Can you control a high power bike?

Inspired by my ride a few days ago with the GSXR biker, I've been wondering - you read so many anecdotes and comments in online message boards about bikes being "too much, and you need to make sure you can control it." This was never satisfying to me, and I suspect to many others, who think it's a challenge, so take it on!

But here's the difference. Control can mean self control on a bike, and then it's a soft-skill, much akin to a philosophy or mindset. Control can otherwise mean right hand throttle angle-to-rev mapping. In other words, how much power do you unleash with a quarter turn of the throttle?

On a bike with 160+ hp, a quarter turn can practically mean adding 30 mph to your speed. On a bike with 100 hp, a quarter turn can mean adding 10 mph to your speed. Most bikers get into a knee-jerk reaction about more power being better, but consider this: 30mph / 90 degree turn = .33mph / degree. By comparison 10mph / 90 degree turn = .11mph / degree. One way to look at this is to say that the lower hp bike gives you more *precision* control over speed. You can vary the speed much more subtly. Don't get me wrong, on the lower hp bike, you can still always wrench a full 180 degrees of turn in urgent situations - but there's a practicaly upper limit on the road to how fast, and how quickly you want to accelerate. Accelerate too quick, and you lose your grip of the road - very bad.

The interesting thing is that Suzuki has picked up on this with their new bike, the GSXR1000 for 2007, and equipped it with a switch that allows the rider to decrease the power of the bike. In reviews and defense of such a button, people have mentioned that it is all about throttle positioning and hand position on the wheel. I would take this one step further and and assert that throttle position and granularity equate to safety as well.

So my simple advice to city riders is this: when evaluating a bike, make sure to consider a bike that gives you immediate, *precise* response and control over acceleration. This is the most practical, road-tested type of power out there, and the kind we need on the road.