The 2 Cylinder Superbike Revolution

I've finally did it. I'm doing the "b" word. I've never liked the idea of blogging. Bunch of whinny kids talking about their trivial problems. But I've got things on my mind too, so I might as well see if in fact people read these things.

The first thing on my mind is the impending worldwide superbike smackdown. Information about this apocalypse of moto-sweetness is sparse at best. There's a few forum threads here and there but nothing juicy. On a side note I can't seem to find anything about the Masterbike event online, other than a skimpy Wikipedia page. Anyway here's how its going down. Pretty much all of the major non-Japanese motorcycle manufacturers have just released a new 2 cylinder sportsbike. BMW, Buell, Ducati, and KTM have all just made an 1100cc+ sports bike. BMW has their HP2 an ugly but fast (for a BMW parallel twin) bike. Harley David... I mean Buell released their first (and loooong overdue) liquid cooled bike, the Rotax powered 1125r. Ducati introduced the drop-dead gorgeous 1098, 1098S, and best of all 1098R. And last but definitely not least is KTM and their RC8, the Super Duke's racy brother. Not only are all of these bikes going to be out on the street and coincidently the same time, but the track as well. I've heard of these bikes running around endurance races in Germany. Anyway here's a run-down of the specs.

BMW HP2 Sport
Horse Power 128hp
Dry Weight 178kg (392lbs)

Buell 1125R
Horse Power 146hp
Dry Weight 170kg (375lbs)

Ducati 1098
Horse Power 160hp
Dry Weight 173kg (381lbs)

KTM RC8
Horse Power 152hp
Dry Weight 188kg (415lbs)

The BMW is at a disadvantage with its air/oil cooling, I think it's more of a formula extreme bike, like the Buell XBRR. The Ducati seems to have the battle won on paper. I've heard reports of 1125r's beating 1098's and 1098's beating RC8s. I guess we'll have to wait for some big comparison test. The important thing to take home is that there's fresh blood, lots of it, in the sportsbike category. The traditional big four Japanese plastic fantastics vs. the occasional Italian bike has gotten stale. Consumers can now choose American, German, Austrian, Italian and of course Japanese when it comes to fast bikes.

On another interesting note BMW has another superbike coming the S1000R, though it uses a inline four like the Japanese machines. Aprilia is also said to have a super bike, but with a v four which should prove interesting. Finally I'm waiting on Triumph. Their 675 rocked the socks off the supersport world, where's the new big bike? It would only make sense for an 1100cc triple to compete against 1000cc fours and 1200cc twins. But these are all topics for other blogs. That's my two cents and I'm sticking to it.