10-30-2019, 11:41 PM
I created a post along these lines a long time ago when I got my CB1100 and I've had more time to think about it since. It seems like everybody always wants more power - more, more, more! Most reviews on youtube are like that -- "the bike could use more power and a sixth gear". Or if the reviewer doesn't say it, the commenters will.
I got sucked down that same path but unlike others, I'm willing to admit that something went wrong. These more powerful bikes just aren't as much fun to ride as less powerful ones.
I think it is because you can't use all the rev range. I can't afford to buy a lower power bike to make the experiment (although I thought about it, something along the lines of a Moto Guzzi V7 iii or a Kawasaki W800) but my current thinking is that what I enjoyed in my old Nighthawk 750 and missed in my later bikes is the ability to wind up through the revs in each gear.
With my current FJR1300 I find no occasion to ever go above 3500 RPM. If I do wind out in first gear, I'm done unless I'm entering the interstate because that takes me to 60 MPH. The CB1100 was pretty much the same.
Has anybody else had these thoughts and switched to a lower power bike and did the fun return? Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy riding but in this one aspect, not as much as I used to.
I got sucked down that same path but unlike others, I'm willing to admit that something went wrong. These more powerful bikes just aren't as much fun to ride as less powerful ones.
I think it is because you can't use all the rev range. I can't afford to buy a lower power bike to make the experiment (although I thought about it, something along the lines of a Moto Guzzi V7 iii or a Kawasaki W800) but my current thinking is that what I enjoyed in my old Nighthawk 750 and missed in my later bikes is the ability to wind up through the revs in each gear.
With my current FJR1300 I find no occasion to ever go above 3500 RPM. If I do wind out in first gear, I'm done unless I'm entering the interstate because that takes me to 60 MPH. The CB1100 was pretty much the same.
Has anybody else had these thoughts and switched to a lower power bike and did the fun return? Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy riding but in this one aspect, not as much as I used to.