ABS
Was impressed by my couple of rides on a Bimmer that had 'em, but extra weight is bad on a sportbike.
Many defenders of ABS tout how they’re good for ‘beginners’ or ‘average’ riders. Once again, I say if you’re an ‘average’ rider, mebbe you should take up another hobby (or at least ride something other than a sportbike)? If you’re a beginner, you need to learn early on how to use yur brakes! There’s always bad execution-BMW seems to be going backwards with their ABS: the lastest version has solenoid operated units on the bike, and if you lose power (while in motion)-yowza! Then there’s the false sense of security-to quote an editor in Sportrider: I once watched a rider crash trying to avoid a car in the rain, due to his attempt at turning while slamming on the brakes. He exclaimed incredulously as I helped him up, “I don’t understand it-my bike has anti-lock brakes.”
Traction Control
Depends on how it works. Makes launching my car hard out of corners a real doddle.
I was talking bikes, but now that you mention it, I probably wouldn’t want it on my car either? The old ST Honda had it, but I believe it got lost over the years? Apparently another Honda answer to a question nobody was asking?
V4 Engines
What's bad about squeezing 4 cylinders into the width of a parallel twin?
What’s so good about it? For every perceived benefit of a V4 layout, there are also tradeoffs (a couple of which you covered). The benefit I hear of most is you can make the bike narrower. Heck, most folks can’t fit behind the fairing on inline 4 bikes-the extra narrowness of a V4 sounds more like simply an arguing point rather than offering any true benefit. Kinda like all those artists’ renderings of future bikes with ridiculously low windscreens. Looks nice in the pix, but who can fit behind one of those things? Time to add a double bubble to clean it up aerodynamically!
while offering a better torque curve than an inline.
I’ve seen some graphs on V4 torque vs inlines. Not enough difference to justify the extra cost/complexity of a V4 to me.
Mebbe it's just me, but the few V4's I've ridden just seemed to me to have an 'agricultural' feel to 'em (the vibration reminded me of the big old grinder the dentist uses). I prefer the frenetic pace of an inline 4, but could see having fun on a twin.
Bear in mind that Honda's new MotoGP bike is a V-5.
Yup, and the new Yamaha GP bikes are inline 4’s? Last race I saw, the Yamahas were right there with the Hondas, and I’m sure they'll close the gap even more as the season progresses. Not that I really see where GP bikes have anything to do with street bikes in this instance.
ST Motor
That would be a V-4, just set longitudinally.
Why? When it came out, I remember seeing Honda yak ‘bout better torque with it’s layout, but if you compare, I believe it put out a whopping 1 ft. lb. more than a Concours. Actually, the Concours engine is more of a revver (based on the old ZX-10 motor)-I kinda like revs! Like many things Honda does, the ST engine seemed to be a case of we’re going to do it differently than everyone else just to show you we can, to differentiate our product from everyone else’s, and just because we’re Honda! I’m not impressed by any of those reasons, but I seem to be in the minority these days (everyone has succumbed to Marketing 101)
VTEC
Bikes have power, it's handling that that separates the winners from the losers on the track.
‘Zactly. ‘Course, I’ve seen some folks claim it appears instead of giving an extra oomph at 7000 rpm (5 ft/lb torque & 10 hp), they swear Honda took something off the bottom end of the new VFR (compared to the old). If you have to lose something on the bottom to make it appear you’re getting something extra at 7000 rpm, have you really accomplished anything?
it's a free lunch when you're not worrid about engine size or cost.
Now you ought to be ‘experienced’ enough to know there are no free lunches!