Re: Recent list discussions

[Bruno Valeri <bvaleri@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

- ----- Original Message -----
From: "beemerphile1" <beemerphile1@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <oilheads@xxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, January 17, 2004 11:26 AM
Subject: Re: Recent list discussions


>One problem is that many
> people pick up on the "Cycle World" need for power.  Magazines
focus on
> power because it sells magazines.

Incidentally, the dirty little secret is that peak hp rating is a
very meaningless figure. This is true even for full-out race
engines. All it tells you is a peak figure obtained at a peak
rpm. Very few riders live at that rpm, even on the Dakar. By far
the more meaningful is the "quality" of the torque curve and
horsepower curve -- BMW strong points.

To know that an engine puts out 130 hp doesn't tell me anything
about how tractable it is in real world riding.

This is why I was surprised to see that BMW increased hp for the
GS1200. I would have expected engine tuning geared to give
greater low and mid range torque. ie greater torque at 2,500 rpm.
Of course they have their own reasons. Maybe some of which may be
in response to market pressure requiring high HP numbers.

Bruno
Montreal, Canada
CBR 929
http://pages.infinit.net/mcrides

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