But the drivetrain still eats the torque-spike resulting from decelerating the engine quickly. Doesn’t that contribute to wear?
That sums it up for me. As much as my above posts might sound like it, I am not anti rider aid. I am just anti rider aid for me, come the day when I can’t turn it off is the day I give up riding.
In a car I don’t care, driving along the freeway - auto lane assist, adaptive cruise control, etc I can let my mind wander because for me a car is just transport, the destination is the goal and I am more than happy for the car to share the load when it comes to driving.
A motorcycle. Completely different. it is being one with the machine, a visceral experience, the only thing between my right hand and the front brake is a lever and a hydraulic line, I can literally feel the tyres deforming under load and know I am at the limit of adhesion. I am in control, totally and unfiltered. Destination is irrelevant, only the journey matters.
I would say it is much like with you and flying Eric. In your ‘day job’ the aircraft does all it can to make it as easy as possible and that is as it should be. But I bet that once you strap into the Pitts; that is when you truly feel alive.
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Not really a issue on the internals, everyone and their mum is doing it. The biggest wear would be on the chain I suppose but they wear down quickly anyway by so many different factors and it’s mostly a consumable.
Most people already do this accidentally during class as you get more comfortable you start getting ready to shift and before you get far enough with the clutch bite point you’ve already shifted up.
If you so it right you would never lose more than 500rpm. Its almost instantaneous.
As for TCS and ABS etc. I’m not a fan, same as @Harry_Bumcrack. It detracts from the machine rider connection.
I had a GSXR-1000 K7. Brand new. Was raining when i collected it, had 3 modes on the handle bar, 1 was full power about 170ish bhp, 2 was about 130bhp 3 was “rain mode” about 90bhp.
I joined a dual carriageway about 40 mph, saw an oncoming car and cracked the throttle open to the stop in 2nd gear. nobody told ace that doing so, immediately banged it into mode 1 and unleashed full power. I both, very nearly flipped it, wheel spun and went sideways and completely ■■■■ myself at the same time.
I hate HATE electronics on bikes. Plus they make spannering in the garage even more of a pain in the arse
*edit this may be the passage of time, but thinking back to that, i have a feeling that the salesman told me that bike had either traction control or anti wheelie, but it had neither, but i can’t remember if I’m thinking of my white 848
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Not unless the baby brother was different to the 1098?
That is one of the things I loved about the 1098, zero rider aides, no TC, no ABS, no anti-wheelie (I mean honestly, where is the fun in that 
) and the closest it came to taming the beast was that it was power limited in the first two gears, which IIRC meant it just retarded the spark until you clicked third.
Until I installed the race kit ECU… Along with the full exhaust, factory race air filter and 1098R cams. 150rwHP and it was all up to yours truly and throttle control. 
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I had a box on my gixer and the hayabusa which tricked the ecu into thinking it was in 5th i think in any gear. Made very little difference to the busa, but the 1000 was a weapon. I have a feeling that was on the k2 thousand? Can’t remember.
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This is making @BeachAV8R look like a rookie, when he let’s his brand new VR headset sit still boxed on the table for a few weeks…
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Beautifully stated! I did a MSF Basic Course this weekend. We baked in a parking lot and never got out of 2nd gear. But it was, maybe not the Pitts as that is more work for me than fun*, but hovering or working slopes in an R22. To an observer it may not look fun. It certainly doesn’t look exciting. But if you carve a perfect u-turn without changing lean or throttle, it still squeezes that little endorphin bag.
*Don’t get me wrong, the Pitts is a dear friend. But she is work. 25 minutes of flying is 15-25 acro figures. Honestly I often don’t enjoy it. But I do like getting better. If that makes sense.
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Doing figures of 8 on a standard road width is also a ton of fun once you get the hang of it. I always enjoyed doing the evasive manouvre as well.
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Anything worthwhile takes effort 
The last track day I did was only 4 x 20 minute sessions, but at the end I was physically and mentally exhausted. My quads were burning that bad I couldn’t walk up a short flight of stairs.
Total sense. That is what I love about my RGV, it has made me a much better rider. You have to keep it the powerband, maintain corner speed, and above all be smooth as silk.
It makes one realise how a modern sportsbike turns you into a lazy rider - Brake hard, poodle fake it through the corner and then accelerate hard, still turn in a decent lap time - any fool can do that. Nothing gives me greater satisfaction rounding up a litre class bike in a corner; on the outside. Only for them to blast past me down the straight… so I can do it again 
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So the argument earlier about Tech vs no Tech for beginners can be summarized in this. I was describing blipping the throttle on downshifting in order to not lock up the tire and to get max engine braking. My coworker was looking at me in wonder as if he never heard this before.
There are a few things wrong with this sport. Ok, many. But to me the biggest faults in it is how goverments allow rookies (regardless of age) go out and buy a Superbike or Supersport as a first bike. If it was up to me, everyone would use the European method. Start small and move up till you got 3 seasons under your belt. Then you can go nuts. Learning to drive some uncomfortable, beast of a bike while you have no clue how to coordinate throttle, brakes and shifting is a recipe for dissaster.
This is exactly it! Learn without gizmoz first. Then you wil master the art.
Funny story, I remember my first track day. I think 4 x 20 minute sessions was too short. This is bologna, I think. After 2 laps (5 minutes) I was dying and wanting to give up. Took two seasons to last a whole 20 minutes.
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I am in the EU system but could get a A license straight away because I had passed the minimum age requirements(24 years IIRC). Though I now have a A2 motorcycle anyway, they are plenty fast and I got this one cause it’s a ton of fun(Honda Rebel).
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My endorphin-scrolling has me snuggling up to the KTM 390 Adventure R. It’s big enough for my 6’5” frame and modestly powered, maybe suiting my lack of recent experience. Back in the 90’s I spent a whole summer on Crete with BMW F650. That bike had a single cylinder (like this bike) and was gobs of fun. My concern is with KTM itself. Will they survive? Slog through the social media cesspool long enough and KTM is treated like the motoring version of Razbam.
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If you are 6’5", you might want to go to a dealer and sit on one. I think you might start looking somewhere else after. Or you might just love it. I think
its small like a beginner bike. It did not get good marks for off road. The review I saw said it had no more clearance than the road going 390. I want the RC 390 but I worry that I’ll grow bored of it quickly. Just my Two Cents…
Good choice for a first bike. You would be surprised how many people I met with liter superbikes who said it was their first bike. They seldom keep riding. I bought my Aprilia RSV4 from a guy in Qatar. He bought it new and kept it in his living room for a few years. He would tell his friends, “Look I am a biker”. Someone convinced him to go for a ride. He laid it down. No damage. Just his pride. I bought it with under 400km. I had to break in a 3 year old bike. At the track it had enough power to go down the straight like warp drive. Wheelie control, Traction control and ABS tamed 180hp. However, It was so complex that I found myself yearning for my old GSXR 750. Sometimes less is definitely more.
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Oh it’s my 4th bike! Was just looking for something else.
Besides it really doesn’t matter, goes faster then 90% of the cars out there still.
KTM went bankrupt so yeah I wouldn’t expect quality or parts accessibility to improve, they are not known for reliability.
Oh wow, i had heard it was in the post but didnt know it had happened 
I had a friend with a RC8. Lovely bike to ride but troublesome from a reliability POV.
I nearly posted something on this topic not long ago. Modern bikes do not need an extended engine break-in period, that was from back in the day with iron bores that had cross hatching left over from the machining process. In fact taking it easy for the first few hundred km can do more harm than good.
The only thing that needs doing is making sure that the piston rings get bedded in properly - That happens in the first 20 minutes or so of riding. Be too gentle and they don’t ‘seal’ properly, reducing compression (therefore power) and increasing oil blow-by.
Get a new bike and ‘go hard early’. In fact 90% of the 1098’s at the dealer where I bought mine, were run in on the dyno in about 30 minutes before the owner even took delivery.
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I’ve heard that a lot of the engines are now made in India and quality is far from what it used to be. Haven’t ridden KTM in 20 years though, so it’s all hearsay.
Btw. the Indian mothership injected some cash and production has resumed for now, though the mid term future is uncertain.
Such a shame, a friend of mne used to have a 250cc 2-stroke when we were kids. Feisty thing, it was either full tilt or no power at all, impossible to ride on asphalt but a lot of fun on dirt.
Yeah, damn shame… I didn’t know that they had gone under. I know there have been quality control/design issues since the beginning (950 ADV water pump anyone?) but for much of the 2000s a Kato was the dirt bike to be on.
I don’t know if anyone else recalls, but since Eric mentioned the ‘Long Way Round’ earlier… Charlie and Ewan originally approached KTM for the bikes, but were knocked back so they went with the GS Beemers instead.