Dinoski:

 

What say you? One thousand dollars LESS retail price? With a rapidly crashing dollar against foreign currencies you are lucky not to see big price increases on foreign made items. Even USA assembled Japanese goods contain a high percentage of outside manufactured components. 'Tis the season to talk to Santa about basic economics!!!

 

If you are brand insensitive, just buy the cheapest of the big four and go have a blast. They are all so good and so close in performance...

 Kawis have the worst resale value.. You pay now or pay later. As for the extra pork! I will take it over the Kawi in terms of stability on the track. Owend a 04 Kawi and very unpredictible when holding a line. My new CBR 1000rr and the old RC51 that I miss dearly which are fat bastards rail corners and hold lines with ease out of the crate. The Kawi could use a couple grand in suspension to come close to Honda!

 

Me on my usual weekend ride!

Post Edited (mrrw60) : 12/8/2004 10:57:02 PM GMT

-KD, MCUSA Road Test Editor

 

Me on my Sunday ride.

 

 

Yamaha won most if not all the shoot outs last year which matched the AMA racing results.  Yamaha was dominated there, barely, by the kwaks.

 

What's up with that anyway?  Why is Yamaha so dominant in AMA and Honda in FIM?  Is Ten Kate just too awesome in the turner department?

 

"Dry weight" as claimed by the manufacturers varies considerably from real weight (full tank of gas, ready to ride). For the Japanese sportbikes, a good rule of thumb is to add 60lb and you'll come pretty close. Triumph fudges more than that--the Rocket 3's "dry" weight is a full 100lb less than real weight. But Harley is quite close--it may actually be weight of the bike without fuel.

 

Note to Kevin Duke: Here's a way to estimate no-s**t full tank weight in a first ride report when you don't have an opportunity to weigh the bike. Find the GROSS VEHICLE WEIGHT RATING (GVWR) on the VIN plate. That's the max allowable weight of the motorcycle, fuel, riders, and cargo. Then subtract the MAXIMUM WEIGHT CAPACITY that appears on the tire sticker. That's the allowable load in riders and cargo that can be carried by the motorcycle with a full tank. The difference will be a good estimate of the full-tank weight.

 

For example, my '97 VFR750 has a GVWR of 912lb and MAXIMUM WEIGHT CAPACITY of 386lb. The difference, 526lb, is within a few pounds of the "full tank" weight reported by the magazines.

Always thinking, aren't you DataDan? Interesting theory using the bike's GVWR and max capacity to calculate the weight of a bike; that's a new one to me. I'll keep that in mind and check it out further in the future. The "add 60 pounds" to a manufacturer's stated dry weight is a fair bit less precise.

 

FYI, we weigh virtually every bike we test on our electronic Intercomp scales, the standard in the car and motorcycle industry. To make comparing weights as effective as possible, we subtract the weight of a full tank of gas to arrive at our published weights; full-tank weights are less comparable, as they punish bikes with larger tanks which we definitely don't want to do.

 

BTW, if you want to know exactly how much Triumph's Rocket 3 weighs, you won't have to wait much longer. We're putting together our Bruiser Cruiser showdown in which the Triumph, Kawasaki Vulcan 2000 and Honda Rune will go head to head against the backdrop of Arizona's backroads and city streets. In additon to accurate weights, we'll also be recording performance data on our Vbox to find out which bike inflicts the biggest bruises on the pavement. We're looking forward to this one.  

-KD, MCUSA Road Test Editor