[AnotherHobby]

Well put, and what a lot of people seem to not realize is HP for winning arguments and Torque for winning races.
Horse power is the common datum when comparing bikes in the pub but it's torque that gives us the sensation we seek when riding at everyday speeds.

I completely agree on torque, and it's not just bikes. One of the things I love about my tuned VW GTI is that it produces 265-300 ft-lbs of torque from under 2000 RPM all the way to 5000 RPM, before it starts falling off. Having all that torque right in the meat of daily usable RPM's makes the car feel much more powerful.

Back to bikes, I test rode a Triumph Rocket III when they first came out, and that thing is a torque monster (about 130 ft-lbs at just 2500 RPM). It was so much fun to just muscle the low end torque around rather than wind it out. It's a huge bike, but the torque was intoxicating.