Limiting cc's to newbies

[Red01]

On I 20 and I 10, in West Texas the speed limit is 80 mph, I drive it twice a year.

I stand corrected! 
I wasn't aware of W. Texas being different than the rest of the state, but knew several states in the midwest have 75 on their freeways, statewaide.

Wikipedia's US Speed Limits

[drewpy_dawg]

If they are to regulate, it shouldn't be based on cc's.  A 600cc sport bike like a R6 shouldn't be in the hands of a noob-squid.  A cruiser of the same cc's makes 100hp LESS and weighs more to boot! My wife's bike is a 650cc cruiser but only weighs 470lbs dry and makes over 70hp.  Its faster than most any harley or any other v-twin "power cruiser" on the road yet might be available to a noob-squid if a law was passed mandating less than 700 cc's.  Motorcycle manufacturers do not like to post hp figures but a hp to weight ratio would be a better option if something besides COMMON SENSE is needed. 

[aussiebandit]

If they are to regulate, it shouldn't be based on cc's.  A 600cc sport bike like a R6 shouldn't be in the hands of a noob-squid.  A cruiser of the same cc's makes 100hp LESS and weighs more to boot! My wife's bike is a 650cc cruiser but only weighs 470lbs dry and makes over 70hp.  Its faster than most any harley or any other v-twin "power cruiser" on the road yet might be available to a noob-squid if a law was passed mandating less than 700 cc's.  Motorcycle manufacturers do not like to post hp figures but a hp to weight ratio would be a better option if something besides COMMON SENSE is needed. 

I agree basing the restriction purely on cc's is silly, as is basing it purely on power to weight ratio. 

Very early in the peice the ACT (Australian Capital Territory) had a learner approved scheme based on power to wieght only.  This meant that a learner could effectively ride a HD Electra Glide as the power to weight ratio was quite low.

As I mentioned earlier in this thread, NSW and some other Aussie states have adopted the ACT scheme but changed it to have a maximum cc as well.

The basic premis for this is that a learner or probationary rider can ride any motorcycle up to 660cc providing the power to weight ratio is less than 150kw/tonne.

Some bikes that fall into this are the Suzuki GS500, Yamaha XV650, Kawasaki KLR650, Ducati M620 Lite and the Hyosung 650L.

Some notable exceptions are the RGV250, RS250 and a few other 250 2 stroke road/race bikes.

[egads1]

Today's 250 is faster than yesterday's 500.  Also handles better.  To what cc you gonna limit newbies?

[speedwaymaniac]

I think throughout the course of this thread it has been decided that limiting to any form of 'cc is pointless for the exact reason you just stated egads1.
The most effective way is to limit horsepower but even that can be pointless, its all down to training in my opinion if you've been told how to ride a bike well you'll do a good job if you got on and thought you were the dogs nuts, your blatently going to crash and burn.

Though as many others have also mentioned why is it any of the governments business whether we crash and die or not, the only thing i can come up with is statistics. They dont want there county/state/country looking bad. E.g. here in the UK were constantly rated against European countries safety statistics.

[aussiebandit]

I think throughout the course of this thread it has been decided that limiting to any form of 'cc is pointless for the exact reason you just stated egads1.
The most effective way is to limit horsepower but even that can be pointless, its all down to training in my opinion if you've been told how to ride a bike well you'll do a good job if you got on and thought you were the dogs nuts, your blatently going to crash and burn.

See my post above "..........that a learner or probationary rider can ride any motorcycle up to 660cc providing the power to weight ratio is less than 150kw/tonne....."

[speedwaymaniac]

which sounds very similar to what we have here in the UK already (bar the engine cc restriction). All i can say is that its not much of a difference, i have ridden my B6 without my restriction kit and with. With its a little more user friendly and your less likely to wheelie away from lights etc, but with 33bhp on the 600 theres still more than enough grunt to make serious damage. i mean 60-70 is ridiculously easy and 100 is well possible 100+ more difficult but will still happen.

Training and track days however will give all riders whether experienced or new on probationery etc the chance to learn from others and learn what their bike is capable of and how to handle it. Whatever the power that it produces be that in engine size or horsepower.

[aussiebandit]

I totally agree that training is the key, however, in this big brown land called Australia, good training facilities, i.e. race tracks are limited to the major cities, those of us who live in the country have limited access to these facilities.  From Wagga (supposedly the largest in land city in NSW) it is a 2 to 3 hour drive/ride to the nearest race track, and with petrol costing upwards of $1.41/lt that alone makes the cost prohibative, even without factoring in the cost of the 'training'. There are major towns in NSW that would be 6-8 hours from a race track - what are potential riders supposed to do.

I assume it's not a lot different in the USA - albeit your petrol is some what cheaper.

In NSW it is compulsory for the majority of people to attend a 2 day training course to get their learners and another 1 day course to get their probationary licence.  Here in sunny downtown Wagga the training is done on small car park and only really runs through the absolute basics, but I suppose it's better than nothing.