BHP Sweetspot for you?

[Rockburner]

My little Honda 400, which was nominally restricted to 33bhp, managed to bounce off its 180kmh/112mph limiter a couple of times, but that was with a stiff breeze and a decent hill.

It'd do an indicated tonne no problem on the flat. What that actually was I dunno, but several other people followed me also doing an indicated tonne at several times, including our very own RB.

It only had to drag the 18 year old me around though, I could hide behind lamp posts then.

I once had my mum's CBR400RR run off the end of it's speedo. It was a kph speedo with an mph converter gearbox mounted between the speedo cable and the speedometer, so I don't know if that invalidates the anecdote completely.

Funnily enough the bike was carrying panniers loaded with all my tools and on a gently downhill stretch of the A3 at the time. (maybe there was a gale behind me too?)

[Tricky]

Good post Tricky. You jogged my memory about your zx10r. Didn't you do a load of work to that bringing up to BSB standard?

Cheers and nope, not that much work at all really- think you might be confusing it with the ZX10 of SpliffyAde as was ( I think he is also on here ar pitananbread or something)- he had the slightly later model with wheelbarrow exhaust and really went to town with an ex Hawk BSB frame, wheels, forks Motec etc etc , loads and loads of trick stuff

All I did to mine was stripped road kit off and put a race fairing and seat, rearsets, quickshifter , steering damper, different brake master cylinder and lines / pads etc on there . It also had a day on the dyno for custom mapping, but nothing really beyond that, even had OE suspension , albeit well set up
I loved that bike, and lent it out a few times too to both my brother for trackdays and one or two on here, they are great bikes IMO, and mine served me well!

[Skub]

Cheers and nope, not that much work at all really- think you might be confusing it with the ZX10 of SpliffyAde as was ( I think he is also on here ar pitananbread or something)- he had the slightly later model with wheelbarrow exhaust and really went to town with an ex Hawk BSB frame, wheels, forks Motec etc etc , loads and loads of trick stuff

All I did to mine was stripped road kit off and put a race fairing and seat, rearsets, quickshifter , steering damper, different brake master cylinder and lines / pads etc on there . It also had a day on the dyno for custom mapping, but nothing really beyond that, even had OE suspension , albeit well set up
I loved that bike, and lent it out a few times too to both my brother for trackdays and one or two on here, they are great bikes IMO, and mine served me well!

Spliffers has had a bloody barge built now,the man knows how to spend his money.

[the_priest]

Depends what you are riding right? Sprint RS was basically spot on at 125bhp, the little CBF500 was great at 54bhp and the K1200R is tasty at 163bhp. Each to their own. I've enjoyed whatever power I've had available on the bikes I've ridden.

[Dickyboy]

So much depends on what & where you are riding & explains why I've only ever owned singles and twins, ringing somethings neck to even get 100mph out of it on the road is all you really need for one up fun on the road but thats not gonna be any good for motorway mile munching or track days. 80-120 bhp on a twin covers most bases for me.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

I don't know about bhp, the only bike I had measured on a dyno was my CCM640. I'm happy with however much gets me to just over 100mph on a bike geared to not quite rev to the red line in top gear.

What's that going to be, 30 or 35bhp?

More like 40bhp, but a lot depends on aerodynamics, 250LCs would indicate 100mph, but at best were doing 95, they had about 35bhp, 350LCs would indicate 110mph on about 43bhp.

We used to max out in top at places like Snet with 1+ front sprocket

Wasn't that on a proddy tuned YPVS?

[Yorick]

More like 40bhp, but a lot depends on aerodynamics, 250LCs would indicate 100mph, but at best were doing 95, they had about 35bhp, 350LCs would indicate 110mph on about 43bhp.

We used to max out in top at places like Snet with 1+ front sprocket

Wasn't that on a proddy tuned YPVS?

350LC with Beckett tune.

[G.P]

My modern V twin has got 135-140bhp. when you open it right up its just completely stupid for the road. Ace fun on track though.
My 90's 900ss Ducatis have around 75bhp, they weigh around 180kg and are great fun on road and track. The problem is once you've got used to being able to wind it on to an almost 120mph+ in third in a modern 1200 Ducati, it becomes kind of normal and deffo addictive.
I'll go for the 80-120 range though

[KungFooBob]

[Dodgy69]

It could be said, not having enough power is more dangerous than having too much.

[maccecht]

It could be said, not having enough power is more dangerous than having too much.

This is why I always hated 125cc bikes enough to get you in the shit not enough to get you out. Glad I am from the 250c era and missed out on 125cc drudgery. They have caused more yoofs to peg it than 250LC's ever did

[KungFooBob]

When I was 16 I had a Honda Melody, it would hit an indicated 27mph.

I used to feel so intimidated by other traffic that I'd ride in the gutter, had a few moments after clipping the curb.

125's will keep up with traffic pretty well. 50's feel dangerous.

[Mr. Dazzle]

I once autopiloted onto the 'not quite motorway' bit of the A27 in Portsmouth while riding a 50cc. For those who don't know - which is most people come to think of it - its where the M27 ends and turns into the A27...it's full 3 lanes just like a motorway, except with A road rules of course.

So you've got people coming off the end of the M27 and carrying on without really readjusting to the fact its now an A road.

That was an experience I can tell you. Didn't make that mistake again.

[maccecht]

When I was 16 I had a Canary yellow Honda SS50 it would hit 55 flat out all my mates had T50's and fizzy. Beat me everywhere except for the 7 mile straight then the Honda was the winner

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

We used to max out in top at places like Snet with 1+ front sprocket

Wasn't that on a proddy tuned YPVS?

350LC with Beckett tune.

So probably 50 to 55 bhp, I'm trying to remember what standard gearing is on a 350LC, probably 16 - 39, so 17 - 39 would give a speed of about 125 at the red line.

[MingtheMerciless]

I once autopiloted onto the 'not quite motorway' bit of the A27 in Portsmouth while riding a 50cc. For those who don't know - which is most people come to think of it - its where the M27 ends and turns into the A27...it's full 3 lanes just like a motorway, except with A road rules of course.

So you've got people coming off the end of the M27 and carrying on without really readjusting to the fact its now an A road.

That was an experience I can tell you. Didn't make that mistake again.

I know that section well, when we had unrestricted vans that was 125 from Southampton all the way to the million roundabouts of Chichester...........(when returning from a night turn callout).

[ogri]

Old fekker, dont care about top end etc, tbh as i get older the more i appreciate enjoying riding a slow bike fastish

[Yorick]

Wasn't that on a proddy tuned YPVS?

350LC with Beckett tune.

So probably 50 to 55 bhp, I'm trying to remember what standard gearing is on a 350LC, probably 16 - 39, so 17 - 39 would give a speed of about 125 at the red line.

That's about right. There was lots of other power gains. Mostly illegal.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

You could open out the inlets and fit TZ750 reed cages, you couldn't tell without stripping the carbs off, made a big difference to power, also cutting the pipes open and removing the internal baffle plates made a difference, ACU rules allowed polishing of engine parts, I think I polished 0.8mm off the head of my 250LC to bring the squish down to 0.9mm, I also polished quite a bit off the top of the exhaust port, I wasn't brave enough to mess with the transfer ports

[Yorick]

You could open out the inlets and fit TZ750 reed cages, you couldn't tell without stripping the carbs off, made a big difference to power, also cutting the pipes open and removing the internal baffle plates made a difference, ACU rules allowed polishing of engine parts, I think I polished 0.8mm off the head of my 250LC to bring the squish down to 0.9mm, I also polished quite a bit off the top of the exhaust port, I wasn't brave enough to mess with the transfer ports

Beckett raised the exhaust port quite a bit and really opened up the transfer ports. Also enlarged the ports on the piston. Stan Stephens just cut the back off the pistons. They made a bit more power, but more prone to seizures.

Terry worked on the reed valve holders as well. We did do the baffles thing as well. The biggest gain was a hole in the air tube between the airbox and the carb. We had to use 310 jets to cope with all the air