Aussie GP Results

I think that "harder to control" has different meanings in different contexts.



I would submit that today's bikes can accept much finer control inputs, and will respond immediately and predictably. However, that means that clumsy or excessive control input will also yield catastrophic results much more quickly.



The implication is that today's bikes are actually much easier to ride fast when you are paying attention to what you are doing - but will similarly get you in trouble much more quickly. You can prove it to yourself by riding a bike from 4 or 5 years ago, and riding the latest and greatest from today. The differences are, surprisingly, pretty dramatic.



cdg

Oh I'm with you 100%. That's actually what I was (poorly) trying to say. I was going back to the insurance comment, which stated that the supersport bikes of today on the street are hard to control. That isn't precisely true. What's true is that they are very finely tuned, and respond instantly. To bad control inputs, to the street rider, this is bad.



For good / experienced riders, however, this is good. In other words, what I stated rather poorly, was the observation that it's not the bikes that are the problem (again, tying back to the nonsense from the Manitoba report) - it's almost always rider error.



A skilled racer would liekly not be caught out by today's bikes - but would likely begin denigrating today's riders, because the bikes are so easy to ride compared to the older ones, I would imagine. Note that I haven't ridden a late-80s Honda MotoGP bike, nor any of the current crop, so I'm probably talking out of my ass.



cdg