Not to worry. I'm a sensible lad on the bikes. Even with a wheelie king bike like the VTR I never really got into the whole wheelie thing, apart from perhaps getting the front wheel an inch or two off the ground for a moment. Doing wheelies always concerns me. Knew someone who flipped a bike and is in a wheelchair as a result, so that's always been a sobering thought for me anytime the front wheel leaves the ground. Even if not for that, I never really enjoyed doing wheelies. Can barrel into corners at racetracks with the footpegs folding up and the rear wheel leaving blackies, but never ever got used to hanging the front wheel in the air. Go figure - I must be a wuss - not that this bothers me. I've always been happy to go at my own pace and not try to keep up with the true nutters. My motto has always been "Keep it at ~80% on the road, and save the 100% antics for the race-track", and I'd like to think that 99% of the time I've kept to that policy faithfully.
The R1 had insane acceleration. Overtook a car that was annoying me today and went from 30-120kph before I even realised I was going that fast. Gotta watch that if I aim to keep my license.
Am well aware that the newer GSXR1000's are meant to be better in almost every respect, but for me the R1 is a bit of a sensible step up from the VTR. A bit more of a gentle jump to go from a 110hp bike to a 155hp bike, rather than a 180hp one. Heck, I was always one to believe that 100hp was as much as I could ever need or use, but just for once in my life I'd like to see how the hardcore open-class sport-bike crowd live.
I keep reading about how the R1's are meant to be twitchy, but then I read how the GSXR1000's are meant to have vague feeling front-ends, and how the Kawasaki's are let down by their suspension, and the Honda's are the boring all-rounders, firm stable and planted, but missing a raw element. Crap, seems like no matter which bike you buy, someone's got something to bitch about with it. Then I think back to '2000 when everyone was singing the praises of the R1 as the ultimate sports-bike, so are we just splitting hairs here or what?
Bikes are meant to be fun items that allow one to explore one's abilities introspectively, regardless of any "niggles" with the bike. As far as I'm concerned, as long as it's not dangerous, it adds to the experience anyway and I firmly believe that the ability for any bike to go fast and/or be enjoyed rests about 95% with the rider, and only about 5% with the bike. Crap, I still remember crafty old Tom Saville overtaking the hardcore sport-bike nutters on his old Honda Dominator (NX650), round the outside of them, with no hands on the handlebars. If that's not a better example of the rider's skill being the dominant factor in the enjoyment of a motorbike, regardless of how good or bad the motorbike is supposed to be, then I don't know what is.
This R1 has a steering dampener, so any excessive twitchiness shouldn't be an issue. I aim to enjoy it sensibly, but not sedately.
It's more of a bike than I'll ever have the skill to master, so in that respect I just see this more as a learning process of the self, and hey, isn't that what motorbike riding is all about at its very core? That Robert Pirsig guy makes a lot of sense.