option (see technical feature) to keep
you from being passed a t the start by
all the fours you outqualified because
you can't control the wheelies. Two, it's
SOO-sized - which is to say that in spite
of Okada's relatively close-coupled ridQ:rg position, I felt comfortable on the
Honda.
o It's talJer than the 2S0-c1oned Aprilia,
and a little longer in the wheelbase, in
~ite of being slightly more compact
than the Doohan NSRSOO. This has two
benefits: There's more room to move
about the bike, which makes it easier for
a bigger rider to work the turns with it
than on the Aprilia, and it is also a little
I 'ss eager to aviate the front wheel,
thanks to the. longer wheelbase. But only
adittle.
Because the first thing you learn
when riding the NSRSOOV is that you
dan't just gas it up wide open out of
turns - any more than you can the Vfour, but for a different reason. If you
do, the V-four will unhook the back
wheel and high-side you - but the twin
works the other end of the spectrum
and will loop the front end in a monster
wheelie. When HRC started testing the
bike in earnest, they were surprised to
discover that even Okada could only
hold the throttle wide open on the Vtwin for about 80 percent of the time
that Doohan and Criville are able to max
out their fours, depending on the circuit.
The reason is the awesome amount of
tbrque: Crack the throttle to the stop
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