Well I've never ridden one but I did take an *** whoppin on the track from one. It seems to have good power pretty much all around I did take him in the twisties once or twice but it seemed very capable. It is a much more specialized bike than the Hawk so comfort wasn't top priority.

As far as the inverted forks, they are much stiffer than conventional forks because the triples clamp the outer tube and not the inner pipe. There is also less of the inner pipe exposed, this causes less flex and gives the bike a more planted feel to it. You won't get bad flex from hard braking or high speed lean. I don't know of any cons other than it being too stiff for a certain bike. You can be too stiff as well as too much flex and either way can cause vibrations that can cause head shake or the bike to not track well in the corners,(keep the same line). BTW yes I do have inverted forks on mine.

On the shock it depends on the road conditions, your riding style,(aggressive, easy etc..) and if you carry a pasenger. At low speed it shouldn't be a big deal and will feel "plush" but if you start pushing it hard it won't handle well at all.

 

I haven't ridden one yet. I rode a 929RR and the midrange "street power" was lazy and unimpressive. Phat torque is better for the street.

Although when riding with my friend Steve on his 1000RR he was able to outgun me effortlessly. But in the twisty stuff we were right together and he'd often let me go. Just before my crash, I let him and the 4 others in the group go.

I'll be buying a 1000RR as my next track bike, since I'm not going to give myself another chance to crash on the street. It sucked in every way!

 

I guess it would be too much work to put your peices back together and make that a track bike? I can't beleive your going to the dark side(I4)!!!!!! J/k when I buy my track only bike it will be an I4 as well.....maybe....just can't decide.....love tourque...but can't keep up in the straights probably a gixer 750 lots of avail. parts for it, power and quick handling.

 

You need to build a motor for that thing! Much less of an issue with 120HP.

I have though long and hard about rebuilding my bike. I guess I feel like I've done it, learned a lot, enoyed the hell out of it and ready to move on. If I was building another street bike it would definitely be a VTR.

I'm looking forward to learning more from my next project. I wish I could get started right now.

I have lots of VTR parts available. I'm done with the house, so I'll be getting it all detailed and sorted out. Stay tuned.

 

Hopefully that will be around the time I sell my house and have some money to play with. :wink: I put myself first in line.

 

I remember a comparison that Sport Rider did between the RC51 and the GSXR1000 a couple years ago.

When you compared the torque curves, you'd see that the gixxer is tuned with a really flat torque curve and made more torque throughout the RPM range and kept making it long after the RC51 ran out of RPM.

An overlay of the 1000RR and the GSXR1000 is nearly identical. So the new literbikes are no longer lacking midrange torque. That's why I need one!