Buell XB12Ss vs. Ducati S2R and GSXR 750

Today was pretty unique. I got a chance to ride around the city with two fellow bikers, who also had no immediate plans. We wandered aimlessly around for some time up and down the major avenues, and truly playing in traffic.

Riding with two other bikers provided a unique chance to see how city riding can be made much more safe with team work, but that's a topic for another day.

Today, I'll just make some observations on the different riding styles of my temporary companions for the day.

Ducati S2R
With a tendancy to rev quite high at the light, he could just about keep up with me off the line. I could hear him revving high and downshifting quite often when it came to passing taxis, which was a potentially bad habit - perhaps inspired by the Ducati engine? In any case, I also got the sense that his turning radius was much larger than mine, and he had a more difficult time lane splitting then the GSXR and me.

GSXR 750
I'm pretty sure it was a 750, but then again can you really tell unless you're laying it out on the highway? Probably not. First, this guy looked miserable. He glanced around a lot less than the Ducati rider and me, which I can't imagine is a safe habit. This is most likely due to his riding position - which almost made it seem like he'd raised the footpegs. I guess I just never appreciated how awkward the posture is on a GSXR. The bike had great acceleration down Park Ave and Broadway, but the rider had a tendancy to open the throttle a bit too much and hit 60mph+. I'd say a safe riding speed around the city is around 40-50mph, so this bike was perhaps a bit unsafe for the city. But this brings me to a philosophical question:

Does the rider make the bike, or does the bike make the ride?

In almost every magazine review of the GSXR, you read about how quickly the bike opens to top speed, and how there's massive amounts of power on hand. But what good is this in the city? In fact, I'll wager it's a detriment, and possibly downrigt unsafe after spending an hour behind one. As for the Ducati - if you're lazy about turns because the bike is slightly sluggish, does this make you a less responsive rider?