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I sat on Rossi's 07 M1 today and other observations

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drumfu

Joined Oct 2006
165 Posts | 0+
buddy works at American Suzuki and gets tix to the LB MC show every year. today was the 1st day. yamaha had Rossi's M1, Bostrom's R1 and Herrin's R6 on display. since it was a little dead today, one of the Yamaha guys opened up the display and let a handful of us sit on the bike and take pix.

thoughts...

07 Yamaha M1 - like all GP bikes, it's small. small and tight. the tank is about half the width of an 08 ZX6's tank. actual width of the bike itself is about 3/4 as wide as an 08 GSX-R750. riding position is fairly normal although arm position was tight as the distance between clip-ons is much smaller than a roadbike... noticably so. button layout is very simple. two buttons on right clip-on and two buttons on left clip-on. i assume they are for TC settings, pit lane speed control, and not sure what else since they were not labeled, but they were color-coded.

07 Ducati GP7 - ducati had stoner's bike there, but could not sit on it. i did look at it in painstaking detail. and in all honesty, i have no idea how stoner won the championship on that thing. it looks totally cobbled together and it seemed that if i even brushed it with a finger, it would fall into a million pieces right then and there.

08 Honda CBR 1000 - looks freakn awesome... until you see the nose. i have no idea what honda was thinking. ugh.

lots of other bikes and gear. for me, the winners for 08 are, in no particular order, the Kawi 250, the Kawi 1000 and the Suzuki 750.
 
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(drumfu @ Dec 8 2007, 03:28 PM) [snapback]103763[/snapback]<div class='quotemain'>
it seemed that if i even brushed it with a finger, it would fall into a million pieces right then and there.


then gee I can see why they didn't want anyone sitting on it
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They do "explode" well whenever they take a tumble, and I must admit in the very few crashes Stoner had this year, there was a lot of damage there.

Do you reckon they were bikes they actually rode? or mockups from parts?
 
nah, they're the actual bikes.

hmmm... when i say the GP7 looked cobbled together, i'm really saying it looks like a HUGE piece of ..... i was just trying to be nice. if you looked at it up close, it looks like something someone slapped together in their backyard with all the wrong tools. i guess that's exactly what a duc is tho.
 
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(drumfu @ Dec 8 2007, 05:27 PM) [snapback]103769[/snapback]<div class='quotemain'>
i'm really saying it looks like a HUGE piece of ..... i was just trying to be nice. if you looked at it up close, it looks like something someone slapped together in their backyard with all the wrong tools. i guess that's exactly what a duc is tho.


look I don't doubt that at all ...... small team not a big budget. I'm sure its a pretty spartan beast of a bike ..... I think I said it before .... Stoner is a farm boy he is used to quite "rough" machinery
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Whenever I've layed eyes on "someones" actual bit of ex-championship winning bike/car/whatever I'm allways a bit stunned ..... one allways expects more.
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To that point ... never take a close look at what we call a V8 supercar here
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yeah, there's always that incongruence between the "polished image" of any racing machine that's presented to the public, but up close you realize the machines really aren't "polished" at all and are hacked together to try to eek out every last bit of speed while not falling apart.

i guess the level of "polish" between the engineering of the M1 versus the GP7 was a lot bigger than i would have thought. the M1 could pass for a road bike to the untrained eye. the GP7, not at all.

if you offered either the M1 or the GP7 to someone who didn't know bikes and they inspected them closely to pick one, they would definitely not choose the GP7 cuz it looks so trashy. which is really funny because it absolutely destroyed all the japanese machines this year.
 
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(drumfu @ Dec 8 2007, 05:42 PM) [snapback]103773[/snapback]<div class='quotemain'>
which is really funny because it absolutely destroyed all the japanese machines this year.


And that is precisely the reason why I think I get this "aura" of a shiny well appointed luxurious ......( and further superlatives ) .... piece of machinery ... then you se it up close and think "he won on that!!??"
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It would do good for more of the "Ducati is the best bike" backers to see it up close and personal. It would be surprising .... and would give you a good insight into how much Stoner rode the Ducati and not vice versa .... but I'm not saying the Duc. was bad by any means ...... it was the perfect bike for Stoner.
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Also yes he Japanese can even make race bikes look "showroom" too.
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<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(drumfu @ Dec 8 2007, 07:42 AM) [snapback]103773[/snapback]<div class='quotemain'>
yeah, there's always that incongruence between the "polished image" of any racing machine that's presented to the public, but up close you realize the machines really aren't "polished" at all and are hacked together to try to eek out every last bit of speed while not falling apart.

i guess the level of "polish" between the engineering of the M1 versus the GP7 was a lot bigger than i would have thought. the M1 could pass for a road bike to the untrained eye. the GP7, not at all.

if you offered either the M1 or the GP7 to someone who didn't know bikes and they inspected them closely to pick one, they would definitely not choose the GP7 cuz it looks so trashy. which is really funny because it absolutely destroyed all the japanese machines this year.


At assen this year I got a pretty close look and photos of the bikes and the one standing out was the Honda. It didn't look mush like a bike though, more like a beautiful piece of engineering.
 
Yeah I got to touch all the GP's bike when the show was up here in Seattle this last week, but did not get to sit on them, lucky ........ Commenting on Stoner's bike about how it looks just thrown together really did not stand out to me, probably because I race and I am around things that look similar all the time
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. Also the bikes might look a little trashy because of all the people touch and pulling stuff through all the shows. The throttle looked like it had been torn by a bear or something hahaha!
 
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(drumfu @ Dec 8 2007, 03:28 PM) [snapback]103763[/snapback]<div class='quotemain'>


07 Ducati GP7 - ducati had stoner's bike there, but could not sit on it. i did look at it in painstaking detail. and in all honesty, i have no idea how stoner won the championship on that thing. it looks totally cobbled together and it seemed that if i even brushed it with a finger, it would fall into a million pieces right then and there.


wow stoners 07 bike is everywhere, even at 10 different places at the same time. must have some special ducati beam me up scotty technology
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<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Pinky @ Dec 10 2007, 01:36 PM) [snapback]103936[/snapback]<div class='quotemain'>
wow stoners 07 bike is everywhere, even at 10 different places at the same time. must have some special ducati beam me up scotty technology
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I just had an evil thought ..... I mean these equipment displays earn people quite a bit of money.... so to get a bit more to help py the bills ..... do you reckon even Capi's last two ex-race machines had a 27 stuck on them and are out there too ???
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Well I know in the past I have seen a "mockup", or two, made from the leftover spares, but Capis 07 stuff is now hanging around somewhere too
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Even if they are just spare parts bolted together they are all still great to see, and your very lucky that you got to throw your leg over one.

The only way it could get any better is to run out on to the track and pat the guy on the back as he is smoking the rear tire. On the cool off lap that is
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Reading one of the Motogp blogs it was mentioned that some of the bikes on the show circuit are a little more than cobbled together pieces of parts from various evolutions of the bike.

Not saying that the Big Duke doesn't look unpolished but you may have witnessed a pieced meal bike.. who knows...

Anyways... you got to throw your leg over a GP bike.. How much fun and how cool is that.
 
Pics are here

yousendit only allows for 7 days of upload time so grab 'em now.

there's only a handful of pix in the zip file... 4 or 5 of the M1 and 1 of the GP7. there are more pix, but i'm still waiting on them. this is what i could get so far via email.

i'll post the rest when i get them.

(don't get too excited, the pix aren't that great)
 
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(drumfu @ Dec 7 2007, 08:28 PM) [snapback]103763[/snapback]<div class='quotemain'>
since it was a little dead today, one of the Yamaha guys opened up the display and let a handful of us sit on the bike and take pix.


07 Ducati GP7 - ducati had stoner's bike there, but could not sit on it. i did look at it in painstaking detail. and in all honesty, i have no idea how stoner won the championship on that thing. it looks totally cobbled together and it seemed that if i even brushed it with a finger, it would fall into a million pieces right then and there.


That's cool that you got to sit on Rossi's bike. I was at the Long Beach show too. I was also disappointed in the fit and finish of the Ducati GP bike when scrutinized up close. However, you should have talked to the Ducati exhibitors because they would have informed you that the bike on display was NOT the GP7. You may have noticed, or not, that there was no display sign claiming it was Stoner's bike. Being a Ducati enthusiast, I also looked at the bike in great detail. I noticed that it had some parts from previous MotoGP bikes, previous years that is. So I went around asking more knowledgeable official exhibitors (not just the hired people to stand next to the bike) and inquired about the bike. They informed me that in fact, it was not the GP7 Stoner rode. In fact, it wasn't a GP7, but rather a 990-era bike with parts that had been assembled to make it look like this year’s GP bike. On top of that, it was not even Stoners bike, but rather a previous bike that had been fitted with this year’s graphics and Stoners number.

So yes, you had a good eye in describing that the bike appeared to be pieced together rather un-impressive, but there was an explanation for that, and its is that the bike was in fact, pieced together from different bikes for display purposes only.
 
This was from a few years back, and I was told that it was a parts bike. The detail just made it hard to believe...
[attachmentid=2589]
[attachmentid=2590]
Can you see? Can you? Huh, huh?
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Sorry, I thought they would take up the full screen, and you would be see the treads on the bolts!! couse it took like minutes to upload to this site.
 
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Racejumkie @ Dec 11 2007, 09:21 AM) [snapback]104022[/snapback]<div class='quotemain'>
That's cool that you got to sit on Rossi's bike. I was at the Long Beach show too. I was also disappointed in the fit and finish of the Ducati GP bike when scrutinized up close. However, you should have talked to the Ducati exhibitors because they would have informed you that the bike on display was NOT the GP7. You may have noticed, or not, that there was no display sign claiming it was Stoner's bike. Being a Ducati enthusiast, I also looked at the bike in great detail. I noticed that it had some parts from previous MotoGP bikes, previous years that is. So I went around asking more knowledgeable official exhibitors (not just the hired people to stand next to the bike) and inquired about the bike. They informed me that in fact, it was not the GP7 Stoner rode. In fact, it wasn't a GP7, but rather a 990-era bike with parts that had been assembled to make it look like this year’s GP bike. On top of that, it was not even Stoners bike, but rather a previous bike that had been fitted with this year’s graphics and Stoners number.

So yes, you had a good eye in describing that the bike appeared to be pieced together rather un-impressive, but there was an explanation for that, and its is that the bike was in fact, pieced together from different bikes for display purposes only.


you know what, you're right. it was a GP6 as you can tell from the exhaust with a couple pipes facing out the pillion. the GP7 points straight back.

i refuse to believe that the M1 wasn't rossi's tho (fingers in ears). i should have taken a pic with my pulling on the peg.
 
When I saw Stoners bike I could have sworn it was a GP7. Maybe it was just the chassis but the bike was definitely a different size than the 990s, much smaller.
 
I have to agree with the observations of Drumfu and Racejumkie -- the fit and finish on the ducati was appalling. the yamaha was much better. Wish honda had the RC212V there too. Lucky Drumfu -- I guess I got there too late, the Yam was cordened off with velvet rope.

I was blown away by how long the swing arms were on the the GP bikes, almost looked like they were drag bikes.


Anyone notice the difference in seat padding between the Yam and Duc? the Yam has half an inch of foam and Duc had a well padded seat.
 
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(drumfu @ Dec 11 2007, 10:16 AM) [snapback]104029[/snapback]<div class='quotemain'>

i refuse to believe that the M1 wasn't rossi's tho (fingers in ears). i should have taken a pic with my pulling on the peg.

Dude, that would have been funny. Yeah, I didn't get that great of a look at Rossi's bike, but I can tell you I was much more impressed with it from what I saw. Do you remember last year's yellow bike Yamaha brought? That one didn't have the keep-your-distance tape around it like this year's. You could go right up and touch it. That was cool. Yamaha has been very impressive at the shows these past few years. I do think they bring Rossi's actual GP bike. They bring plenty of stuff to salivate at. Did you happen to catch a glimpse at the Bostrom's bike? Wow. I was also impressed with the 450 they had next to the Boz/Rossi/Harin display.

Side note, Honda is the most unimpressive of all the top companies displays. They bring a bit of everything they make, as if its a trade show rather than a motorcycle show. I can't believe they don't bring there GP bike, not even when they had a champion to promote.
 

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