Gotta wonder what on earth is going on with today's liter bikes. The horsepower wars have gotten ridiculous. 204 hp on a road going motorcycle is absurd. No one can use that. No one.
Over the years I've become friends with one of the guys who was involved in spec'ing out and building my Super Sport for the original owner. He did this while working at the Ducati shop that sold it, then wound up owning Ducati of Seattle, and now owns Seattle Used Bike. He knows his way around Ducatis. Many owners of brand new bikes, just off their factory warranties, bring them to him in preference over the dealers. He is that good, well liked, and respected.
He confided in me a couple of years ago that of all of the new Panigale fours and twins he services, he has yet to see one arrive at his shop with the ride mode setting turned to anything more aggressive than "rain mode". Even there, they still provide something like 130-140 hp, which is apparently "enough" for everyone whose bikes he services.
The application of power on performance motorcycles is limited by three things - short wheelbase, high center of gravity, and traction (under acceleration). Under full power, all these bikes will do is either lift the front wheel or roast the rear tire. We choose which by where we place our weight. What is delineated by power output is the speed at which we still have to make this choice - the lower the horsepower, the lower the speed at which the bike will no longer force us to make this choice.
On my Super Sport, that speed is somewhere at or above typical freeway speeds. Granted, I can just whack it open at 70 mph in a higher gear with no worries, but if I'm "serious" about it and downshift into its powerband, it will lift the front wheel, limiting how fast I can actually accelerate.
So, where does 204 horsepower leave us? At lower, "real world" street riding speeds, like on the twisty back roads with 35-50 mph limits (with our speed adjusted accordingly...
) that 204 horsepower will gain the rider absolutely zilch in performance over my meager 95 horsepower. It just can't make use of it until speeds are up in the Isle of Mann range. So what good is it?
My buddy's customers have, I believe, answered that question.