899 or 1299?

I love my 1199, and I know I'm not slow at the track, however had the 899 come out sooner I probably would have went that route. Build it up, and had fun spanking guys on 1000s, or better yet 1199s....lol.

I have also noticed that many of the tracks are not HP tracks in the northeast so it will actually take more skill to get a liter bike around on one. The 899 could be one of the best all around bikes ever built.

I've thought about getting a second bike and going that route with it. Damn Jarel for planting seeds.

The 899 isn't lacking power on the road and the power difference doesn't mean anything when the bike is leant over in a corner.
If you ride a bike in wet mode, have thought about it, are considering it, even when it is wet, then that bike isn't for you.

The 1299 weighs less, and looks different. Both of them are way quicker than me, and I wanted the mono swing arm and the 1299 wheels, so that made the choice for me. I did use wet mode during break in, but now I just use race mode with ABS set to 2. I still get some surprises, but I get more and more confident every ride I get

Thamer said:

I love my 1199, and I know I'm not slow at the track, however had the 899 come out sooner I probably would have went that route. Build it up, and had fun spanking guys on 1000s, or better yet 1199s....lol.

I have also noticed that many of the tracks are not HP tracks in the northeast so it will actually take more skill to get a liter bike around on one. The 899 could be one of the best all around bikes ever built.

I've thought about getting a second bike and going that route with it. Damn Jarel for planting seeds.

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I totally agree the 1199 has too much power for me on the tracks around the NE and the 899 having only ridden one briefly is perfect, i have thought many times about getting rid of the R and buying one.

I would buy an r6 if I wanted to do track days

I should add the qualifier that while I want to do track days, I'm not going to have a ton of time over the next couple years to really hit the track hard. I'm thinking at least once a month. While I do want to progress as a rider, I'm not as concerned about a larger displacement bike holding me back in terms of learning. So with that said, should I just get the bigger bike for the thrill factor, even if I'm just pointing-and-shooting after every corner?

marknutter said:

I should add the qualifier that while I want to do track days, I'm not going to have a ton of time over the next couple years to really hit the track hard. I'm thinking at least once a month. While I do want to progress as a rider, I'm not as concerned about a larger displacement bike holding me back in terms of learning. So with that said, should I just get the bigger bike for the thrill factor, even if I'm just pointing-and-shooting after every corner?

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No. If you are occasionally going to do track days and mainly street riding the 899 would be the perfect choice. When I say learn on a slower bike(the 899 is fast) i mean its better to learn while in control than learning while the bike is controlling everything. I came from R1's and though yeah I got this.. Boom no i don't. I was slow as dirt on the track on my 1199 since I spent more time watching the speedo climb insanely fast. If I could go back in time I would buy an 899 and mod the .... out of it. After that couple of years you could move and be better prepared to handle the missile your about to mount.

Ok. I'm gonna take your advice on this. The 1299 would likely get me into too much trouble on the street anyways. On my test drive it seemed quite angry at me any time I was going less than 90MPH. The 899 seemed happy at any speed, however. Thanks!

RRnold said:

The seat height and the rake are different on the 899, so perhaps that might have been what you've noticed.

At the track, I have put the Pani in Wet Mode a few sessions throughout the day just so I can mess around with the Ninja 250's and 600's. Having power at your disposal is cool but it does makes you a lazy rider. I'm waiting to see if Yamaha does something with the long overdue R6.

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I agree the r6 is long overdue for an update. . But my 08 spanks brand new bikes on the reg.. it's more about rider than anything else not saying that I'm that rider but ya get the idea

I'm on the verge of throwing the baby out with the bath water and just build a new track weapon/bike an 899. I may even sell my R now which is a crazy thought.

Opinions are like @ssholes....everyone has one haha. I love my 1299 for the street because it has much more low end. I like to ride the torque wave, especially in the twisties. And to me, the 1299 actually has a pretty controllable linear power band.

I have not tracked it yet but plan to and I'm sure I will have a blast on it. However, if you plan on going to the track very often, you should consider getting a dedicated track bike. Its kind of a pain to switch back and fourth with one bike; plastics, antifreeze, lights, ect ect, all the track prep. And if you go down, you may spend a lot of time with nothing to ride as you wait for parts/work on it. Or just convert your 900ss to full time track duty. With some mods (flat slide carbs, ohlins shock) that bike is pretty decent on track. Then you can buy what you want for the road. Just a thought.

Thamer said:

I'm on the verge of throwing the baby out with the bath water and just build a new track weapon/bike an 899. I may even sell my R now which is a crazy thought.

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Do it.. I want to see what you would build.

power, rush and making your nuts shrink? 1299

refined ride, plenty fast, still tons of fun? 899

marknutter said:

I should add the qualifier that while I want to do track days, I'm not going to have a ton of time over the next couple years to really hit the track hard. I'm thinking at least once a month. While I do want to progress as a rider, I'm not as concerned about a larger displacement bike holding me back in terms of learning. So with that said, should I just get the bigger bike for the thrill factor, even if I'm just pointing-and-shooting after every corner?

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I say go for the 1299, the acceleration is God like, and it's part of the fun in my book. If you "get into trouble" on the street it will also happen on an 899, and a 600 for that matter

In response to what you said and thinking about everything else, I would clearly go for the 899.

A pal spoke to me when we were at Jerez in March and he advised me to use the 899 rather than a 1299. With the spare money you can get Ohlins internals in the suspension and I'd ditch the wheels too, because they weigh a ton compared to say a pair of OZ's.. Get some track bodywork and you can swap between TD & road use. I thought he was talking broken biscuits initially, but having thought about it, the balance and useable power of a 145HP 899 is good fun and reminded me when I had my 749s and how well it handled. It has 145HP (999's had this 10 years ago) Yes it was eaten up a little down the straights by the bigger bikes, but that's the trade off. The more I think about it the more he's beginning to make some sense now.

BTW my daily rides are a mix between an S2R 1000 Monster & an M1100 with 100HP loads of fun especially in the twisties. A 1098R (TD set-up) and an 1199 Super Leggera. The SL is fun, but you have to rain it in otherwise it wants to take you for a ride.

you can still get your TD fix on an 899 and use your 900SS on the road.

If you took the same rider and gave them seat time to get comfortable on both an 899 and 1299, and compared lap times on a "normal" track (not Road America, Cota, etc. - long/fast tracks), here's what I think you'd see:

TRACK DAY riders (not professional racers):
The slowest 10% of riders would be faster on the 1299
The middle 80% of riders would be faster on the 899
the fastest 10% of riders would be faster on the 1299

Now that I've gone back and forth (from 1199 to 899 to 1199R frankenbike) I can firmly confirm in firm terms, firmly, that the 899 is a sweet package for the track and much easier to ride fast than the "big" bike is. I would venture to guess I'm in that fastest 10% bracket, but even still it takes a lot of work to get the advantage from the big bike to where you can go faster on it than the 899. Braking and setting up a good smooth fast corner entry from 170mph is immensely more difficult than doing it from 150mph, and most people will tend to over brake from 170 and have a slower corner entry than they would from 150. That translates into 10ths every time, every corner, the faster straight away speeds actually hurt your corner entry speeds. Same thing goes for getting on the throttle at the apex, it's easier to get on the throttle earlier and harder in the turn on a lower HP bike. The big bike wants to stand up and wheelie out of the turn, which is very difficult to control, which translates into slower initial exit speed. The big bike can make up some time in acceleration but usually not enough unless the rider is really capable of using the power before the bike is fully upright. Might sound easy, but it's not, and electronics can only do so much to help with it. TC can keep the rear from spinning up on the exit, but it won't keep you from running wide if you can't steer the bike on the throttle while still leaned over. That takes good bike control, body position, weighting the pegs, etc.

If you buy a 899 you will wish you had a 1299...
If you buy a 1299 you will not wish you had a 899...
Get the bad boy. If you want it to run like a 899 just twist the throttle half way.

Let's get one thing straight : 145 horsepower is an absolute ....-ton of power for a sub-400 pound vehicle. That's the same as an entry level Golf, only the Volkswagen weighs 10x more.

pigpenracing said:

If you buy a 899 you will wish you had a 1299...
If you buy a 1299 you will not wish you had a 899...
Get the bad boy. If you want it to run like a 899 just twist the throttle half way.

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Said every person ever on a Gixxer 1000 who gets passed by SV650's at track days!