Serotta vs. Yamaha R1 on Alpe d'Huez - Non Spoiler

[jamesau]

2 race bikes pitted against each other on the descent; it was a close contest.

http://www.thenational.ae/lifestyle/motoring/motorcycle-takes-on-bike-on-tour-de-frances-famous-alpe-dhuez?pageCount=0

[johnnymossville]

Maybe the Schleck Bros need a Serotta for those tricky Descents.

[Louis]

Sounds like Howie needs to gain a few stone.

[SteveFrench]

I haven't enough time to watch the vid but if it was a twisty descent (and I suspect it was) a supermoto would walk away from an R1.

[Charles M]

I have a KTM 690 and just got ride of a Hypermotard that very simply will not keep up with any of my road only sport bikes when it's all Tarmac... The generic "supermoto" would not out do the new R1 in most reasonable cases. ADH has stretches where the power just makes too much difference.


That said, I can also chase down lots of mediocre Moto riders on any bicycle in the house coming off of South Mountain...




But I would kick the ever loving ***** out of myself on virtually any mid or large CC road moto versus any bicycle I have...

Hell,

This:

http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/photos/charles/mid3.jpg


Has 1/2 the power of these:

http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/photos/charles/mid8.jpg


And I would still absolutly ***** on any bicycle and rider off ADH and or most of the roads like it...




It makes for a nice story, but the guy on the sport bike either can't or didnt ride it any where close to capacity...

[rustychisel]

I haven't enough time to watch the vid but if it was a twisty descent (and I suspect it was) a supermoto would walk away from an R1.

lol a lot. It was Alpe d'Huez. You might say it was twisty, in the same way I might say 'A llama is a quadruped'.

[SteveFrench]

lol a lot. It was Alpe d'Huez. You might say it was twisty, in the same way I might say 'A llama is a quadruped'.



Sorry man, I'm unaware of Alpe d'Huez. I guess I should go and slap my middle school geography teacher for skipping it, because it's so clearly a feature of extreme importance. But thanks for responding to the meat of my comment...er wait, never mind.

[SteveFrench]

Gorgeous machines! I assume they are yours, am I right?

I have a KTM 690 and just got ride of a Hypermotard that very simply will not keep up with any of my road only sport bikes when it's all Tarmac... The generic "supermoto" would not out do the new R1 in most reasonable cases. ADH has stretches where the power just makes too much difference.


That said, I can also chase down lots of mediocre Moto riders on any bicycle in the house coming off of South Mountain...




But I would kick the ever loving ***** out of myself on virtually any mid or large CC road moto versus any bicycle I have...

Hell,

This:

http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/photos/charles/mid3.jpg


Has 1/2 the power of these:

http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/photos/charles/mid8.jpg


And I would still absolutly ***** on any bicycle and rider off ADH and or most of the roads like it...




It makes for a nice story, but the guy on the sport bike either can't or didnt ride it any where close to capacity...

[Vientomas]

Sorry man, I'm unaware of Alpe d'Huez. I guess I should go and slap my middle school geography teacher for skipping it, because it's so clearly a feature of extreme importance. But thanks for responding to the meat of my comment...er wait, never mind.

Read an learn my young French padawan:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpe_d'Huez

[SteveFrench]

Read an learn my young French padawan:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpe_d'Huez


Merci! Audrey Tautou is about all I know of France. But I'd still like to slap my teacher. Just for laughs though.

[rice rocket]

It makes for a nice story, but the guy on the sport bike either can't or didnt ride it any where close to capacity...

He seems like a well accomplished motorcycle journalist with backgrounds in some sort of track racing. I don't see why he would hold back, or lack skill...since that's what he does day in and day out.

http://www.therevcounter.com/general-mayhem/10201-warren-pole-bloke.html

[maunahaole]

Audrey Tatou is a nice only thing to know.

[allenwhy]

Merci! Audrey Tautou is about all I know of France. But I'd still like to slap my teacher. Just for laughs though.
Judging by your user ID on this bicycle forum I would guess you would know tons about france and especially Le Tour de France. Goes to show... :p

[SteveFrench]

Judging by your user ID on this bicycle forum I would guess you would know tons about france and especially Le Tour de France. Goes to show... :p


Actually, "Steve French" is a Trailer Park Boys reference. Cheers!

[Charles M]

He seems like a well accomplished motorcycle journalist with backgrounds in some sort of track racing. I don't see why he would hold back, or lack skill...since that's what he does day in and day out.

http://www.therevcounter.com/general-mayhem/10201-warren-pole-bloke.html


I'll clarify my line to he held back and or wrote this for entertainment (like the journalists on top gear when "racing"). This is no place near "reporting" and in the UK especially, "Journalist" and "Entertainer" translate differently than they do in North America... (It's not at all untoward, just that the words openly hold a different tilt...)


ADH is straight up stop and go and the R1 will be going more than twice the speed between many of the corners (first gear redline is almost 100MPH on the R1 and that happens in about 4 seconds from a stand still) and the moto will be cornering at similar speeds.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TprmaMOZ_Jg/TdpN1u1NYEI/AAAAAAAABNQ/yGJPibJ5_tA/s1600/LAlpe-dHuez.jpeg
A great cyclist will struggle to pedal to 40-50mph (in fact there's only a couple of the longer switches where this is remotely possible) before slamming on the brakes again... The moto will corner the same and be going 60 in some place near 3 seconds and a few of the stretches will see 70-80-90 mph before grabbing binders. (that's 15 all out sprints, and the R1 doesnt get tired...)



It just plain doesn't wash.



The only thing close would be racingthe R1 on road versus a good down hill MTB guy picking lines straight down the slope... That would be entertainment.

[old_fat_and_slow]

Can you get that crappy Beamer out of the way so I can enjoy the full splendor of that Ducati 1198 please?

[benb]

Definitely going to back Pez up..

It sounds like ADH isn't really very steep & twisty compared to the mountain descents that I have done on both a road bike and a motorcycle, in which case the R1 should be able to run far ahead without even bothering to corner hard. If the bicyclist claimed he needed to go for taller gearing I strongly suspect this is the case, as generally pedaling is meaningless above a certain speed on a bicycle.

If you get to a very very twisty road that is very steep.. say something like Mt. Washington but all paved, the motorcycle should still be able to crush the bicycle simply because of it's superior fade-free brakes. I've been down a lot of twisty mountain descents where I was very fearful that my rim brakes would not be up to the job, those same descents on the motorcycle are absolutely no sweat despite having to slow the additional 400-500lbs of weight.

Heck if it's really steep & twisty a mountain bike should beat the road bike too due to superior braking. Once it gets steep enough that pedaling is meaningless the the MTB is superior in my experience.

[vqdriver]

The only thing close would be racingthe R1 on road versus a good down hill MTB guy picking lines straight down the slope... That would be entertainment.

... simultaneously

[MattTuck]

... simultaneously

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rmm05pj5cwI

[Charles M]

Remember the "picking lines" part :D