Automotive

Sales brochures of modern sports bikes that is.

I started riding in the early 90ies, and in 1993 i bought a Honda CBR 600 f2 imported from the US to Europe. 

As you probably know the first point of interest with cars is the horsepower and the acceleration, with bikes it's the horsepower and the weight. This gives us a slight indication of how well it drives and a very slight indication of the fun you can have with the machine.

Back in 1993 my CBR 600 had 100 hp and weighed 185 kilos ... that's what the brochure said .... actually my CBR had 92 rear wheel horsepower after being fitted with a DynoJet kit and probably weighed 185 kilo ... without the fuel, engine oil, battery, all other oils and who knows what more .... .

By that time my friend bought a 1993 Ducati 900 Supersport which costed a full 3000 euro extra, was air-cooled, had 78 hp and weighed 183 kilo ... in the brochure ... ....... turned out to be 75+ hp at the rear wheel and around 185 kilo ready to ride with just a low tank of fuel (i can assure you a battery in those days weighed over 5 kilos and there are loads of fluids in a bike ...).

The Ducati was equipped with Brembos , was a true piece of art with no plastic parts and had heaps of character ... the Honda was the best choice amongst the Japanese bikes those days and the reason i didn't go for the Ducati was money .. and maybe the fact i was 'eaten' by the CBR for years ... .

In 1997 i bought my Bimota YB9 with a 600 cc Yamaha engine giving 100 hp and weighing 175 kilos ... in the brochure .. . The Japanese engine really did NOT deliver, after two days and over a 100 runs on the dyno-jet and mounting a carbon exhaust and 4 separate K&N filters it delivered 92 hp at the rear wheel with a gap between 5-7000 rpm ... where you need the power most on public roads :-( ... . Nonetheless the weight was indeed 175 kilo ... WITH the battery , all necessary fluids and half a tank of petrol (and it had a huge tank). I calculated the net weight without all of this (and checked on the scale at home) it weighed 159 kilos compared to the 'supposed' 180 kilo Honda 600 of those days ... The build quality was great except for the Japanese engine and electrics which failed constantly. It had floating Brembos, Paioli suspension and handled like a bicycle on steroids ... no need to tell you the extra money i had to pay was worth it.

Even these days i get a smile on my face when i read the specs on Japanese bikes and i think 'will they never learn?' . All tests in bike magazines reveal the real specs and how well a Ducati rides (well, mostly, not always) compared to their Japanese opponents. The Ducatis are more expensive so there hasn't changed a lot.  

Am i being anti-Japanese here ? NOT AT ALL ! They make fine products at reasonable prices, back in 1987 they showed they produced a fantastic bike like the Honda RC30 which became an icon, that makes you shiver when it flies past you, that looks the business even these days .... the price tag was a bit more than the Ducatis but it sold out everywhere i think ... .

With bikes ??? The more you pay the better it gets !

That proof came in that same year of  1997 when i bought my Bimota for 12500 euro ... my best friend bought a Ducati 916 SPS for 25,000 euro with Brembo's, Ohlins suspension, upgraded 996 cc engine, full 50 mm Termignoni exhaust with carbonfibre silencers, added Marchesini magnesium wheels, a carbonfibre fuel tank and bought a magnesium rear bridge from a WSB-team somewhere at Brands-Hatch (those were the days) ... bringing the total to around 35,000 + euros .... .

The bike was assembled and ... he gave me a call to pick up the bike at the dealer to break it in for the first 1000 km .... .

How did it compare to a CBR 900 or later a 1998 Yamaha R1 (THE business those days ... heeerrmmm..) ??? Let's say i was picking my nose while overtaking an R1 because it was so out of balance and shaked it's head on a concrete road which scared the S..T out of the guy riding it ... . On paper the R1 had 20 horses more and weighed 10 kilos less than the Ducati ..... i've seen a lot of R1 disintegrating on our Belgian roads because when you put it to the concrete you had a 'total loss'. My friend heavily crashed his Ducati into a BMW 3-series, got away unharmed which was a miracle i guess, the BMW was a total loss but the Duc could be repaired for errrm 10,000 euro's, we couldn't believe how strong that frame was.

BUT the R1 remained the best bike of those days because of .... THE SPECS ON THE SHEETS ... they sold loads of them and a lot of bike people i knew kept moaning about it how good it was , without riding it ... . 

I recall stopping at a local pub and people off course liked the Ducati and asked me about the price ... so i was being very careful and told them it was a bit over 15000 euros .............. errrrrrrr .... disbelief .... "are you crazy?" ... "an R1 only costs 10,000 mate" .. and so on ... ... only some very few 'off the line' people like myself smiled and understood even after i mentioned the real price ... .

Moral of the story ? When you're a bike-manufacturer just put some ridiculous spec on the sheets and you'll make big money .... ..... maybe

Cheers,

Bim

PS. I am in no way responsible for the fact that people will fall asleep while reading my moaning-post that could be so boring, they even forget to breathe and therefore go into a coma or risk serious brain damage etc ... etc ... blablabla .... .....

Dang !! Have to go ... my shrink's calling me ...

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