Ride a Bandit 1250 and you'll also be blown away by the low-end power... and it's an I4. The torque V4 thing is an urban legend promoted by many who should know better.
I rode Griff's Bandit (MaxiumSuzuki.com) it was OK power but I wasn't blown away... it didn't have the bottom end plod or the mid range push or the top end rush of my race bred V4 and the B12's handling felt like a wheel barrow full of bowling balls compared to my HRC flick machine however Griff was really blown away with the torque and handling of my RC45...
Quote Griff
Went on a rather lengthy tour today with Rick (Coin', and a
couple of guys Rick knows. We headed up through Foresthill, and all the
way up through Mosquito Ridge Rd to the French Meadow Res' area. This is
a fantastic ride, with some great hardcore twisties.
One of the guys, Larry, has a beautiful RC45, a rarity to say
the least! A truly amazing bike, and unbelievably fast. Larry took off
ahead of us, and just RIPPED through the twisties. He was way gone most
of the time. Rick and I were riding at a pretty decent pace too, and we
had no chance of catching the little monster.
One the way back down, we came back into the Foresthill area,
which has some long sweepers, and Larry took off again. Not being in
such tight quarters anymore, I blazed off after him. The B12 was better
suited for this kind of pavement (somewhere I could better utilize the
power), and I was able to maintain my distance reasonably well. I was
pushing it pretty hard, but I know the RC45 could have easily left me if
Larry pushed it some more.
Rick and I both got an opportunity to take it for a spin! The V4
in the bike is SWEET (its NOT of the same line of V4's that Honda uses
in its VFR's), it **** smooth everywhere, and has more fn power than
most would know what to do with. One thing that surprised me was the
amount of mid-range torque it had. The fuel injection is flawless, and
didn't present any surprises or quirks, just a **** smooth response.
One of the funny things about the bike is the WAY tall 1st
gear, takes a little bit to get used to. Red-lining it in 1st gear puts
you WELL into illegal speeds territory.
The handling is incredible. A total flick-machine, and on
rails all the time. Its very lightweight, and the bike itself is TINY. I
felt like a circus clown riding a kids bike.
Theres no way to use the bikes total potential on the street.
But ****! Its fun as hell trying to!
Hopefully there will be a next time
--------------
Griff
Administrator, Maximum-Suzuki.com
W.W.B.O.C. #137
Rick's response to Griff
I forgot to tell you Griff, I wicked it up a bit and ran down the ol'
RC45 on the way back to Foresthill, stuck there behind him for a long
time just checking out the way he rides that V-four. As I perched my
B12 back there to view the exotica in action, I noticed he was
late-apexing all the corners, rarely using the brakes, and letting the
V-four torque drive out of the turns nicely without needing any
super-high revs.
It was a joy to watch a nice smooth rider on an EXTREMELY rare
bike. how many bikes do you know with a VIN like "00000002?"
The best thing is, his RC45 is WAYYY better than a stock RC45.
he built his own custom billet rearsets with ribs to help keep your
boots on the solid-mount pegs, magnesium wheels sporting ultra-sticky
Metzeler Rennsport street tires, oversized brake rotors, modified
triple-clamp offset (pays to own your own machine shop eh?),
quarter-turn throttle, he fabricated the exhaust system too, etc etc.
So what we have here is a very rare bike that is NOT a garage
queen, he rides and mods it properly, like any self-respecting bike
owner. I think it has over 35,000 miles on the clock.
When I rode the RC45 we were still in the twisties, holy ****e
that bike drops onto its side quite fast thanks to the magnesium
wheels.Shaving 7-10 lbs of unsprung weight pays huge dividends in
handling.That bike rails around corners, no other way to put it.
Fantastic day of riding! We even had a first-generation GSXR750
along, so the RC45 was the only bike in our group with a radiator.
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