S4R or S4RS?

[bluestoesonnose]

Just a thought as the better half is starting to ride my S4R a little too much for my liking... S4R or S4RS as our next monster? Is the RS that much better that the R it's worth saving the extra ££££ for?

Cheers
Blues

[rollo22]

Your paying for the Ohlins suspension
Is there a big difference between the two in price?

[bluestoesonnose]

S/H about £2k from what I've seen with some quick browsing. If it's just some rock hard Ohlins then S4R it is

[slob]

Personally I reclon fifteen hundred quid for Ohlins both ends is a bargain, even if they're budget Ohlins.
Note: the fork seals will leak at some point though. Aslo depends whether your plain old R is a testastretta model or not.

[bluestoesonnose]

I don't disagree, but every bike I've ridden on the road with Ohlins seems too harsh. Prob works better on a track. Yeah I was looking at the Testastretta as an upgrade, perhaps I have my models mixed up. All part of the learning process I guess

[PhilH67]

Blue (that's your name from here on in) vie got the S4R(T) and as far as I can tell the S gives you the ohlins and a few carbon bits and bobs. Go for the T, you know it makes sense, mind you finding a decat pipe is a bugger cos they're 50mm tubes

[Dirty]

Do you decatted guys have to recat every year for MOT?

[Black Bob]

CAT is not an MOT requirement. Just a road legal stamp on the exhaust I believe.

[Nickj]

But then the ohlins have got a massive range of customisation potential in them.

The cat is a part of the emissions control and unless or until checking the emissions out of the exhausts is a part of the mot not having it isn't going to be noticed.
You might even find the bike runs cleaner, gives more MPG or MPH as the cat is there to meet the euro regs and has nothing to do with efficiency

[Dirty]

CAT is not an MOT requirement. Just a road legal stamp on the exhaust I believe.

Are bikes not emissions tested then? I know cars can fail (depending on year) for either no cat or high emissions (if for instance you left your cat in place but accidentally removed the internals)

[DrD]

Are bikes not emissions tested then? I know cars can fail (depending on year) for either no cat or high emissions (if for instance you left your cat in place but accidentally removed the internals)

There's no emissions test in the UK bike MOT and as far as I'm aware no plans to add one

[Dirty]

I learn something new everyday!

I'd go with the S4RS myself if the extra £ wasn't going to break the bank.

[S4Rs MacK]

Phill,
Ive ridden an S4 and S4R but have owned two S4RSs.
So I may be slighlty biased but IMHO the RS is a different league.
You could PM Rally as he has previoulsy owned both, an R then an RS, so he is probably better informed than most to offer an educated answer.
But I dont think you'll be disappointed with the RS mate.

[J.P]

I've had a S4R Testastretta. I bought it brand new but I had the choice of the S4RS at the time and just couldn't see the point in the extra £1,500 for better suspension and nice bits when it was the engine I was really after.

The S4RS will be more sought after, be higher priced, and maybe look a bit nicer, but in the 2nd hand market I'd still save myself the extra money and buy a really nice S4R (just not my old one if you ever come across it).

[mintyhit]

My two pence is that I find the Ohlins suspension so much better that the Showa setup.

I do the majority of my riding in the city and I used to get a lot of uncomfortable jarring on my old S4 (I've ridden a std. S4R and it felt the same) – the RS, even though the suspension feels a bit firmer I believe the dampening is superior in every way.

[bluestoesonnose]

Thanks all. I guess what I'm trying to avoid is buying something that is too focused. The S4R is a great bike but on the edge of how I like riding as it's a PITA around town and in slow traffic. Ok I could fit a 14 tooth front sprocket, etc, etc. I find it rides ok and some of the foibles are part of the experiance and as such I'm starting to like them.

What I don't want is something that is even more focused on speed. I don't want a bike the sulks in slow traffic, hates towns and is only happy about 6000+rpm on fast sweeping A roads. The S4R is close to that but it can (to a point) be ridden on B roads and will tolerate towns. If I wanted a fast performance bike I'd save up for a BMW S1000 or similar.

TBH I'd be happy with a pair of S4R's and perhaps that is the answer, but if I'm saving over a few years for another bike then the next model on seems a natural choice.

[mintyhit]

Have you ridden the testastretta engined S4R(s) (2006+) or just the older one?

The engines are quite different in power delivery and smoothness in my opinion - the T engine is very smooth at low revs and I find it is perfectly comfortable in slow moving traffic and at low rpm - it could be that I am just used to it though.

[J.P]

Spend £500 and have the S4R or S4RS remapped and it'll be sooooo smooth you'll love it.

[mintyhit]

Spend £500 and have the S4R or S4RS remapped and it'll be sooooo smooth you'll love it.

... or use the DP map for next to nothing! :)

I know you are a firm advocate of a 3rd party remap J.P. but I really haven't been able to fault the DP map for smoothness - just MPG could be a little better.

[bluestoesonnose]

Thanks for the advice

Next question is, re-map how? Where's the software, etc, etc, etc

[andy586]

Soz late on the topic but s4r ..got recommended to get one by Tony at motocross over all other older monsters ...no disrespect to 1100evo but its more fun... bad points yes its a bit crap @30round town, steering light to, but country roads etc �� great value for the money

[bluestoesonnose]

Funny thing is I don't find the steering an issue. I come from a background of MX and Trail bikes and it seems fine to me. Ok when I compare it to the VTR and SV I had the steering is light but I found those a little heavy