S
sportrider
Yesterday poorwboy and I, hooked up and rode Big Bear. the weather was perfect, the pavement was clean and we only saw 3 cops the whole ride. it was his maiden flight on his 06 CBR1000RR and the first time this year I've ridden Big Bear. we took the 330 up the mountain, first time riding that stretch of road for me. very awesome, I'm still feeling like I'm fighting the R1 into corners, so my entrance speed is a little slow. I know with more time on the machine I'll eventually get it down. the 18 has fresh asphalt and all of the previous glossy spots I remembered are gone, that made strafing the mountain a lot more enjoyable. about half way down the 38 we pulled off for a smoke break and decided to swap bikes to see how they compare to each other in our opinions.
so starting my decent down the mountain from Angelus Oaks, on board the shiny new CBR, two things jumped out to me immediately. the CBR has a ton of mid range in comparison to my R1, and the bike likes to turn. I felt instantly comfortable on the CBR in the twisties, the bike is so much easier to ride then the R1. my corner entry speed was noticeably faster on the CBR, a corner that I would be taking in 2nd gear at about 7000 rpms on the R1 I could enter in 3rd on the Honda and use the torque of the motor to pull the bike through. the CBR is truly confidence inspiring. on the down side (in my opinion) the CBR did not have the rock solid stability I feel on the R1, while I find initial turn in requires more effort on the R1 once I have the bike leaned over it feels glued to the road and I find me telling myself "I could have entered this corner a lot faster". I also prefer the seat and tank on the R1, the CBR's seat is like an upholstered plank, very hard. the cutouts on the tank on the Honda don't offer the same grip as on the R1, I found myself carrying too much weight on my wrists. the shifter on the CBR was a little harder to access (possibly because the bike isn't adjusted for me) both bikes have excellent stopping power, the CBR offers a little more initial feel but the R1's stability makes hard stops more comfortable. because of the relatively short straightaways I never really had a chance to wring the CBR out on top so I can't compare the top end power of the two bikes, but I will say, after riding the CBR I need to start playing with the setup of my R1. because as of now if I cloned myself and raced myself on both bikes I'd be faster in the tight stuff on the Honda, on the long high speed sweepers I think is where the Yamaha would shine.
on a side note; I ordered a new ECU for the R1 (covered under warranty) the second gear lag at 5500rpm is annoying if you happen to be sitting at 48mph in a corner and try to accelerate out and nothing happens. I'll be interested to see the results of the new ECU.
P.S. I hope you had as much fun reading this as I had doing it!!!:thumbup:
so starting my decent down the mountain from Angelus Oaks, on board the shiny new CBR, two things jumped out to me immediately. the CBR has a ton of mid range in comparison to my R1, and the bike likes to turn. I felt instantly comfortable on the CBR in the twisties, the bike is so much easier to ride then the R1. my corner entry speed was noticeably faster on the CBR, a corner that I would be taking in 2nd gear at about 7000 rpms on the R1 I could enter in 3rd on the Honda and use the torque of the motor to pull the bike through. the CBR is truly confidence inspiring. on the down side (in my opinion) the CBR did not have the rock solid stability I feel on the R1, while I find initial turn in requires more effort on the R1 once I have the bike leaned over it feels glued to the road and I find me telling myself "I could have entered this corner a lot faster". I also prefer the seat and tank on the R1, the CBR's seat is like an upholstered plank, very hard. the cutouts on the tank on the Honda don't offer the same grip as on the R1, I found myself carrying too much weight on my wrists. the shifter on the CBR was a little harder to access (possibly because the bike isn't adjusted for me) both bikes have excellent stopping power, the CBR offers a little more initial feel but the R1's stability makes hard stops more comfortable. because of the relatively short straightaways I never really had a chance to wring the CBR out on top so I can't compare the top end power of the two bikes, but I will say, after riding the CBR I need to start playing with the setup of my R1. because as of now if I cloned myself and raced myself on both bikes I'd be faster in the tight stuff on the Honda, on the long high speed sweepers I think is where the Yamaha would shine.
on a side note; I ordered a new ECU for the R1 (covered under warranty) the second gear lag at 5500rpm is annoying if you happen to be sitting at 48mph in a corner and try to accelerate out and nothing happens. I'll be interested to see the results of the new ECU.
P.S. I hope you had as much fun reading this as I had doing it!!!:thumbup:
