I just read a literbike shootout from a Brit bike magazine and they placed the 2009 R1 in dead last place. They said the bike was heavier than the competition, had lethargic turn in and lazy handling compared to the others. They said the motor, which was supposed to be the R1s main claim to fame, felt flat and unexciting. Subjectively, they thought the looks weren't all that great either. They placed the 2009 Honda Fireblade on top with the new for '09 GSXR in second. The ZX-10 was a little too scary for this test crew apparently and placed third. I don't know, Ben spies looked mighty fast on his R1 at Assen sliding by Haga's Ducati on the last turn to take the win in world Superbike competition.

Kruz

* Last updated by: Kruz on 4/29/2009 @ 3:20 PM *

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEh92QVQTDo

I only saw the first race at Assen, apparently Spies went a little wide on a corner while leading the second race and lost it in the grass. Man he was movin fast, I can't believe he got back up so quick after that crash. Bike didn't look like it faired as well.

Kruz

It doesn't matter, neither you nor I or almost any of us who are forum members will EVER be able to ride at the level of Spies and other top World Superbike and GP riders.

Boo at the British review for being so heavy handed in reviewing the R1, because I've ridden the showroom version and it is extremely elegant in handling and quite quick.

Also boo-s to Kawasaki Heavy Industries, LTD for not being able to field a winning Superbike team in, what, a decade or more?

I cant attest to anything more than the rags shootouts. But it seems they are always faulting the R1's motor. However I agree with privateer, these boys ride these bikes crazier than you, or I ever would. Keep in mind on these race bikes they are running some pretty exotic setups as well.

I have always thought the R1 is a heck of a looking machine.

I have always thought the R1 is a heck of a looking machine.

Looks are very subjective but I have to agree with Steven here, the new R1 is not an attractive machine. I would rank the new GSXR as the best looking of the current literbike lot with the ZX and CBR tied for second. To me anyway, the R1 is a very distant third. That's too bad because the original R1 taught the Italians how to style a motorcycle.

Kruz

If you watch the video, Spies goes just a hair wide in the corner, gets in to that slick grass and down he goes. I can't believe Haga slipped by him, he could've taken out the whole pack. It's too bad, Spies won the first race at Assen in convincing style with a last corner pass on Haga sealing the win. As far as I know he's the first rookie to ever take a win at Assen his first time out. The boy has talent and he's smart, lets' see if he can stay healthy.

Kruz

And once again, what the f~ck is general "ZX-14" about this?

Just asking, by the way. Not trin to start a fight

bud, you haven't been on here in awhile. where you been?

And once again, what the f~ck is general "ZX-14" about this?

Hi, Bud.

We've had a few folks post things in the General ZX-14 area that really should have been put someplace else. Probably the main reason is that there is more traffic in this area, so things are more likely to be seen. Had some drag racing threads put here because there wasn't much going on in the 1/4 Mile area. It's just part of getting a forum started, I think.

As far as I'm concerned, Kruz can post anything he wants anywhere he wants. His posts are some of the most interesting and informative that we have, and I greatly value his participation here.

I can certainly move threads from one area to another, but I'm trying to keep my hands off things as much as possible. I'd like to see how this develops as a totally un-moderated forum.

I would value your opinion on all this, though... -bg

As far as I'm concerned, Kruz can post anything he wants anywhere he wants.

that's the first time i've heard a moderator say that about a member. you're one cool dude commissioner

Yes, THe R1 is all that!
Kruz, this is Jeff. You and I had dinner together in San Antonio shortly before you went to Dallas.
FIrst of all, the R1 is beautiful sans the ugly stock mufflers.
I own one and ditched my 14 for it.

I will call BULLLLLLSHIT, if the R1 is rated below the Blade or any other litre bike this year. There is already a you tube video of the MCN guys doing a back to back street ride of the blade and R1 and they stated that the R1 was better so I would find it real hard to believe, especially since I own and ride one, that it will do anything but spank a Gixxer and Honda. Maybe I'll have to ride up to Dallas from Houston and let you ride my R1 to break your love affair with the Honda! :)

* Last updated by: HMFIC on 4/30/2009 @ 12:42 PM *

Reeves wrote:

that's the first time i've heard a moderator say that about a member. you're one cool dude commissioner

Kruz

Bgordon wrote:

As far as I'm concerned, Kruz can post anything he wants anywhere he wants. His posts are some of the most interesting and informative that we have, and I greatly value his participation here.

Thanks for the encouragement Bill!

Kruz

HMFIC wrote:

Yes, THe R1 is all that!
Kruz, this is Jeff. You and I had dinner together in San Antonio shortly before you went to Dallas.
FIrst of all, the R1 is beautiful sans the ugly stock mufflers.
I own one and ditched my 14 for it.

I will call BULLLLLLSHIT, if the R1 is rated below the Blade or any other litre bike this year. There is already a you tube video of the MCN guys doing a back to back street ride of the blade and R1 and they stated that the R1 was better so I would find it real hard to believe, especially since I own and ride one, that it will do anything but spank a Gixxer and Honda. Maybe I'll have to ride up to Dallas from Houston and let you ride my R1 to break your love affair with the Honda! :)

I remember Jeff, we went to P.F. Changs over in the Quarry, you were going by 07Blanco or something like that right? I'm just reporting what was written, maybe they got a bad one.

Kruz

Ben Spies R1 != Showroom R1.

The new R1 doesn't output any more horsepower, AFAIK. Yammi changed to a big bang firing scheme, which makes it easier to put down the power exiting a corner, but doesn't do anything for, well, pretty much anyone riding on the street - to reach the level where the firing scheme makes a difference needs a track and a super-skilled rider (ie, Ben Spies, Bostrom, etc).

IMO, for the street, it's nothing but a gimmick/check box. However, to race it, Yammi had to include it in the production bike.

Last year's R1 was a VERY good bike - consider that Haga rode the wheels off that thing and did pretty darn well. The Ducati is just a better bike (or the rules favor it)/

And once again, what the f~ck is general "ZX-14" about this?

Hi, Bud.

We've had a few folks post things in the General ZX-14 area that really should have been put someplace else. Probably the main reason is that there is more traffic in this area, so things are more likely to be seen. Had some drag racing threads put here because there wasn't much going on in the 1/4 Mile area. It's just part of getting a forum started, I think.

As far as I'm concerned, Kruz can post anything he wants anywhere he wants. His posts are some of the most interesting and informative that we have, and I greatly value his participation here.

I can certainly move threads from one area to another, but I'm trying to keep my hands off things as much as possible. I'd like to see how this develops as a totally un-moderated forum.

I would value your opinion on all this, though... -bg

He used to do it all the time on the other site and I gave him crap about it then. So I'm not gonna stop now. But I will be painfully honest here. I totally disagree. Now keep in mind, I really like the guy. But I think he is one of the most boring and uninteresting people on any site. He brings up boring totally unrelated topics that I have absolutly no interest in. And he asks for others opinions about things that about 99% of us know nothing about. If he really wants to know about the R1 he should go ride one. Not ask in the ZX-14 section. The true is....He owns a CBR1000 and he wants everyone to tell him the R1 is not as good as the CBR. He needs to grow a pair and be a man. If he wants to own a CBR, then he should be proud of it and not give a f~ck about what we think. Because the truth is. We really don't know shit! We're just a bunch of guys posting on the net where we all have one thing in common. We all like the "ZX-14" Plus John can beat a that damn horse to death. 100 pages on Ivan....Give me a f~cking break! If he likes the TRE then he should put it on his bike and not gave a shit what we think....I did!

John your still welcome in Illinois. I'll buy the first Starbucks.

bud, you haven't been on here in awhile. where you been?

I've been checkin in. Just not a lot to contribute. I'm just not as provocative as Kruz! J/K

But I think he is one of the most boring and uninteresting people on any site. He brings up boring totally unrelated topics that I have absolutly no interest in.

Bud:

Different strokes for different folks, I guess. To tell you the truth, Kruz and Hub were the two people from the old forum that I MOST wanted to join us here. Hub found us right away, but Kruz only fairly recently. I greatly enjoy their postings, though I have trouble understanding Hub much of the time (he makes you work for it). -bg

Bud:

Different strokes for different folks, I guess. To tell you the truth, Kruz and Hub were the two people from the old forum that I MOST wanted to join us here. Hub found us right away, but Kruz only fairly recently. I greatly enjoy their postings, though I have trouble understanding Hub much of the time (he makes you work for it). -bg

Agree 100%. Personally I don't read about 99% of they're posts. Hub, because he's way over my head and Kruz because he's waaaaaay better than me. Or at least he thinks he is. But I really do like the fact that you allow people to be themselves. That's way cool man

Bud,,,,just wondering the other day where the hell you been!!

Since it's an "Off Topic" post in the "General ZX-14" Section, I'm hijacking it!!

I finally installed Vista on one of my computers last night. Not bad. Once I figured out how to turn off most of the pretty crap that is. I swear they developed Vista for ladies,,,,,,,,, or gay's, LOL!! Turned my stomach with all the pretty when it first fired up.

Bud,,,,just wondering the other day where the hell you been!!

Since it's an "Off Topic" post in the "General ZX-14" Section, I'm hijacking it!!

I finally installed Vista on one of my computers last night. Not bad. Once I figured out how to turn off most of the pretty crap that is. I swear they developed Vista for ladies,,,,,,,,, or gay's, LOL!! Turned my stomach with all the pretty when it first fired up.

Way to much crap.....way, way to much. Vista stinks! I have it on my laptop that I use to DJ my radio show with. I deleted almost every program on it, just so it would not f~ck up my show

I like the sleep mode. I also use it as my TV, and my personal video recorder in my bedroom. It wakes itself up, records the show, then goes back to sleep. Far better picture with Vista Media Center than Win-TV ever gave me with XP-Pro. I think it helps I have a powerful enough system to run it properly. Scores 5.9 on everything but my 6000 AMD processor. It scores at 5.5. I could see where a lap-top could have problems if it's like a Dell I worked on a few weeks ago. Now I know why the repair shop told her it would be cheaper to buy a new lap-top V/S install a new hard drive. Took forever to reprogram the dog-gone thing.

Come to think of it, Phil. Your right, the picture "was" great on it with Vista. I have a Tosiba and it works great and the video was great. But I'm useing it for music, so I need to be able to play two songs at once, with out either one breaking up at all. Just to run Vista it takes up way to much processor. So I removed everything that I could. Even all video players.