Friendly discussion between friends

[badwithcomputer]

A buddy of mine bought an 07 Kawasaki Ninja 650, I've looked up the specs and he has more torque and I have more HP.

I've been told my bike should be "faster" or at least able to hang with him.

Now, the Katana is about 60 pounds heavier, although I am 50 pounds lighter (belly wise) than my friend.

Can someone put to rest this discussion? Let's say "The Stig" of the motorcycle world was to take both bikes around a track, which one would come out as the winner?

It's childish, but you know how it is between friends.

[IndyGunner]

You should be about the same in a straight line... but wheres the skill in that? Go to a drag strip and put some money on it.

[steves]

650cc fuel injected parrallel twin
Makes 64.8 hp, and 44.7 lb·ft torque.

600cc carb'd inline 4
Makes 80hp, and 44.7 lb·ft torque.

It's hard to know for sure, but I'm certain that I'd get off the line faster, and lap you both on my 1050cc triple

Seriously for the record my bandit 600 which is essentially the same motor dyno'd 69 HP 36ftlbs torque.

So, if the numbers published for the ninja are crank you have an advantage.

[Badfaerie]

It's all about the rider.

[diavolo]

In all honesty, both are competent machines for their intended use. If you are both looking for bragging rights, get a gixxer, busa, zx-14, etc and be done with it. Remember, it doesn't matter what you ride, it's THAT you ride!

[MikeyZ]

Funny you say that...

My buddy had an 07 650R back when I had my 92 Kat. I killed him in everything... and I weighed almost 100 lbs heavier than him. I let him take the kat for a spin and vice versa----he came back saying "wow thats fast" i came back saying "wow that bike sucks".

[black&blue]

It's all about the rider.

Absolutely. I spent all of last fall working for a drag racing sanctioning body, doing race coverage and various bits of promotion and articles - and went to a lot of races.

I saw a lot of cars built in very similar manner but performed very different out on the track, as both a function of car and driver. Your build is the starting point, your maximum potential - it's up to you as the driver to effectively harness that potential. The machine will consistently do what you ask it to do, every time, unless something breaks. The man, however, is fallible and so there's always a huge amount of variance with the driver/rider.

Here's a video I shot that illustrates how the specs don't always tell the whole story, and how big of a difference the driver can make. Both these cars are fox-body Mustangs at very similar power levels, both drivers at the top of their games, respectively- Mike Murillo vs Willard Kinzer. While the cars are pretty close in terms of specs on paper, Kinzer definitely had the faster car in this match up, but Murillo's stronger launch is what determined the race.
Note: Murillo is the black flame car, Kinzer in the CalTrans orange one.

You can pull out a win on reaction time and getting out of the hole better, even if you weren't actually faster.
Mike Murillo runs a 6.58@225mph to Willard Kinzer's 6.63@238 mph. That's an 13 mph disparity and yet the "slower" car finished first.
Note: the title of the video is misspelled, it's 238mph, not 228.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHzGUMIcXKk"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHzGUMIcXKk[/ame]

If you can get a better launch than your buddy, the two bikes being pretty similar in loaded weight and power, you should win.


This is, of course, assuming you were just to drag race these.

Now in terms of the bike's handling overall, the only way to do that would be to put a tame racing rider (in this case, let's pretend we hired Valentino Rossi to do a lap on each bike) with a common rider between both bikes to eliminate the rider as a variable. Around the track, what will determine who goes around the track faster between you and your buddy is your skill level relative to his. A fast rider on a slow bike can beat a slow rider on a fast bike around the track without it being an issue - so until someone starts TOP GEAR: Moto Edition I don't think we have any way to make that sort of comparison as straight up bike-to-bike comparisons... though Hell For Leather's RideApart videos are pretty good.

[ratgti]

yea depends on the rider . ive never straddled a 600. so i really dont have an opinion either way . id think the kat would walk the line

[scottynoface]

The only way the 650 comes out ahead is if it's a super tight 2nd gear track. Once the Katana hits 3rd gear it wouldnt even be close.

FTR Steve, Kawi almost always quotes at the wheel instead of the crank, everyone else goes by crank.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ug2jmBGwYPg"]650r dyno after mapping - YouTube[/ame]

[badwithcomputer]

Thanks for all the responses guys! very good information, I think i'll just keep it between me and the Katana until the time is appropriate.

[greentreena]

Don't arm chair race, get out to a track!!

I have dyno slips for my cobra that show HP & Torque but the drag slips show my ability to drive the car. The drag slips mean way more to me.

[slothman]

It's all about the rider.

This is exactly right.

A good rider on a 600 can beat a crappy rider on a busa.

No experience = bad launch and poor shifting = losing