Hayden to WSBK on Aprilia RSV4

That exactly explains why showroom capabilities are still a factor, even in Superbikes. You reckon that small team would do as good if they were using a Honda instead of a Kawasaki?

The Ducati team is small compared to most, but they are still running at the front/winning...because the 1199R is such a solid platform off the showroom floor.

I honestly believe if Ten Kate would have been using a Panigale, or RSV4 or Kawasaki over the past several years, they would be celebrating Rea's 4th Championship (or more) right now.

 

So what specifically makes the CBR so bad? What confines do the WSBK rules impose that prevent it from being as competitive as a newer bike?

 

No.

Too much scrolling. Eff that.

 

As you may (should?) be aware, both the nature and extent of the modifications permitted by WSBK rules mean that the original platform represents a set of limits that any OEM or team must work within, in creating their SBK engine and suspension.

My point was (and still is) that in 8 years, the limits of the existing platform have proven to be too low to compete with what other OEMs can do with their existing stock platforms (e.g., Aprilia and Kawasaki).

I wonder how much magic HRC could do given the parameters they have to work with in the stock CBR platform. I also wonder how much more involvement (if any?) HRC will have this year with the Ten Kate team? Who knows?

My suspicion is that until a new platform, allowing HRC or private teams the tuning headroom needed to do what they need to do to compete with the current Kawi or Aprilias, the CBR will remain a pack filler. Even a great rider needs a minimum package to express that talent with.

 

Like he gets at below. There is only so much they can extract out of that bike. Yes, they can change a lot of parts...but they are still bolting on parts to the same frame and trying to build up that same engine.

It is sorta like Russell was saying during an AMA broadcast. He was saying the Suzuki is not a bad bike, but it is way behind the times and there is only so much performance they can extract out of it. He said it is pretty much maxed out and in desperate need of a ground-up redesign. And the funny part is that he said this during an AMA race back in 2011...and we still don't have a new Gixxer.

 

For me, I cant stand the loading of a bunch of pages. It is easier and faster to just scroll than it is to click on another page and wait for it to load then go to the top of it.

Not to mention that most posts follow a patter/story to some extent. And by the time I have clicked on the next page and it has loaded, I forget what we were just talking about or what I was going to comment on.

 

Good Lord, you have the mental sophistication of a fruit fly.

 

Claiming ignorance. What did I do, not do?

 

That doesn't answer anything. What's wrong, besides being 8 years old, with the existing bike? Is the frame geometry wrong (but can't that be adjusted)? Is the engine design (bore/stroke) wrong? Is it not aerodynamic enough? What rules are keeping Honda from making this bike into a winner?

 

I think the Honders biggest downfall is horsepower.

 

HRC involvement….and money.

 

There's only so much the rules allow you to change inside the engine. And they keep getting more restrictive.

:Off:
Kawasaki engineer Fabien Raulo was explaining a couple of weeks ago how some of those restrictions affected Tom Sykes in the early part of the season. Heavier stock parts inside the engine changed its behavior (mostly, inertia) and that was enough to make it more difficult for him to ride, especially under braking. I may remember some of the details wrong, but that was the gist of it.

 

Been talked about quite a bit in various places actually. According to all the 2016 hype, it was a contributing factor to the bike getting a much lighter crank as OEM now.

Honda got caught out with the new rules. I'm sure they protested a ton. It seems like thier motto was always build a decent street bike, then throw a fuckton of $$$ at the race version with all kinds of exotic parts. They simply aren't allowed to do that now.

 

Well if they're limited to stock parts internally then that's it. If Honda is using steel and everyone else is using titanium then game over.

 

And yet that same old tired Suzuki is coming within a few hundredths of a second of winning a MA race against the all new R1.

 

The age isn't the issue, its the foundation. The Yamaha R6 was last updated in 2008 and it seems to do OK.

 

And i was wrong, there will not be a new GSXR 1000 untill 2017

 

Fixed

 

a wildcard rider putting it on the box is good justification that its a great package. its almost justification that its the best bike on the grid since we should prob assume that the wildcard rider isnt as skilled as the full-time riders and he doesnt have as much technical support.