Horsepower vs. Handling

Bluegrass Beemers

I grew up in America in the 60's, in the era of the muscle cars when horsepower was king. But I didn't care much for the idea of sheer overwhelming strength in a straight line, preferring the smaller sporty cars (a three-speed Corvair and later a somewhat ratty MGA) and motorcycles that emphasized handling over brute force. I've always been more impressed by the ability to make use of potential rather than just the availability of massive force that came from a parts book , or off the showroom floor.

My heros were the ones who hung onto the bucking weaving 60's bikes and cars on road courses or dirt tracks, making the relatively low-powered beasts go round corners faster than their frames and suspensions wanted to go. I went to a drag race one afternoon way back in 1965 or so with some friends and was convinced to enter my Ducati 250 in the "graveyard ponies" competition (as motorcycles were known at that strip)...divided then into just two classes, "big" and "little". My final opponent that day was a Honda 305 Super Hawk, a quick machine but no match for the smaller and lighter but higher revving Italian bike. The Honda got away in the lead, but the little Duck ate him alive in 2nd and 3rd gears and I had my first-ever trophy to take home (and hide from my parents, who wouldn't have approved of drag-racing). But I didn't feel victorious. As I told one of my congratulating buddies, a somewhat-trained chimp could've accomplished the same feat ...it was the motor that beat the Honda, not me. I know that at higher levels of drag racing, much more skill is involved, but not where I was then. Some years later, in the early 70's, I got involved in observed trials. At that time, the sport was dominated by Spanish two-strokes and nearly everyone rode virtually identical Bultacos or Montesas with an occasional smattering of Ossas for seasoning. Suzuki, Yamaha and Honda were in the game, but not much of a force in those early years. What I liked about it was that all the bikes were essentially the same. The individual tweaks we came up with didn't amount to a hill of beans (which we would have tried to ride over, if given the chance) and weren't much if any improvement over the bikes as they came from the showroom. If I won or lost (and I did both about equally) it was down to me, not an advantage of my bike or someone elses.

Modern motorcycles are in the same kind of absurd, escalating horsepower race as were cars in the 60's. Each new magazine I receive touts ever-faster street models which also handle better than the pukka race bikes of the previous season. All of the current crop of 1000cc-plus sports bikes will easily break any US speed limit in first gear and get the rider into a felony conviction in second with 3 or 4 more gears yet to go. Road test comparisons usually show that 600's and 750's will turn faster lap times than their bigger siblings, largely because few if any riders who aren't being paid large amounts for their racing skills can put that much extra horsepower down on the pavement. On the street, in the real world, I can't imagine a rider making use of even a small percentage of the power and handling available from his or her machine. On a typical gnarly backroad, a mega-power sportbike is like a hand grenade in a fistfight....what it offers as a solution to the problem will get you killed.

All this brings me back to why I'm regressing farther and farther as time goes along. I freely admit to being a geezer and having reaction time better measured with a calender rather than a stopwatch. My eyesight, never good, is getting worse. I can't see far enough ahead to stay even a few seconds beyond the speed obtainable almost instantly by a modern sportbike. But, astride my 50's and 60's era Brit-bikes and airhead Boxer BMW's, I can get back some of the old feeling that I recall, that sensation of partnering with the bike at speed , making it work at somewhere in the vicinity of its overall ability and having every sense focused on the task at hand, while still traveling at a rate that probably won't mean immediate extinction if I miscalculate or jail time if I'm caught. Down my favorite twisty country road I can swoop through corners, perhaps once in a while even dragging the odd peg or two, feel the forks working, the frame flexing and the tires squirming on the pavement...fully engaged in the practice of riding ....but seldom exceed 65 or 75mph. To get to a speed that would generate the same level of use of the resources available, the sensation of involvement, on any of the big four's top sportbikes, I'd have to be Colin Edwards or Troy Bayliss and even then the random hazards of traffic, animals, a tractor with a bale spear, etc, would almost certainly kill me in the first few miles. I don't need to harbor a lot of horsepower and potential I'm never going to be able to use....sort of like keeping a fire hose handy to fill a water glass. Classic bikes offer enough performance to be interesting and allow me to use much more of what they have to offer, closer to an equal partner in the endeavor. They are pleasantly satisfying on every ride , only terrifying when I ask for it and then at levels I can (usually) handle.