an@hou2h.UUCP (A.NGUYEN) (05/30/84)
-- Here's another first-of-all: I do *NOT* ride over my head on the street. If my head happens to be taller than yours, then so be it. If you want to argue, come on out to the race track and we'll see who is faster. And now, here's the flame ... and counter-flames ... >> It's only when you talk absolute performance that one motorcycle >> is superior to another. > How do you define "absolute performance"? Does a GS1150ES beat > the Interceptor? (Yes on the quarter mile, no on a road race course). I plead guilty to opening a can of worms here. "Absolute performance" is hard to define. There are generally accepted measures that tell you something about one aspect of the bike, but I have yet to see one objective measure for the whole package. For example, dyno figures tell you about the quantity and quality of power available, and static lean angles tell you about potential cornering clearance. But when you start throwing in a human factor, things vary wildly. Is it the bike or is it the rider? Even the same rider on the same day cannot be 100% consistent. And then, if you consider the race track itself, that's another variable. Some drag strips have better traction than others, some are even rumoured to be slightly downhill. And road race tracks are completely different from one another. On a tight track like Loudon, I have seen privateer 700cc V-twins (Ducati Pantah ridden by Jimmy Adamo) kept up with factory Honda 750cc V-4's! At a fast track like Pocono however the powerful factory bikes just walk away. Which is why men have resorted to racing since the start of the internal combustion era to decide "Who/what is better?" Racing is a convenient way of measuring absolute performance, not just that of the machine but also the performance of the person piloting it. If I beat you today, I am better than you today. Tomorrow it will be a completely different contest. Au