Finding the Best Motorcycle: CCs are Misleading, Don't Rely on Them Again
Measuring an engine size in CC as a measure of performance makes shopping for a motorcycle confusing today, more than ever.
In the past, at least in sport bikes, this was more straightforward: 600cc and the 1000cc. Every 600cc produced about the same amount of horsepower, give or take. Motorcycles are changing – current day you have many sizes of engines: 300cc, 400cc, 500cc, 600cc, 636cc, 650cc, 700cc, 750cc, 890cc, 1000cc. CCs of an engine don't correlate to horsepower like they used to when every brand had a 600cc four-cylinder sport bike that produced around 120hp.
Let's play a game.
Which motorcycle has more horsepower, the Yamaha R7 (700cc) or the Yamaha R6 (600cc)? If you guessed R6, the lower CC motorcycle, you'd be correct.
Let's play another game.
The Yamaha R9 (890cc) vs. the Yamaha R1 (1000cc), which has more horsepower? If you guessed the R1, the higher CC motorcycle, you'd be correct.
By the two examples, you'll notice that CC does not directly correlate to horsepower.
Yamaha isn't the only example. Kawasaki does this with their ZX6R (636cc) and their Ninja 650 (649cc). The ZX6R, despite having fewer CCs, has about 2x the horsepower.
What's going on here?
You may think cylinder count correlates to more horsepower. You start thinking about two 600cc bikes, then you think yeah, the higher horsepower motorcycle is the four cylinder 600cc and the lower horsepower is the two cylinder 600cc. Well, this is wrong too.
Compare the Yamaha R9 (three-cylinder, 890cc) and the Ducati Panigale V2 (two cylinder, 890cc). You may think the R9 has more horsepower due to the extra cylinder, but they're about the same.
You can see that CC does not correlate to HP, so be wise and note that you should ask the horsepower and torque figures of various motorcycles rather than fixating on a CC number when determining if a certain model of bike is a good value at the price.
But wait, if the Yamaha R9 and Ducati Panigale V2 produce the same horsepower, which motor engine is more fun? Which bike is better?
Stay tuned for the next episode.
(If you really want to be blown away look up Harley Davidson CC vs. horsepower).