What's an inline-4 like?

[jmillheiser]

I started on a twin and moved up to an inline 4 on my second bike.

The main difference I notice between the 2. Twin comes on strong at the bottom but trails off a bit at the top. An inline 4 is a little soft at the bottom (easy to manage if you dont hamfist the throttle), and gets a huge surge of power when it comes into its powerband and pulls all the way up to the top.

[Grey Thumper]

I'm on a FZ6. I love it. The low end is mellow. Almost like a car and little torque under 4k. It is great in stop and go traffic because it just kinda drifts forward without issues.

All the power of the I4 is up top. They humm, buzz, and then scream to life. The FZ6 starts kissing its power band at 6k and at 8k its a totally different machine. I love it.

How do you find the clutch/friction zone? It seems like this is the best value among middleweight standards (fairing, centerstand, etc.) but a lot of reviews note the clutch, or is that a "spoiled reviewer" kinda thing?

[jmillheiser]

Cant vouch for the FZ6 as I have never ridden one, but normally once you ride a bike for a little bit you get the feel for where its clutch is going to engage as no two bikes have quite the same clutch feel.

Both my Honda and my Suzuki had very smooth clutches and shifters on them, with the Suzuki having a bit wider engagement range on the clutch and a bit lighter action on the shifter.

For comparison I test rode a harley and its clutch had a rather short engagement area and was rather grabby (not a problem once you get used to it), and the shifter took a good solid shove from your foot to shift (but you KNOW it when it shifts, you get a very solid "thunk" when you shift on a harley)

[flynrider]

I rode the FZ6 earlier this year and I didn't notice anything about the clutch. I expect that any bike I hop on is going to feel a little different as far as controls go. It's just something you get used to as you ride it.

[AlphaZed]

Wow! That honda is purrrty! Why don't we get any of those bikes here???

Honda did bring those bikes to North America for a couple years. Nobody bought them.

Same was true of the Honda 919. Great bike, low sales...

[AlphaZed]

I think you'll find the Inline four to be much smoother. Perhaps not so much at walking speed, but definitely when in full flight...

[HYPERR]

It's funny because the L-Twin on my Ducati is a torque monster but at lower rpms, you can tell it isn't really happy. It just vibrates the wrong way and you can tell it's sorta stressed.

It IS peculiar, the L-twin on my V-strom is the same way. Below 4K it's not happy. Yet my the I4 on my wife's Trophy pulls smoothly and quite contentedly from as low as 2K.

You would think it would be the other way around....

Indeed.

I imagine it has a lot to do with the camshafts they use. the Duc and the vstrom are trying to be sportier then your avg. big American Vtwin with tractor like cams and uber gobs of torque. The Triumph is probably camed to be more streetable then your avg. japanese I-4 screamer.

That's the thing that is so amazing about the Japanese 600 4cyl. It is cammed for max HP at the upper rpms. Despite that and it's 15,000 rpm redline, it feels totally smooth and un-stressed putting around in 6th gear at rpms that would make the Ducati protest.

[jmillheiser]

My suzuki only had a 12,000 rpm redline, but still pulled strong above 7k rpm. It was also very easy to ride at low speeds too, even at a walking speed it was smooth and easy to control.

Not all sporty twins protest at low speed either. I have ridden an SV650 before and it was actually very smooth and easy to ride at low speeds, definately comparable to my bandit. Its powerband was completely different from my bandit despite the similar power numbers, the bandit was much stronger up top, the SV was noticably stronger at the low end and mid range.