A typical conversation between #bikers and #motorcyclists: Do you really need so many horses? How much power do you need? Let's talk about quality and quantity, we're going to go to the whiteboard for the first time in Moto1PRO and we're going to remember César Agüí, one of the best motorcycle technicians and journalists of all time. Be careful what you tell me. You already know: I'm a geek. And be careful what you tell me, because I'm not telling you to write everything down... But almost everything. One of my oddities is a certain Diogenes syndrome, but in a digital variant: I keep notes of many of the presentations I've been to, of conversations I've had with people who know a lot, like César Agüí. On the track, 600 or 1000? For the track I now have a very well-prepared 2009 Suzuki GSX1000RR. I've ridden four GSX1000RRs and, frankly, I don't know which one I had at the time. Let's suppose, even though it's impossible, that I had the one I have now, a 185 hp bike at 12,000 rpm. I was worried because there were curves where, if I took it in second gear, I felt that the feel of the throttle was very aggressive, with the engine revving too high. But in third gear, when I accelerated, I came out at barely 5,000 rpm. César was following me behind with a Suzuki 600, with 125 hp at 14,500 rpm. And then he said to me: "It's that your bike at 5,000 rpm offers 80 smooth and progressive horses... To reach 80 hp, I have to take mine at around 10,000 rpm." Quality or quantity? This is the key: Quantity or quality. But sometimes, it's the same thing. We continue on the track: If you have a cool head so as not to “screw” mercilessly with the bike lying down, in the end riding a 1000 will cost you less than riding a 600. Even if you only use 125 HP, the first 125 HP of a 1000 are much smoother and more progressive than the 125 HP of a 600. With a 1000 there are curves where you can enter with two different gears and you will come out well for sure… With a 600 each curve has its gear ratio, you cannot let the engine drop in revs. For enduro riders and crossers, it is the same as in off road riding a 250 4T or a 450 4T. With the 250 you can be more aggressive with the gas… you can and should, because you have to keep it up. With the 450 you can go “combing” the gas… It depends on the way of riding each one. I would even say that it also depends on the size, especially in the field. With my 1.87 m, 87 Kg and a riding style of going in high gears, I have always preferred big bikes. On the street. The highest quality horses are usually found in motorcycles with a larger displacement and, not always, with more power. But in this case, the displacement matters a lot. Let's take two successful motorcycles from the same brand as an example: The BMW GS. You can think that with the 85 HP at about 7,750 rpm of the 800 you have enough to travel with luggage to the end of the world, travel on the highway, certainly take paths and in the city you are more than enough. But the R1250 offers those 85 HP at less than 4,000 rpm. I can't resist comparing this engine with the ones we've seen before, so let's go to the board! Of course, if you are like me, one of those who likes to move in high gears, this boxer engine and you are made for each other... It's not all about #power. We all agree that it's not all about power. Because going back to the previous example, of course the GS1250 engine may seem much better than the 800's... But judging the engine alone doesn't get you anywhere. And it turns out that "fat" and powerful engines tend to be found in "fat" bikes that are generally heavier and sometimes taller. So you have to judge the bike as a whole, without a doubt, but without forgetting that when it comes to power, quantity matters, but quality matters more. Claiming powerful bikes. In this video that I made remembering César Agüí, I don't want to stop commenting on the conclusions we reached then, which are the same ones I reach now: Let's claim powerful bikes. Are you going to go faster for riding a 150 HP bike than for riding a 100 HP one? Maybe you can go faster on a hill or a winding road, but I would say that you are even safer when you overtake or when you go through a curve and you don't have time to change gears... But in the end, on a straight road or highway, speed will depend more on the rider's judgment than on having a few more horsepower. Heart and reason. We riders have an advantage: We know a lot about motorcycles and we have a lot of information in our brain. And a disadvantage: We don't usually use that information, because motorcycles, fortunately more than unfortunately, are bought largely by the heart rather than by reason. As my mother used to say, "virtue is in balance." We shouldn't buy motorcycles that are too powerful if our level isn't up to it, but neither sh