It's called trickle-down technology. You may not see an 800cc bike put out, but you will see some technology put on their 600s, 750s or 1000s. For example, Yamaha has been using fly-by-wire technology on their R6 since '06 and the R1 has it for '08. Slipper clutches are now standard on most sportbikes, too.

FYI, MotoGP riders are breaking records on their 800cc bikes that were set by the older 990cc bikes. They still go over 200 on the straights, but they can carry more corner speed.

Nah...I've rode new bikes. Just don't like the power delivery.

Oh yes, he does.

I would stay away from Aprilia's for a little while. They are having some serious teething issues with the new motor. It will be a great bike, but in terms of maintainence and reliability they make mid-90's Ducati's look about as maintanence intenseive as your basic hammer. Give them a little while to work the kinks out.

Husky's are good at the 450/510 level, but they have had a few minor concerns at the big-bore (610) level. Nothing serious, and still a great bike.

You forgot Husaberg, who makes a bad-ass race-ready tard.

In my opinion? KTM FTMFW! I couldn't be happier with my 625, it's light, a torque monster, and cheap on insurance. Plus po-po's think it's a dual sport, and usually look the other way. As for fuel cells, yeah, filling up every 60-70 miles kinda bites. BUT, you can get bigger gas tanks for them. I'm 6'4", as for wind protection, nothing short of a Goldwing will give me any sort of wind protection, so gettnig a little buffeting doesn't bother me. And trip, who told you they wheeze out at 100? I got 100 out of a DRZ, my "max speed" indicator on my KTM right now is at 132. I think a little of that is due to wheel spin, but I would feel confident saying it'll go 120-125. And you'll have more fun on a tard at 60 than you will on a crotch rocket at 160!

Rider, if you're ever in the Jax area you'll have to take a spin on the KTM.

Yeah they will do over 100, but it's really fighting for it where a SS is happy to play in that range. They are hella fun at 60. Hell, my little mini moto is tons of fun at 20-30. I was just giving him some pros/cons of them.

One of the best pros is you can go down and not have a damn thing broken and scratches don't matter. Where with a sportbike you pretty much ruin your life with a drop. :lol:

i heard AMA is toying with getting rid of 1000cc class next year? :panic:

I heard that too... WTF for? I could kinda see maybe getting rid of all but one 1000cc class... but all 1000cc bikes all together? that's fuck'n dumb

stupid that is their premier class.. i don't watch the Suzuki Cup now but I would never watch it if they did that.. my DVR is not smart enough to tape only Motogp and SBK so occassionally I watch AMA but it ends all the same Spies or Mladin in the lead and me fast forwarding to the end to erase it..

Now NASCAR is buying AMA? Did they get sick of turning left? Are they going bikes vs. cars?

I think Nascar already bought AMA... or I think they already did... :idk:

MotoGP classes are strictly race prototypes only. You won't be finding any of those bikes in production. Heck, Honda was using a V5 engine during the 990 phase, something you will never find in production. :)

All other classes use production models as their base. The R7 was intruduced as a very low production product (only 500 produced) to meet the race requirements. Poor thing never really took of and soon became a thing of the past when the 1000cc in-lines were allowed.

Don't get all racing confused with MotoGP, as it's vastly different.

Yeah, I love when Nicky was commenting on the new 800cc rules, he stated that they were trying to slow things down, but the lighter bikes made for higher corner speeds. He said something about speed in the corners being more dangerous as most people don't crash in the straights. :)

WTF? The admins have some mod that appends you last post rather than creating a new one? That's fucked up!

yep yep. i wanna watch some racing tonight