oh damn! I never saw the little flames on there. Now I need one. The flames sold it for me.!

those mufflers really suck though

Lame winkers still in the fairing. You still have to balance your grill under your arm and unclip the winker wire = Lame me a mirror wink-wink ya [I don't wanna say]. Clean look? Oopseas, I said it!

Heyyy,
I personally like the "lame winkers in the fairing"! I guess because I can unhook em one pawed while I'm holding the plastic with the other paw...

Does max peak torque of S1000RR somewhere north of 10,500rpm equaled by the 14 somewhere around 4000rpm mean anything? There is nothing close about the S1000RR to the 14 in this dept. It absolutely stomps on any literbike from the feeling of that little (or a lot) extra pull that can be fine tuned with the right wrist.

YUP - ditto that Grn! BUUTT, I think some black and chrome carbon fiber cans would just look smashing on it though!!!!

dam, those square, angular, ugly pipes are starting to seriously grow on me. they looked so mismatched before cause i wasnt used to the look. but my eyes are starting to adjust. thing is starting to look badass.

Yeah, it does that doesn't it?

I was looking at a busa yterday and it reminded me of the ones on the 14R, that'll be the first thing to go if I get 1....
heh, I bet there are functional though
If you gna compare the tq between the bmer and the 14R you should compare the weight as well. The bmer doesn't need that much tq to make u feel like it's gna separate your head from your body. When it comes to sensations the bmer will be more exiting than the 14R, but if I could own only 1 bike it'd be the 14R.
I think kaw shoulda came up with it two years earlier but I guess they were waiting for somebody to step up like bmw did. The 14R power modes are useless to me. If I wanna save gas and cruise I run higher gears, plus you don't wanna be in a bad situation and not have enough power to run from it. On the other hand I understand the need for modes on liters cause there are so aggressive and hard to ride on the street. The traction system... I dunno I'll wait for green to report back on that, the ABS would have been a big plus to me, but it was going to make the 14R heavier and way more expensive. In brief, the 14R is a nice machine but I was expecting more. I like it a lot but not enough that I wanna trade in my sub 13k miles 06. The hp and tq increase are nice but I would need to be on track to take full advantage of it and most tracks aren't suited for that big of a bike.

Looks to me like the 'foreman'...or pitchfork now

Exactly what I was thinking,,,, Pitchforks haha.

Yes, 2 reasons you don't want the R is that you have to hold the pitchfork cover to unconnect the stink'inn wink'inn wire week inn weak out I have to figure out how to install winkers up front again! The other reason is...

Grn - she is a nice looking bird, can't wait to have on in the garage, I'm thinking maybe black... I like the wheels on the Green one though, maybe I could get over my feelin's about the flames get the green one, remove the decals and have my own flames pained on or something, who knows...

Hub - you would not buy this bike just because of how the blinkers hook up???? Really???

Despite all of the bad things that people keep saying about it, I like what Kawi did with the 14R. We keep trying to compare it with a liter bikes, but it's not a liter bike, wasn't meant to be... Kawi produced this bike to rule in straight line performance and to be comfortable for miles on end while being able to achieve warp speed whenever you wanted to - the track it owns is the DRAG STRIP not a roadcourse... So why do we keep trying to compare it with bikes that were designed to perform on roadcourses? The Beemer or any other liter, hasn't really been a nemesis for the 14 or the Busa on the Dragstrip... only on the street and on track days for the few of you who take the 14 there. I think we need to keep apples WITH apples and oranges (14R/Busa) in the basket with oranges... personally, I LIKE oranges more than apples...

BW,
I buy an engine on two wheels, period. The rest is baggage and someone's idea of design is pitch it the fork off. I'll trade wheels with Grn? I'll get them powercoated and add weight? No, I am an R kind of guy. Time is moving faster than I am living on this earth is called, rotation. I'm about to rotate out of here and I'm going to party hardy on some hardass torque is me. Ask me if I'm worried about a winker and a paint job on the plastic I won't see, nor the wheels do I care, and the 2 reasons why I won't is I won't be on the 14 too much longer when R means; ready for the garage. I am saving up. Trading in, selling the aprilia. I am in a rotation of bikes. Time is whizzing bye, I'm not getting any older... Did I say that right?

Hub,
I'm still not sure why you write that way so it's hard to know if you say right. Haha. Makes my brain hurt - but doesnt mean it's wrong. The wire from the turn signal? Took me three reads to understand what saying. Never for a moment thought much hassle. But am not on and off every week. The grills, whether love, hate or neither, make the 14 one of the most distinct, recognizable and unique in appearance. The bike will look big (well, bigger) and flat and boring otherwise. Designers use little visual tricks to pull eyes to different areas to highlight or fade. It might be ugly or offensive to eyes but that means it also is pulling eyes towards. The designers of the new 14r, in pictures, seems to have done a better job of masking the 14r size. No one wants a fat looking sport bike.

Yup - I hear ya buddy! None of us are getting in younger, but I think I still got a good 10-15 years left in me before I start shining up the walker!

@bw: they're definitely two different machines. I came up with this thread because I found out the main deciding factor to get a 14R was the size of the rider. Especially after the beemer came out. Before the 1000R, buying a 14 meant you had the "badest" accelerating machine on the planet and that liter came and bitchslapped everybody. I felt violated! Even shady Brock made the comparaison when he dynoed the beast 190hp, I don't remember the exact word but he said something like forget about the 14 and busas this is the real deal. I also remember watching the mcn test and not getting how kaw and suz let that happen. On a dragstrip though the 14 is king imo but my username is just that, that is a username. I don't drag race so how do I justify getting a new 14R. Now if I had your budget bw, I think I would, plus you're getting another bike as well. Green also should and is making the move... he had 50k miles on his 07 and he lives in 14 territory, long wide sweepers and clear roads. Hub..? It's all going to depend on what suzuki does, they may be broke but kaw just bitchslapped them... they better do something if they don't wanna loose the hypersport market. I doubt they are going to make something as comfy as the 14 though.

* Last updated by: dragking on 11/19/2011 @ 11:10 AM *

Dk,
The 14 begins to EXCEED the S1000rr PEAK torque at around 4000rpm. What you need a track for? Sure the 14 weighs more but you have plenty of rpms to play with before bouncing off the limiter or unshifting. It's the s1000rr that you need a track to exploit. No one is saying the s1000rr is slower. But why do you compare a hypersport tour to a focused track/sportbike? So what that the 14 gets down the 1/4 good. Sometimes this goodness prevents what else is so good about the bike being appreciated. I don't 1/4 mile the bike at all. Or do any racing. I would never buy a 14 for a roadcourse track weapon. As much as I love the s1000rr and I think it's a totally wicked bike, I could not or would not choose to live with day in day out as an only bike. The s1000rr is still not a reason to enjoy, buy and like 14's.

Good point. I should ve called this thread "2 reasons u shoudn't upgrade to a 14R" it's only because I have a 14 that I'm not considering the 14R as my next bike. It gives me plenty of sensations and got me in trouble many times. What 15 hp is going to do for me on the street? Or 25hp if they come up with a good system? My 14 still spin a tire in 4th gear and "jumps" ahead but there is nothing like taking a curve at max lean and spinning a tire to turn a bike.
When you read btw my lines I'm actually not criticizing the 14R, I'm praising the 14. Kaw made it so good that they're having a hard time coming up with something better. So much so that just like an addict searching for a bigger high I've gotta get on a track with a track bike and only when I use my elbow protection as sliders I'll be ready to hop on a 14R or that beemer tourer. If you're a thrill seeker I would say get on a track with a 600 or a liter but if you're looking for the best all around motorcycle... by all means indulge yourself the 14R is baaad!

1 more thing I'm thinking about is the power delivery, the traction control and the slipper clutch I think they'll take some of the fun out. That bike is going to be so smooth you're not going to feel the hp increase. It's both a bad and a good thing! We are going to witness something similar to what happened when gp said bye bye to the 500 cc. Yes more power but also more aid so less skills involve.

It does exceed the peak tq of the beemer at 4000 rpm but don't "feel like it" plus the redline on my 14 says 11000 rpm so the fun is short lived it's only when u get in 4th or 5th and you see all those pre beemer liter disapearing that it feels worth it. To me a 14 is fun anywhere but the real fun "begins at 150 mph". My friend zx 10 does 100 mph in first gear! Again I'm not compairing bikes just sensations! 45 mph to triple digit used to do it for me but nowadays if I'm on a straight I'll have to be closing on 160mph to truly enjoy.

* Last updated by: dragking on 11/19/2011 @ 12:47 PM *

Gotcha DK, wasn't neccesarily talking about you, but there are a lot of others that seem to be downing the 14R and it isn't even out yet - we're all just going on print racing... The S1000RR has a BIG hp advantage on the competition on the roadcourse venues as well, but how many titles has it got them???? The electronics on the Beemer are not as good as the Kawi's - as proved by mag's testing. But since 90% of the Hp numbers that I see place the BMW at about 177-180 at the tire, so I think a lot of that sensation is from the 17/44 gearing that the BMW has... Gear the 14 the same and I think you might feel a little differently in the seat of the pants department... And the slipper clutch won't change anything you do accelerating, it only slips on decel and the KTRC system can be shut down... it's gonna be what you present 14 is and more... until it hits the streets in force, we really won't know nothing though. It's all good though, we each have different wants or needs from our machine, I like to be able to go fast when I want to and cruise when I don't want to, can't do that on a liter without having a chiropractor on retainer. IF I did ride track days, then I would be buying a Beemer, ZX10R or Gixxer for the rack and the track only, but since I don't, I'm sticking with good old faithful!

And as for my budget, I spend about 8 months a year in HELL and a lot of that time getting shot at and mortared, if I go anywhere off base, odds increase greatly that I won't be coming back. It pays WELL, but believe me, if I could find something that pays nearly as well and has me at home doing it, I would be there in a heart beat!!! And if the economy didn't suck so bad, I would do just that. I'd rather face my danger on the street, riding my bike!

The s1000rr, zx10, etc. are basically street legal race bikes. Yeah, they go faster. Uh, I don't want or need to go any faster on the street. But I do want to go, when I want, where I can. Anything at 5000-6000+rpm is only a matter of fine tuning your right wrist on the 14 - uphill with passenger, whatever. A high strung, high revving motor simply cannot replicate. I'm not coming outta any corners, hitting the rev limit and banging off the next shifts, then downshifting 3, drifting, power sliding and wheelie'ing out. But I am powering out, down the straight, on verge of traction. One downshift, maybe two. Any bike can tuck the front end, so I don't think faster means less skill or safer. The faster you're going, the more dangerous, plain and simple. The 14r and any bike with electronic traction control allows this. It just makes the 14r that much more of a serious machine, IMO. Heck, I'm very happy with my 14 but yeah, it could use traction control and a slipper. ABS would be icing. But having and knowing ABS there might mean pushing a little harder and braking a little deeper. Maybe not such a good idea doing on 14 on the street...

All of you guys got good reasons and I'm glad you're not making the jump just because of hp increase... I will eventually get me a 2nd gen 14R in the meantime I'll be working on my skills with a smaller bike on the track and of course for every day stuff the 14. I'm going to shut up until I read some mag test and get some real world feedback.

I asked this dealer 2 days ago when he was getting the 14R he gave me a straight and honest answer "I don't know". Hopefully they'll be here before christmas!

No need to shut up. It's all good and fun debate. What's insane about the 14 is that it can spin it's rear wheel entirely from corner to corner on 3rd gear straights under damp or dirty road conditions. I'm sure the s1000rr does the same but might need a shift in there. Traction control would be ideal for this. Not saying a good idea or that I regularly ride like this on the street. But it's possible. The greatest and most important thing on any of these ridiculously fast and powerful bikes is speed management. It's very easy to go way, way too fast for conditions and situation on street. But that's also what makes it very cool. It's all about when, where, and how. It is not just traction, handling, etc. It's ability to react. Doesn't matter if on 250, 600, liter or 14. And that's where the 14 absolutely rocks. It is part of the "how" during a "when" or "where", both which can be very limited on the street.

Phil, I thing you nailedown a few points here. One, it's just plain fun to bark at the moon before one gets a hold of one. Two, they may be powerful, but it's hard to use it on the street. Zip-zop, shut it down. The beauty of it is, your 14 was, zip-zop, 170 outta room. With the R, it's 180 in the shorter length it took to get to 170, hit the new pads and front stopping updates; using the same distance or the roads and off ramps you know well enough.

Say I practiced in a short shoot; 120-140 and then 160+. It said ~ Brake Fade above 150 that short a distance! With the R, we can ramp it up to 160 again like it's nothing. Brakes better work or it's DNR my Catch22!

R for it rides like the moped it is:
R for ramp it up is dis a jakekill and hide kind of bike?
R for rotate the fleet.
R for the whole ant chew lotta weight saved; everything is coming off, including disc. Tone wheel stays wink-wink!
R U listening [SLOW?] You don't play in the 1000ft mark, you bring a 12 up against a 14. Slow? YOu don't bring that slowasspile in a trailer already you better turn around what the "FORK" you going to race with? A 14?

2 [R]easons you shouldn't buy the 14R:

1. You don't wanna win.
2. You do not want to win.

Sea Low!