Grunt And Its Value

[faffi]

Personally, as a street rider, I'm more concerned that an engine must feel willing and eager to pull at any rpm than what the stop watch says. But if you want to go fast around a race track, only the clock matters.

 

Recently, German magazine MOTORRAD compared a bunch of motorcycles in the mountains. The also tested top gear acceleration at 2000 metres altitude (about 6500 ft) from 50-100 kp (31-62 mph) as well as 2nd gear acceleration going up an 11% incline carrying a passenger from 25 to 75 kph (16-47 mph).

 

Now, one can always argue the importance of such tests, but it does tell you something about how flexible and engine is and also how well it will pull out of hairpins. And for someone like me who would prefer to leave the shifter alone as much as possible, strong grunt would take priority - at least for my kind of riding.

 

Here are the times:

 

TOP GEAR, times in seconds

Kawasaki Z 1000 5,8

MV Agusta Brutale 1090 5,6

Aprilia RSV4R 7,8

BMW S1000RR 6,8

KTM 1190 RC8R 6,9

Suzuki GSX-R750 8,8

 

SECOND GEAR, times in seconds

Kawasaki Z 1000 5,09

MV Agusta Brutale 1090 4,5

Aprilia RSV4R 7,1

BMW S1000RR 6,1

KTM 1190 RC8R 4,9

Suzuki GSX-R750 8,0

 

Note that the Suzuki takes more than 3 seconds extra over the Brutale and that even the ultra-powerful S1000RR is significantly slower than the Brutale and also the Z1000. How important would it be to have this extra grunt around a race track, provided similar top end performance?

[Jasonzilla]

I wonder what the sea level stats are as a comparison.

[ktk_ace]

<p> IMHO,

</p><p><br></p><p>tracks requiring low speed corners will favor the Z1000

 

 

 

 

 

</p><p><br></p><p>tracks with HIGH speed corners will favor the S1000rr

</p>