grown on me. During the run-in period, I was disappointed in the supposed v-twin punch that just wasn't there but after 4500 kms, it has loosened up a lot and is now a grunty s-o-b. It runs out of power at higher rpm's but at revs from about 3000 to 6000, which in top gear is about 100 kph to about 190+ kph, it has all the usable power I will ever want. A friend has a 650 twin and in order to overtake cars or simply power on in a similar rush, he has to chop down 2 or 3 gears, so there are lesser bikes to own. These bikes can be improved upon such a lot from showroom specs to make them a much better all-round performer. In the lower rev range, they do thump a bit but at least they don't make my hands go numb like so many 4 cyl bikes did, as they "buzzed" at similar revs...

V-Twins certainly have their place on the road and defintiely have an edge over similar types of bikes in certain situations. I have had to adjust my style of riding to match the power of the VTR as oppsed to a sportier bike. Mid corner with speed on and leaning way over, you don't have to get ready to fully open the taps to get those revs up and launch into outer space,,, you simply open the throttle quietly and hang on. I have had the front wheel sliding (under-steering) under heavy throttle through twisties, so the grunt is defintely there and should not be abused, or you could wind up eat daisies and spitting out gravel, but ridden properly, they can be "just what the doctor ordered"...

I will never turn my nose up at a large capacity V-Twin ever again...

I nearly thought about buying one of the 600's at the time but I just couldn't handle those revs. I know one of the these miniature rockets can thrash me in the hills if the rider was up to it, but I will most likely all-round enjoy my bike way more than he could ever enjoy his. Each to his own. We were driving along the open road in the car the other day at about 120kph, when an R6 went past us and I could not believe how high it had to rev as it overtook us. Sure once the revs got up, away it went but it seemed so slow to actually get up and go... I just twist the throttle and say goodbye to traffic. The VTR and no doubt the likes of Suz SV1000 and others, are traffic destroyers.

Coming from a smaller bike, you will have to decide - either lots of torque or lots of revs. Each one has it advantages.

How do YOU like to ride...???

[APPLE]

Depends on wot your into,vtwin grunt,or straight line speed with nimble handling.....

[awesker]

Excellent read, Manyrevs! Thanks!

[98tls]

Nice read Manyrevs but if you think you can modify some excitement out of a VTR you need to step back in time and try a TLS............

[Dodgyiti]

It really does depend on your riding style as mentioned.

I love the power delivery on the hot fours, it's addictive, but the speeds you end up doing in 'the sweet spot' are rather high. And there is a whole world of mid-range bikes you will miss out on with such a big jump up.
The challenge can be getting the most out of what you have, even more so if it is smaller capacity. Whereas you can jump on a GSX thou, wring it's neck and be doing 260 in a blink of a cop's eye, fun until you lose your licence- or worse.

I hated twins at first, then they kinda grew on me and there may be no turning back, it is nice to have a choice though.

[Unit:Me]

Well we havent had anything less than 1,000s in both V-twin and IL4s. Im a v-twin girl, always have been. In the past 18months Ive had Ducati 900ss (94, not their best year, smallish bike in size, and was quite slow really, oh until DMNTD showed me what it could do), then '99 TL1000s, detuned and very passive, I didnt get on too well with that bike, we also had a '97 TL1000s which was the wicked model, changed the sprockets and it was a hell of a ride, a real live wire, then I got the 06 SV1000s, what a lovely bike and bang for buck awesome value, did 16,000ks on that since June. I find the v-twins are really good for if you get caught in a corner in the wrong gear you can still just roll on and it will pull you out no sweat, then at 7,000 she would just light up and this bike I found I would often red line and it would really sing, lower down it had an awesome growl, then there's that v-twin sound, mmmm. Now Im on th 60 degree Aprilia, totally different again and this bike just takes off no matter what gear, and with a lot of grunt. Its by far the quickest V-twin Ive had but with it being a factory model we are a bit spoiled with all the Olins gear etc.
IL4s We've had the 05 GSXR1000, that took some mastering, now we have the ZX10, but with mods and it is truely insane. To us we have the altimate of both types of bikes. If your coming off a 250 I believe from all conversations Ive had with people, 1,000cc is ok in a v-twin, but go for the 600 if an IL4, cause the 1,000s are truly handfuls. Just ride them all, you will know when its the right bike, and you may end up doing what we've done and go through a few changes before you really settle on the right one. Have you though of the triples at all? The Triumphs are very nice.

[paturoa]

I went to a Taupo track day and followed around a late model GSXR600 on my SV for a few laps. Down the long back straight there was nothing between the 2 bikes (except mine was carring quite a few extra kilos of fat bastard).

Below full noise VTwins have much more real world power and flexibility cf 600 il4s

[manyrevs]

Nice read Manyrevs but if you think you can modify some excitement out of a VTR you need to step back in time and try a TLS............

I am sure there are many more powerful V-Twins out there, than the VTR. It is a VERY docile bike with all of its 110 hp, but those 110 horses can be put to better use if you care to tinker. Since buying it, I have done a few little mods which have improved its performance by a big margin for my style of riding - but yes it has its limits. I doubt whether I could continually reach those limits though. My style of riding involves slow straightline speed because of those nasty little cameras which take pictures of us at the most inconvenient of times (then they force us to buy them for ridiculous prices),, but when I hit the hills, I try not to slow down. The VTR had many suspension limits when I first got it but now it is far far better with the correct setup for me... Matching front and rear was the biggest chore but since I am not a giant, the suspension is quite adequate for me. Quickening up the steering by lifting the forks by 10mm helps around corners, but by far the best mod is the overtaking capabilities in top gear and slower speeds has been boosted by cutting off the rib on the air filter and allowing it to breathe better at lower to mid revs. Wow, what a difference. It was a highly spoken of mod over the net and at first I though "Naaa - it can't be that easy. You just don't gain any noticable power by hacking something off like that"... Well how wrong I was. The difference is huge at low revs... Honda told us that the reason this rib is there is to quieten the bike down as you throttle off. That was the payoff. It now groans like a wild dog when you power off the throttle but I love the sound.. Well worth the sacrifice...

Soon, I hope to move up to one of the rocketship 4's but I actually love the VTR at the moment. It is a very ridable bike. It's most likely the first bike (that would be over 30 bikes) that I have actually managed to customize to my style of riding. The power is right where I need it. That helps...

[manyrevs]

It really does depend on your riding style as mentioned.

I love the power delivery on the hot fours, it's addictive, but the speeds you end up doing in 'the sweet spot' are rather high. And there is a whole world of mid-range bikes you will miss out on with such a big jump up.
The challenge can be getting the most out of what you have, even more so if it is smaller capacity. Whereas you can jump on a GSX thou, wring it's neck and be doing 260 in a blink of a cop's eye, fun until you lose your licence- or worse.

I hated twins at first, then they kinda grew on me and there may be no turning back, it is nice to have a choice though.

You summed it up just right there... Me too...

[manyrevs]

Paturoa...

Just viewed your GS1000S F/Sale.. Brings back memories. I used to own one of the first GS1000's in the country when they first appeared. It was an ex Wellington M'Cycles racer... F*** could it go for its day. Had the air shocks etc and handled like a dream, back then.... I got a staggering 74 miles per gallon out of it too,, Yes that's 26.2 km/l... Of course I had to do no more than about 90kph (60mph) and stay in top gear all day to get this but shit I couldn't believe it. Papakura to Tauranga on a gallon and a half exactly... All in all, I would say that the GS1000 was my most loved bike ever, 'til I smacked it up playing boy racer over the Kopu hill...