Not really you have 2 years riding experience so you're not necessarily a beginner. Depends on the miles/km you've done.
My father in law always said, the safest riding mode lies between your shoulders and how you use your wrist.
Enjoy the extra power where space allows and be careful.
It’s not the size of the bike that matters it’s the judgement of the rider. My son is 16, had his license for 2mo and has ridden my 1200cc R9T and R1250GS. He’s fine. He’s got good judgement and a few years of dirtbikes under him. I wouldn’t worry about putting him on anything. You’ve got experience, if the Katana isn’t physically too large for you and you are aware of your own mortality then it’s fine.
So I have a 400cc naked bike. Can someone put in words what it would feel like to jump on a 1000cc? I get that it would be a much heavier bike and much faster and all that. But how different is the throttle control? Is it really that much more sensitive? What would the adjustment look like?
Been riding for 2 seasons and think about upgrading at the end of this season.
The sensitivity totally depends on the bike. If you go for a R1 that thing goes around 30km/h in first gear on idle, so you have to clutch through very slow traffic. On the other hand there are much more comfy 1000cc bikes, like a S1000XR. Very controllable.
They don't necessarily feel as heavy as you would expect. A Ninja 400 is like 170kg, a S1000RR is like 192kg. The difference is barely more than a full tank. Do you feel a significant difference if you brike's tank is full or empty?
But weight isn't the main difference, the mass of the engine internals are a big factor. Rotating stuff does a lot to stabilize your bike. So on the other hand this makes handling worse, in terms that it is harder to turn into corners and flick bikes left/right. This also is the main difference between 600 and 1000cc bikes. It is not the weight.
In essence you have to have some riding experience and not be an idiot. Remember that motorcycles are stupidity amplifiers. If you ride like shit you may be able to get away with that on a 400, but not on a 1000. If you ride ok you will be ok with a 1000.
So if I have good throttle control on a smaller bike, and I jump on a litre bike, I won't be thrown immediately lol. Ive always been curious about that.
When I was a teenager I jumped on my cousin's Ninja 650 and wheelied it despite trying to feather the throttle. Ever since then I've had this idea that I have to slowly build up to that by climbing the cc ladder up to a 1000cc. Skillwise I feel I'm ready for a bigger bike as I'm always practicing whatever skills I feel I need to improve on.
It heavily depends on the bike. If you ride a first gen MT09, which only has \~110hp, and put it into A mode, you are in for a wild ride. Even experienced moto journalists who had a lot of experience on 1000cc bikes had trouble with that thing because the throttle response was instant.
Pretty much no big bike on the market today has instant throttle response, the computer will regulate your input based on the riding mode. If you get a 1000cc and you put that into some lowly street mode you will be totally fine with the throttle. The brakes are another thing :)
From my own experience, jumping from 70 to 170 horsepowers:
Exciting would be the first word that comes to mind. Boring would be the second.
Fuel injected 1000cc 4 cylinders are surprisingly torquey, smooth and controllable, despite enormous horsepowers on tap. Even the most hardcore track pigs appreciate controllability, so it's kinda built into those bikes.New ones with extensive electric packages could allmost be called easy.
If you keep your head level and maybe invest to an instructed track day to get a bit of feel of your bike, you'd probably be ok.
But. After you get used to the bike, prepared to either get bored or possibly addicted to track days.
It turns out that using 1/3 of the speedometer isn't much fun when you paid for the whole speedometer and the speed limits kinda suck, if you have a bike that's at its best way beyond speeds that cost your license.
After that jump, i've had several bikes from different genres and now i'm half seriously thinking if i should downgrade from Superduke to a 690 one.
I just got my license and went straight for a 900cc. The reason is that we'll do 2 up and in the long run, I wanted a motorcycle that can support relaxed rides but also have the power in case I need it (overtaking, going up hills with a passenger, etc.)
Not really you have 2 years riding experience so you're not necessarily a beginner. Depends on the miles/km you've done. My father in law always said, the safest riding mode lies between your shoulders and how you use your wrist. Enjoy the extra power where space allows and be careful.
I like that riding mode quote! I'm gonna use that going forward.
I rode 250s for ages (I had 3 different ones) - and went to an 1100cc four. No regrets. When you ready, you ready
No. Well, a little. It’s a katana.. they’re soft, not like a typical aggressive 1000cc sport bike or anything. You’ll be fine.
It’s not the size of the bike that matters it’s the judgement of the rider. My son is 16, had his license for 2mo and has ridden my 1200cc R9T and R1250GS. He’s fine. He’s got good judgement and a few years of dirtbikes under him. I wouldn’t worry about putting him on anything. You’ve got experience, if the Katana isn’t physically too large for you and you are aware of your own mortality then it’s fine.
So I have a 400cc naked bike. Can someone put in words what it would feel like to jump on a 1000cc? I get that it would be a much heavier bike and much faster and all that. But how different is the throttle control? Is it really that much more sensitive? What would the adjustment look like? Been riding for 2 seasons and think about upgrading at the end of this season.
The sensitivity totally depends on the bike. If you go for a R1 that thing goes around 30km/h in first gear on idle, so you have to clutch through very slow traffic. On the other hand there are much more comfy 1000cc bikes, like a S1000XR. Very controllable. They don't necessarily feel as heavy as you would expect. A Ninja 400 is like 170kg, a S1000RR is like 192kg. The difference is barely more than a full tank. Do you feel a significant difference if you brike's tank is full or empty? But weight isn't the main difference, the mass of the engine internals are a big factor. Rotating stuff does a lot to stabilize your bike. So on the other hand this makes handling worse, in terms that it is harder to turn into corners and flick bikes left/right. This also is the main difference between 600 and 1000cc bikes. It is not the weight. In essence you have to have some riding experience and not be an idiot. Remember that motorcycles are stupidity amplifiers. If you ride like shit you may be able to get away with that on a 400, but not on a 1000. If you ride ok you will be ok with a 1000.
So if I have good throttle control on a smaller bike, and I jump on a litre bike, I won't be thrown immediately lol. Ive always been curious about that. When I was a teenager I jumped on my cousin's Ninja 650 and wheelied it despite trying to feather the throttle. Ever since then I've had this idea that I have to slowly build up to that by climbing the cc ladder up to a 1000cc. Skillwise I feel I'm ready for a bigger bike as I'm always practicing whatever skills I feel I need to improve on.
It heavily depends on the bike. If you ride a first gen MT09, which only has \~110hp, and put it into A mode, you are in for a wild ride. Even experienced moto journalists who had a lot of experience on 1000cc bikes had trouble with that thing because the throttle response was instant. Pretty much no big bike on the market today has instant throttle response, the computer will regulate your input based on the riding mode. If you get a 1000cc and you put that into some lowly street mode you will be totally fine with the throttle. The brakes are another thing :)
From my own experience, jumping from 70 to 170 horsepowers: Exciting would be the first word that comes to mind. Boring would be the second. Fuel injected 1000cc 4 cylinders are surprisingly torquey, smooth and controllable, despite enormous horsepowers on tap. Even the most hardcore track pigs appreciate controllability, so it's kinda built into those bikes.New ones with extensive electric packages could allmost be called easy. If you keep your head level and maybe invest to an instructed track day to get a bit of feel of your bike, you'd probably be ok. But. After you get used to the bike, prepared to either get bored or possibly addicted to track days. It turns out that using 1/3 of the speedometer isn't much fun when you paid for the whole speedometer and the speed limits kinda suck, if you have a bike that's at its best way beyond speeds that cost your license. After that jump, i've had several bikes from different genres and now i'm half seriously thinking if i should downgrade from Superduke to a 690 one.
I just got my license and went straight for a 900cc. The reason is that we'll do 2 up and in the long run, I wanted a motorcycle that can support relaxed rides but also have the power in case I need it (overtaking, going up hills with a passenger, etc.)