What's up with these "neutered nakeds"?

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RaWarrior

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I like that manufacturers are turning toward the naked/standard segment again, to split the difference between full-on sportbike and total cruiser. Something that's got the sportiness and power but without the horrendous riding position.

The Honda CB1000R is the newest entry in this lineup, along with Kawi's Z1000, and the Yamaha FZRs. However, I don't get the point. They take the fantastically powerful liter class sportbike, zap 40hp from it, zap 14 lbs of torque, add 40lbs of weight, and ditch the plastics. They claim it was in the interest of "overall driveability". I can see that, and many modern bikes have multiple modes..."normal", "sport", "rain", ect that adjust fueling, response, and overall power. Why can't they do that with these nakeds? Have the "normal" be the detuned, friendly mode, and then switch it to sport and get the full sportbike engine back?

2011 CBR1000RR: 443 lbs, 153.08 hp, 77.79 lb-ft
2011 CB1000R: 485 lbs, 108.58 hp, 64.3 lb-ft

I'm intrigued by these bikes, but I don't get why they're rolling out with massively de-tuned engines. It's a liter bike, but it's horsepower is more like a 600. The only one of these to escape the scalpel so to speak was the b-king, which got out with only a slight hit to overall HP from the 'busa incarnation, and still far beyond anything else in the class.

As for this Honda, my Max puts down more HP and torque, admittedly carting a fair bit more weight around...but still. One of these manufacturers needs to nut up and ship a bike that's got the full liter bike mill in a chassis that isn't catastrophically ugly *coughBKINGcough*.
 
Of the new nakeds, I like the Kawasaki Ninja 1000. Good power and great seating position. Also, bags or trunk is available for trips.
 
The HP numbers change because they tune the engines for different power characteristics.
 
Motus MT-01 has a lot of potential with its upright sitting position , American designed & built V-4 , touring options if desired ; If priced right .
 

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Aprillia Tuono.......they just pulled the fairings off the Mille,slapped on some flatties and chucked it out the door.......complete loony tool! :punk:
 
Motus MT-01 has a lot of potential with its upright sitting position , American designed & built V-4 , touring options if desired ; If priced right .
I really love the big V4 sound coming out of the Motus, and if the price is right would be the perfect compliment to the Vmax!
 
The bike manufacturers are trying to be everything to everybody , just like car companies . Naked and de-tuned is just that , half of what you want . Makes no sense . You want sportbike performance you guttah get a sportbike and put up with the nature of the beast ( riding position ) . A cruiser gives you the upright stance but takes away a little bit of knee-dragging handling and speed...:confused2:

Maybe someday they'll get it right...
 
2nd gen vmax got it as close as i think it can be (imho)

Also really like the motus - if a naked version of that can be made for a competitive price to the japanese naked's I would buy it.

I'm also waiting for buell's new production bikes.
 
The nakeds are more geared toward urban city riding where low end power is key. Yeah the 1000cc sportbikes make great power, at 14k RPMs. They tune the nakeds to create more power down low where they think that they customers will use it.
 
Looks like Triumph has stepped up to the plate and delivered a naked with it's balls intact.

I think the headlights are butt-ugly, but otherwise it looks like a sweet hooligan bike. 133hp and 82 lbs of torque, around 500lbs ready to ride. Reasonably priced as well....$12k base, an extra couple hundred if you want ABS.
 
They fuglied that bike up. I really like the older models with the two round headlights. This one looks like a bug thats had the bottom part of its head removed...
 
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