Originally Posted by Old Fox

Riding the banshee

....So, my recommendation, feel for the clutch bite-point at idle and get the bike moving with a little slip of that clutch. Upshift to 2nd at as low as 15 kph and gently ride through the gears till you’re doing somewhere above 60 kph in top. The amazing thing is that this bike picks up in 6th from as low as 40 kph without any chain-snatch. Smooth in top – all the way from 40 to 240. Wow!

Physically maneuvering the bike with the engine switched off, say in the parking lot, makes it quite a heavy handful. It’s not just the weight but the combined resistance of the front tyre’s wide contact patch and the steering damper which makes it difficult to handle. But once on the move the weighty sluggishness just vanishes. At first the bike appears to be resisting steering inputs. It is not sort of twitchy like our low capacity ones. But it is actually just a matter of grading your physical inputs. It took me a couple of miles to settle in and try out some gentle weaves, just to gauge how the bike responds. Both the throttle and the steering are delightfully crisp and precise. In a little time, I could easily steer around small tarmac patches that I selected as practice targets. It was getting fun by the moment. Get me those ‘targets of opportunity’ now guys!!

Another recommendation: Get that helmet on real snug or rather tight. This bike came with a low-screen up front and one has to really crouch to get behind it. Riding with a normal posture means the wind hits the helmet smack in the middle and induces both buffeting and lift. Not much you can do about the buffeting but the lift is going to virtually hang you by the neck at speeds approaching 150 kph. And yes, the jacket needs to be zipped up right to the stops. Wind gets in there too and starts shaking you up as speeds build up.

With the passing of miles I was getting into the rhythm of the ride. Took a while but beneath the aura of a superbike, I soon began to relate to the R1 as a bike. Albeit a very powerful one but a motorcycle nevertheless. And found out that this was the first vehicle I’d driven or ridden whereon I loved to apply the brakes. No, not just because the brakes were so damn precise and effective but for the need to accelerate thereafter. The punch is heady, hits you below the solar plexus with a rush and a howl and you want to get hit again and again. Traffic seems at a stand-still around you, so rapid is the acceleration in any gear and at any speed. Just roll that throttle and you pass others like point and shoot. I did not attempt very high speeds considering 1) it was my first long ride on the ‘One’, 2) it was being run-in and 3) out of consideration for that poor soul following me on the R 15. I cruised mostly around an indicated 120-130 kph at anywhere between 4000-4600 rpm in 6th. But with just a tiny twist of the right wrist, I could get up to warp speeds breathtakingly fast.

In city traffic or through crowded streets with bumper to bumper traffic, ones initial focus is pretty intense on the throttle handling. Low gears and excess throttle is not forgiven by any superbike. But the brain and the muscles learn fast and adjust. The first few minutes in heavy traffic are troublesome but soon the clutch and throttle become friends again. Taking full-lock u-turns is a chore and a pretty dicey chore at that, what with that huge turning circle these bikes have. I was not ashamed at sticking both my legs out on the sides, like out-riggers, to catch that sudden deadly drop if I happened to kill the engine mid-turn. Didn’t happen thankfully but was always on my mind. Better still, walk it around the turn.

Crowds are another issue when you are on such a bike as the R-1. You’re riding a celebrity and get repeatedly mobbed. People just don’t pass you by anymore. They stop and stare and come up with the usual questions; which company? for how much? mileage? how fast? etc etc. A pain after the first few times but has to be endured. Leaving the bike parked while stepping in somewhere for a bite or stay in a hotel is again an issue. You’ve got to secure the ‘celebrity’ first before anything else.

But all this is forgotten when you ride the rumble. Roll that throttle and feel the shoulder-snapping acceleration. Take those long sweepers at absurd speeds without a twitch from the bike. Flash those dazzling projector lamps and watch even the best of SUV’s give way. And if some moron in a Civic or a Corolla thinks he is the speed king, smoke him in 6th itself. But remember, the banshee does wake up the devil in you. Beware and ride it in check.