Low CC Sport Bike Review | GTAMotorcycle.com

Low CC Sport Bike Review

ifiddles

Well-known member
Chase on 2 Wheels did a mini series on five low cc sport bikes...here is the final review, but the previous videos show his first ride reviews of the Yamaha R3, the Kawasaki Ninja 400, the Honda CBR 300R, the KTM RC390 and the Suzuki GSX250R ...here is a link to the final review...lots of good info here for first time riders or even those looking for a smaller cc bike...

 
Engine braking?!?
 
@ Baggsy the Yamaha R3 came out on top for engine braking!!! I love the engine braking on my FZ07...use it all the time...
 
I like all of them
but if they were all lined up I'd be running for the Orange.
 
don't feel like looking it up
but I thought all those small displacement sport bikes
had a slipper clutch?
 
Slipper clutch only prevents you from applying way too much engine braking if it is working right,
it's not a coaster hub.
 
@ sburns why is engine braking a bad habit?
I'm still new to this just my own thoughts not complete experience. But I would think using your hand brakes would be better overall, and for your muscle memory when you get into a situation. Instead of you building up a habit of using the engine. Again I could be completely wrong, I am sure someone can correct me.
 
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I see your point...I guess I'm used to doing it in my car as well...probably why I drive a stick shift...engine braking is definitely better for not wearing your brakes out as fast...it does make it harder for drivers behind you to not know you're slowing down because of the lack of brake lights, but I usually do this when approaching a red light of stop sign so I'm assuming people see the light/sign...probably not the best idea to assume that, but I've done this since 2011 and not ever had an issue...knock on wood...
 
I see your point...I guess I'm used to doing it in my car as well...probably why I drive a stick shift...engine braking is definitely better for not wearing your brakes out as fast...it does make it harder for drivers behind you to not know you're slowing down because of the lack of brake lights, but I usually do this when approaching a red light of stop sign so I'm assuming people see the light/sign...probably not the best idea to assume that, but I've done this since 2011 and not ever had an issue...knock on wood...
Apologies for hijacking this fine "small bike comparison" thread ...
Engine braking plus feathering the brakes, is what I use on both two and four wheel transports.
Also, like to blip the throttle/accelerator on a downshift but have read elsewhere that this is not good for FI computer controlled motors - true/false?

"four wheels good, two wheels better"
 
Engine braking = ABS for old people,
if everything you ever drove had an automatic transmission, you might not even know what it is or when to use it.

Blipping an engine :/ while nothing is actually 'good' for a motor except maybe oil, you are certainly not doing your valve train drive any favours,
your Fi computer uses a collection of sensor inputs to make the motor operate efficiently under normal operating conditions, normal operating conditions doesn't normally include a whole bunch of superfluous and sudden increases and decreases in engine speed. Operating efficiency and engine wear is probably reason enough to not constantly blip your 4-stroke engine if you care about such things, otherwise have at it.
 
I'm going to play devils advocate here...if blipping is bad, why do some manual transmission cars automatically blip the throttle when downshifting? The DSG transmission in my gti blips the throttle when manually downshifting, and in auto mode when in sport mode as well. It's meant to ensure smooth downshifting from what I understand.

Having said that if you aren't smooth with it I can see how it can be bad when the clutch engages and the engine speed doesn't match wheel speed.
 
.. why do some manual transmission cars automatically blip the throttle when downshifting?...
Give us an example of such a car and I bet we can figure out why.
 
Is DSG your example?
"DSG = A direct-shift gearbox (German: Direkt), commonly abbreviated to DSG, is an electronically controlled dual-clutch multiple-shaft gearbox in a transaxle design, with automatic clutch operation and with fully automatic or semi-manual gear selection. "
That's not an example of a manual transmission.
 
The engine doesn't care what transmission it's connected to. All it sees is a certain RPM and a certain load.

It won't care about momentary throttle blips for rev-matching purposes, either.

All of the newfangled quickshifters that operate on downshifts, do so by momentarily blipping the throttle; of course this is done through the drive-by-wire but the mechanical bits of the engine don't care. If you need an example of a bike that does that, I just rode one: BMW S1000RR.

As for cars with manual transmissions and automatic rev-matching ... Read: What exactly does an automatic rev-matching transmission do?
 
Give us an example of such a car and I bet we can figure out why.

Previous Gen Corvette and Nissan 370z are two that I've sampled myself, beyond that I would need to look up other cars that might use the technology.

Is DSG your example?
"DSG = A direct-shift gearbox (German: Direkt), commonly abbreviated to DSG, is an electronically controlled dual-clutch multiple-shaft gearbox in a transaxle design, with automatic clutch operation and with fully automatic or semi-manual gear selection. "
That's not an example of a manual transmission.

It's an automated manual, it uses clutches like a manual that are engaged and disengaged with electronic control. There is no torque converter. You're not wrong...it is an automatic in the sense that it does the work for you but after driving one a while you can feel the difference in the way it behaves compared to a traditional automatic, especially once you jump back into a traditional automatic equipped vehicle. It's much more efficient and responsive.
 
(y) Simple is usually better then complex because it involves fewer things to go wrong ymmv.
 

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