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Just to add to the fun of this argument, I don't believe jkv is that far off.
For one thing, insurance rates are not very convincing. All they tell us is that most of those who have lots of power use it. If you have lots of power but don't use it, your rates are still high because they are determined by averages.
It's not so obvious that good power adds safety like good brakes do. Yet, I have at times accelerated for safety reasons, mainly to get a little more interval ahead of someone driving too close or someone who is a poor driver.
I suspect there is some optimal amount of power - enough that you can set the intervals you want and go the speeds that surrounding traffic is going, but not so much that if you sneeze you will do a wheelie. I doubt even dcb would go out on a freeway, in a traffic lane (not shoulder) on a moped. Safety is best when you can keep up with traffic. Slow drivers are notorious for causing accidents, due to impatient people trying to get around them.
I have a YZF600R. It has very reasonable insurance rates even though it is 412 lb dry and 100 hp. It's got way more power than I need, but I can't chop off a couple of cylinders. Worse is that the throttle is touchy; if I had to make more hand rotation to get the same amount of power I'd be much happier with the bike. On the other hand it has one of the best stock braking systems ever put on a production bike. I still want to sell it. It's obviously over the optimum amount of power for me.
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