Friday, December 10, 2004

From the Comments

Waterboy axes: So, Nate, any idea what kind of bike this one is? (Stock, I'm guessing). 300kmph = 186.4 mph

I can't tell you 100% for sure just by looking at that particular dash. I can give you some info though.

1) The speed indicated on a speedo is never accurate. In general, at that indicated speed you can knock off 15 to 20 mph and that will get you much closer to your real speed. What you actually saw was a cat doing somewhere around 170. Nice, but certainly not newsworthy.

2) The bike, while cool, is not even a real sportbike. The real monsters... the GSXR-1000's, the CBR-1000's, and the ZX-10 look very very different.

3) The windshield, and dash tell me they are on a grand-touring bike. Something like a XX, or a zx-12, though I know it's not one of those two. Maybe even an older Ducati ST... maybe even a Triumph. If I had to guess I'd say a Triumph Sprint ST.

4) Not stock. Has at least an aftermarket exhaust. Can't tell which from listening.

170 is nice, but it's nothing that isn't done every day by guys all over the world. I've hit 173 per my GPS on the old CBR 1000, and I know it had more left... I just couldn't read the GPS any more so I backed it down.

Bikes have improved a lot since mine was new. The real monsters like the ZX-10 are producing 170-180 horse power, stock... and they weigh half what my bike does. I have no idea what the real no-shit top speed is on a stock zx-10, but I suspect it's pushing a legit 190 or so, which would be about 215 or more on the speedo.

Just remember... indicating 200mph, and actually going 200mph are two very different things. At those speeds the wind resistance is insane. The amount of horsepower it takes to go from 188 to 190 takes about the same horse power as it does to go from 100 to 120.

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