| Author | Message | ||
     Lucky |
did anyone hear or read about an article in BIKE magazine (UK) that rated XB12R the best conering bike out of 50 sportbikes? if so please post a link thanks. | ||
| Jcbikes |
here ya go http://www.kyote.demon.co.uk/top50corneringbikes.pdf | ||
| Mikej |
There was a rather lengthy discussion or three on the site here about that particular article, a quick search should find it for you. But I'll save you some time and simply summarize the whole discussion as follows:                           At this point a whole bunch of folks just stopped typing and all went for a long ride. At least that's how I recall the thread/discussion/debate/war/dialog. YMMV  | ||
| Dago |
 | ||
| Light_keeper |
I have a copy coming from the UK due any time now. | ||
| Djkaplan |
I have the issue. My girlfriend travels to the UK often and she picked me up a copy. The article seems really subjective, but what the hell, first place is still first place. | ||
| Surveyor |
To put the article in some sort of context..... the XB was rated the greatest cornering bike of all time.......the Ducati 748r was mentioned as one of the worst!!! I own both bikes and the best I could say about the article is that it's subjective. | ||
| M1combat |
The "meat" of the article if you ask me was the "remove the emotion" portion. In that section the XB"R" scored second only to the 999R. All of the handling numbers between the two were even, but the 999R had more "drive". You can buy a LOT of "drive" with the $20K USD you'd have left over buying the XB12R. You would also be able to improve the suspension substantially AND have enough money to run every track day in your area for a year... You could probably buy leathers and tires too... | ||
| Reepicheep |
Don't forget the divisor... "RHF: Risk of hospital food". It tried to account for the factor of "Nicky Hayden could make this bike haul, but I will just high side it in the next corner" element of the motorcycle. It played strongly in Buells favor, as it should. It was absolutely a subjective piece. It was the opinion of people that know a LOT about motorcycles that have ridden all sorts of bikes, and they placed the Buell very highly. This is arguably a better "datapoint" then any "spec sheet" result... I ride a bike to have fun, and I define fun as the corners. A group of experts that have ridden just about every bike ever made and know a hell of a lot about motorcycles just told me that the Buell is one of the best in this regard. Thats a great bit of info. It's funny... it really seems to be a personality type... In college, I bought my first set of serios ski's. The "cool serious ski" at that time was a GS ski, so I bought a used set of Dynastar 207cm GS skis. Hauled ••• in a straight line. I could eventually make them do just about anything, but it was a lot of work, and you had to be getting into "persistent head trauma" velocities before things were anything but tedious. After about 8 years of this sillyness, I tried a set of Solomon Snowblades belonging to a friend, just for a lark. It was a revelation, I had NEVER had so much fun on a set of ski's. I picked up a set of Atomic FunMachines (85 CM parabolic) (the Buell XB of the ski world) and *gave* the Dynastars away the next season. Good freaking riddance. Last night, my wife and I got child care for the kids and snuck to Kings Island (10 minutes from my house) when the lot was empty and no lines. We rode the son of beast, a blurringly fast and violent wooden coaster covering probably 10 acres. It was exciting, but painful, and just.... busy.... and ultimately, more or less annoying. Then we rode "The Italian Job". It was a steel coaster all wrapped around itself in a tiny little football field sized parcel. It acclerated hard, stopped hard, turned hard, and was just whipping every which direction. It was an absolute blast. I, for one, will take the tight little twistie fun stuff every time. I will leave the "terminal velocity" big stuff to others... it feels like lots more danger with much less the fun. No thanks. Anyone do track days on go-cart tracks! I would love to take the XB9SX on a track day, but have no interest breaking 90mph (or having others breaking 90mph blowing by me). | ||
| Surveyor |
I use both the 748r and the XBr on the track and there is no doubt about which is more fun....it's the Firebolt for sure, but there is even less doubt about which bike does the faster laps and it ain't the Buell. | ||
| Dago |
Why is the Buell more fun for you on the track if you're slower on it? DISCLAIMER: In no way amd I attempting to set you up with that question. I'm honestly curious about the difference between the bikes on the track through your eyes. | ||
| Pwnzor |
on the left, 2003 749 Superbike. on the right, 2004 XB12R. the one on the left has 3,000 miles on it. the one on the right has 20,000 miles on it.  any guesses as to why that is so? | ||
| Cereal |
Didn't anybody notice they listed the Firebolt as a 999cc in-line four with 159bph and top speed on 181mph? (Message edited by cereal on August 24, 2005) | ||
| Surveyor |
Ceral, I noticed that too.....strange Dago, The 748r needs to be kept revving above 6000rpm and that takes quite a bit of work by comparison with the Firebolt which is making power fromm 2000 up, also the cornering speeds possible with it are frigtening....the problem is it runs out of power on the straights.......there is not much to beat riding around or under the big Jap multis on what is often viewed as a Harley. I have never left the track after using the Firebolt without a grin from ear to ear. | ||
| Lucky |
thanks for that i hadn't been on much lately and just heard about the article. i searched the internet but came up empty handed i should of known you guys were on top of it and just searched here. | ||
| Rox |
I've got the magazine (I live near UK so easy for me) and I was amazed! Not that the bike was rated so highly - but that Bike magazine rated it that way. Bike mag is a typical Japanese sports bike riders mag, so they have taken everyone by surprise rating the Firebolt the way they did. The Lightning came in at number 8 which is also very good. You never know, it could make a few more sportsbikers give the Buell a test ride - hopefully with a few converts. | ||
| Mckennaxb12r |
Nice praise for the xb12r, however how credible is the source when they spec it out as an in-line four w/999cc and 159bhp and top speed of outrageous. I own one and just wish it could do those specs. Some moron out there will read that little bit and say, "damn, I gotta get one of those". Then the residual value of the xb12r will go up due to the law of supply and demand. I wish! Just a thought.  | ||
| Buellshyter |
Yea, you'll be able to sell your 12R at an increased value and trade it in on a new Buell next year, when they come out with a Rotax engine |
