Should Anyone Ride a Litre Bike?

Nov 17, 2022 — In the first few weeks of 2015, KTM president Stefan Pierer did the unthinkable. He was discussing the future of Katoom’s RC8, and for no apparent reason, he decided to throw Team Orange onto the far side of a prickly debate.

Let’s be honest, if your superbike is reaching 200 horsepower or more, it’s impossible to argue that it belongs on the street. It really doesn’t, anymore… We at KTM think that a sportbike with such performance doesn’t have any place on the public roads.

As quoted from Cycle News Magazine, Alan Cathcart’s interview with Stefan Pierer: "Play to Win Part II" Vol. 52, Issue 7 (February 18, 2015), pp. 78-79.

Pierer may have gone home, done some stretching, and then wedged his foot into his mouth. But he certainly wasn’t mixing words at the time. The motorcycle boss unwaveringly stated that no one should ride a 200hp machine on the road. And in the context of discontinuing the 173hp RC8, he tacitly condemned litre bikes in general.

Of course, the 1000cc dinosaurs are far from extinction. Kawasaki was shamelessly sensational about the new Ninja H2, and Honda was no better with their street-lethal RC213V-S (although the North American version has been dulled down for affluent amateurs).

So rather than scaling the superbike back, it seems that we’re moving in the other direction. But is it wise to ride a litre bike? Or is KTM’s moral compass pointing due north?

Beginners Should Not Ride Litre Bikes

Listen up newbies. If someone tells you to buy a litre bike, they’re probably trying to murder you. Superbikes are designed to instantly perform whatever input you give them. And in the unsteady hands of a beginner, that ends badly. Ever heard the term "whiskey throttle?"

Right now, someone is yelling at their computer:

I started on a litre bike, and I was fine!

To that person, I would recommend looking up the definitions of "survivable" and "advisable." They’re not the same thing.

But safety aside, starting on a litre bike is still a bad idea. You won’t learn how to ride a motorcycle; you will learn how to ride your motorcycle. That’s because you’ll be constantly fighting to control the bike instead of actually riding it.

No one becomes a dog trainer by wrestling bears. Moving on.

Experts Should Not Ride Litre Bikes, Either

Insurance is a pain in the ass. But you probably won’t feel it, because your lower body is already numb from cramped rearsets and a comical seat. Litre bike ergonomics are designed for MotoGP aliens, not real humans.

Yes, you have the ability to ride something like this. Maybe you can even take it to the 200mph butter zone. But how often is that going to happen? 99.9% of your riding time is spent at subsonic speeds, below 9000rpm and somewhere near a corner. And in these scenarios, a 600cc supersport isn’t only equivalent. It’s better.

Besides, a litre bike isn’t a "rider’s motorcycle" any more than the F-35 is a "pilot’s airplane." The onboard computer will be doing more traction, wheelie, launch, suspension and braking control than you are. You might feel like Valentino Rossi, but some geeky programmer is the real hero of this story.

To top it all off, these bikes get stolen a lot.

Professionals Don’t Ride Litre Bikes, Mostly

Rumour has it that Kawasaki was less than pleased with their 1999 AMA road racing team. After receiving production sport bikes from Big Green, Doug Chandler and Aaron Yates both commented that they were too dangerous to ride on the street.

Today’s MotoGP racers are better trained. Whenever a new litre bike is unveiled, you’ll find Jorge Lorenzo or Marc Marquez politely standing at attention. But you’d be hard pressed to find a MotoGP champion actually riding one. Allegedly, their contracts forbid them from everything but dirt bikes and scooters.

And if professional road racers won’t ride street-legal litre bikes, who will?

Somebody Has to Ride a Litre Bike

As I’ve discussed, litre bikes aren’t really built for the street. You can’t use them to their full potential on public roads. And if you can, you shouldn’t.

But that’s not what litre bikes are for. These motorcycles are built to win races, from the amateur leagues to the World SBK. And in order for the race bikes to exist, de-tuned versions must be available for street use. They happen to sell like hot cakes, but that’s just a perk. Ginormous sales figures can’t hide the fact that these motorcycles — on a mechanical level — are not designed to be sold.

Having arrived at this conclusion, I see two types of people who should buy a street-legal litre bike:

• People who want one bike to ride and race (but you’d better have a damn good excuse for not buying two different motorcycles).
• People who appreciate motorcycles.

That’s right. The second category is a catch-all.

Because if you appreciate motorcycles, then a small piece of you should love the litre bike. This is the ultimate example of what is possible for the average human and their machine. A $15,000 litre bike can embarrass a million-dollar hypercar. And that’s just wild.

Litre bikes are ridden on principle. Most of them will never do a nine-second quarter mile or a 55-degree lean angle. But it’s totally cool that they could. These are the bleeding, razor edges of our motorcycling community. Because they exist, we all look sharp.

And no, that doesn’t mean litre bike owners are posers. At least, no more than I am for owning a 300-metre diver’s watch. Maybe I don’t like to get my ears wet, but I can still appreciate a brilliant piece of engineering from dry land.

So there you have it. We all have one good reason to buy a litre bike. And plenty of bad ones.

Your move.