Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Constitutional Law Blogs -> Chris King's 1st Amendment Page

Constitutional Law

: Chris King's 1st Amendment Page

KingCast explains roll on acceleration and the Kawasaki 650R.

By Christopher King

Roll-on acceleration is what makes a bike fun to ride without shifting. Many bikes are fast when you wring the snot out of them at upwards of 9, 10, even 14,000 rpm. However, in the Real World it's all about what happens down low and in the midrange. The engineers at Kawasaki have put engine output and gearing together on the 650R so that the midrange is where the Big Hit happens, i.e. 5,000 - 8,500 rpm, to make the most out of 48 ft. lbs. of torque. The results are astonishing: The 650R is not only much quicker than its nemesis, the Suzuki SV650 (I verified this against my friend's SV the other day in traffic) but it is also more spritely in 6th gear than a Yamaha V-Max, a Honda 919 or a Triumph Tiger 955, as noted in Motorcyclist Magazine 60-80 top gear roll-on. And as the license plate suggests.

GSX1300R Hayabusa ('03) 2.70
Ninja 650R ('06) 3.58
Honda 919 ('03) 3.59
V-Max ('03) 3.69
Ninja ZX-6R ('06) 3.89
Tiger 955i ('02) 4.19
Suzuki SV650 ('04) 4.44
VFR800F Interceptor ('02) 5.07

You get the picture. Miles of smiles :)

Full post as published by Chris King's 1st Amendment Page on August 23, 2009 (boomark / email).