Turning the SPORT touring world upside down!!

[cowpuc]

I LOVE my R1 for it's completely amazing shear performance value but never,, in a zillion years would I even remotely consider all out touring on it - even though the thought of rippen across the endless nothingness found in area's like Nevada, Montana, Wyoming and testing the salt in Utah on it sounds like fun and has crossed my mind.. Now I notice Kawasaki's latest take on the "Sport Touring" industry = WOWZY WOW WOW WOW - watch the vid = that guy just said 197 horse !!!!

While definitely not a direction I will ever be going in,,, I am certainly way impressed witH what is going on here in the way of boosting.. I LOVE what I am seeing here and still,, to this day,, gotta say that I was for Mom Yam to participated somehow in the cutting edge of what is happening here with the new Venture.. Like that application or not,, I honestly believe that Kawi is onto something amazing here in there engine design efforts.. LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL!!!!

[RandyR]

Looks like another fire breathing Japanese dragon.

[SilvrT]

Ahh yes, the hills are getting steeper and the head winds are getting stronger and the riders are getting heavier .... gotta have more HP to travel at the speed limit.

[BlueSky]

I can't imagine opening the throttle on that bike! I would be scared! Truth be told, my 74hp ZN700 and my 98hp Venture have more performance than I have riding skills!!

[Condor]

197 pony's @ 11G's.... Holy Rat Feathers!!! That'd get my fat ass moving....

[cowpuc]

I can't imagine opening the throttle on that bike! I would be scared! Truth be told, my 74hp ZN700 and my 98hp Venture have more performance than I have riding skills!!

 

Personally Sky, I totally get what your saying and am right there with ya but, What I still dont get though is why, in these modern of modern internal combustion engine days cant we have the absolute best of both worlds in our motorcycling experience. IMHO, I would be thrilled to see em drop the big dollar info system nonsense and invest in supercharging technology coupled with electronic HP/TQ delivery control along with lean angle for superior cornering monitoring stuff and advanced ABS. Flip a switch, vein angle on the supercharger changes - cam profile changes - ignition curve changes = MPG goes sky high = 75 MPG while maintaining a docile 75HP/90ftpd,,,,,,, toss the switch again 200 hp/200ftpd..

We wanna putt we can putt and we wanna FLYYYY we can FLYYYYYY all on one bike!!!

[cowpuc]

No idea if anyone else caught this but this Kawi is dynoing those numbers out of a tiny little 1000cc's of a motor and this thing is DETUNED from the track bike = flat out amazing IMHO!!!!

Also,,, even though they have not released the MPG numbers,,, I gotta hunch they are gonna be amazing for what's going on here..

[Flyinfool]

This is all part of why I think my next bike will be more in the sport tour arena. And this might be coming sooner than later since with this new foot I kind of need a lighter bike. I still like the looks of the FJR, it is not in the same area of HP or torque as this new Kawi but it is not a slouch either. I guess I would have to sit on this new Kawi to decide, it looks like it will be to close to the riding position of a sport bike for this old body to bend to.

[Condor]

Personally Sky, I totally get what your saying and am right there with ya but, What I still dont get though is why, in these modern of modern internal combustion engine days cant we have the absolute best of both worlds in our motorcycling experience. IMHO, I would be thrilled to see em drop the big dollar info system nonsense and invest in supercharging technology coupled with electronic HP/TQ delivery control along with lean angle for superior cornering monitoring stuff and advanced ABS. Flip a switch, vein angle on the supercharger changes - cam profile changes - ignition curve changes = MPG goes sky high = 75 MPG while maintaining a docile 75HP/90ftpd,,,,,,, toss the switch again 200 hp/200ftpd..

We wanna putt we can putt and we wanna FLYYYY we can FLYYYYYY all on one bike!!!

I donno if anyone else has experienced this, or maybe it's just me. But... when doing a lotta long distance driving in a car the more pony's I had under the hood, the more rested I was when I got to where I was going. I used to drive on the road as a sales rep for a few different company's and whether it was mine or a company car I'd get stoved up at the end of the day with anything that had a mouse engine. However, I could drive from the house to Las Vegas... 9 hrs... in my Firebird GTA 5.7 TPI and not feel a thing after putting that many hours behind the wheel... I'd cruise at 80-85 mph and still had a ton left, and would get around 21 mpg. I find that riding that many hours on an RSV I'd feel bushed at the end of the day, and strained to maintain 70-75 mph, and the MPG dropped like a stone.. This Kawasaki thing might be the answer??? Can Kawi be smarter than YAMAMAMA...?? Sure looks like it..

[cowpuc]

I donno if anyone else has experienced this, or maybe it's just me. But... when doing a lotta long distance driving in a car the more pony's I had under the hood, the more rested I was when I got to where I was going. I used to drive on the road as a sales rep for a few different company's and whether it was mine or a company car I'd get stoved up at the end of the day with anything that had a mouse engine. However, I could drive from the house to Las Vegas... 9 hrs... in my Firebird GTA 5.7 TPI and not feel a thing after putting that many hours behind the wheel... I'd cruise at 80-85 mph and still had a ton left, and would get around 21 mpg. I find that riding that many hours on an RSV I'd feel bushed at the end of the day, and strained to maintain 70-75 mph, and the MPG dropped like a stone.. This Kawasaki thing might be the answer??? Can Kawi be smarter than YAMAMAMA...?? Sure looks like it..

 

Yeppers brother,, I too have experienced what you are talking about many many times over.. I am not smart enough to know exactly why this is but I do have another theory about it = basically developed from some experiences while riding the endlessly amazing, all powerful 1st Gen Ventures.. Having the prowess of being able to take total control of countless situations by having the ultimate choice of either backing off and letting those riding/driving under powered machines duke it out or simply blowing past them to instantly find that relaxed position on the open road where Tip/Tweeks and I are once again on our own is amazingly relaxing in and of itself.

I equate what we are talking about here with some experiences I had while playing basketball in High School years ago.. We took our divisional championship one year and, depending on how bad the other teams were that we played, I ironically I always noticed how much more worn out than us they appeared by the time the game was done. We worked VERY VERY hard for our team "hp" during those days = our Coach was a maniac slave driver that ran our socks off = making game day more like a vacation than an actual game!! Run, run, run, run, run!!!!! It occurred to me during those days (and I even said this to my team mates) that we never really did play much "defense" but were always on "offense", basically we owned the "court" no matter where we were playing = we were in control!!. This would leave the weaker team on defensive for the entire game and that,, in Puc theory anyway, was why they were so beat up and worn down when the day was thru and we were ready to go right back at it..

Edited November 10, 2017 by cowpuc

[SilvrT]

I agree with @Condor ... straining to maintain speed is a strain on me ... BUT ... who really needs a motorcycle that has so much power the average ( or for that matter, the above average ) rider can barely handle 1/2 of that. I don't know what the power specs are on the GL1800 Wing but of the various bikes I've owned, it was the easiest to ride/drive on long distances. Effortless power, no strain or work or gear shifting involved. In BC, Canada we have nothing but mountains and that Wing could do 100 mph all day long with ease up the longest and steepest mountain passes we have. I doubt it's power was anything near that new Kaw that probably weighs 1/2 that of the Wing.

[saddlebum]

Not sure how I feel about the bike as a long distance touring bike though I would love to take it for a ride. But I sure like this AD. Who ever put it together picked the perfect sound track for it.