JPS, a lot would depend on the bike in question, the manner of riding (solo, two-up) and where you ride but my thoughts have always been that litre sportsbikes are overkill for the public as essentially you will never see them ridden near their potential, but then, is the bike bought to ride to it's potential?
IMO only but as with Hollywood, the 600 sportbikes of today are as overkill as the thousands but again are bought like loaves of bread.
I have had two 500cc parallel twins (Suzuki GS500) that was awesome fun on twisty roads and very licence preserving on straight roads which was a hoot to ride as, for me it is the enjoyment of riding.
Have also had two DL650 V-stroms (Weestroms) and they are heaps of fun to rid in the twisty stuff and comfortable as an armchair on a long tour. Great bikes actually.
Thing is, I know a lot of people out where I live who have cruisers and ride two up so have the big cruisers as they also lug camping gear, some even a trailer and whilst a smaller capacity could do it, the larger capacity does it far easier. Mind you, I live in a region of straight roads with few bends, thus the cruiser mindset out here and thy are all of the 1200 - 2000 range (not all harleys)
The biggest issue of the 1 litre sportsbikes in Oz is that we constantly hear of calls to ban them or restrict them as they so often end up in hands of posers who have NFI as to any signs of limits and simply want to twist the throttle or raise the front wheel with no thought given to time, space which so often means trips to hospitals or worse.
That said, there are exceptions as I can see why AJV wanted the H2R as it is a unique machine and not common, same with Desmosedici owners, why not have that 'special'.
Bah, I rattled on but in short for me the 1 litres are overkill (have ridden a few, way to much motor for me) but each their own on them really although for mine, on a twisty road, not much beats a 250cc two stroke
