For those of you wanting to defeat the speed limiter...

[Wisedrum]

I like how we can't 'swear' around here- but we can discuss 125+ mph on public roads.




That being said- I've seen 154mph on my GPS in my VW Golf R32 on my way from NJ to NH to drive in the woods at Tim O'neil's place.

I was about 10 feet off the rear bumper of my friends R32 who was also foot to the floor. Had he not lifted, I would have kept going.

I've always wanted to roadtrip out to Bonneville ever since I learned you can just show up and drive whenever you want weather permitting. My other VW (12 cyl) in theory should kiss close to 200mph (eventually)...

I think young men, motorcycles, and speeding sort of go hand in hand. I mean what teenage or early 20s male doesn't think he's invincible and wants to see how fast the vehicle he is driving will go?

I got my first street bike in 1965. A 50cc Aermacchi 2 stroke 3 speed. I can tell you it would go an indicated 55 mph wide open in 3rd, and it didn't take me long to find that out, and I ran it wide open often. Replay that same story for every motorcycle I owned or rode for the next twenty-five years (and I worked in the motorcycle industry from 1972-1989 and rode a lot of motorcycles) . Finally in the late 80's, when I was maybe 37-38 years old, the bikes were getting fast enough that a combination of fear, age and responsibility convinced my brain that it was a good time to really slow down. I had survived some crazy riding on most of the most powerful bikes of their time..Honda CB 900F, CB 1100F, VF 1100S and CBX, Suzuki GS 1100, Kawasaki KZ 1000, Yamaha XS 1100 and V Max. I found out how fast each of them would go, and yes on public roads. You don't have to tell me how stupid I was, because I came to realize that fact myself. Stupid, stupid, stupid. My younger brother and I often wonder how we survived those times. Seriously.

So now we putt around so to speak. Neither of us ride fast, we don't take chances, we are super cautious, and I believe we are actually very good riders now instead of just really lucky riders.

I know you can't convince other young folks not to act like fools on the public roads. They have to find out for themselves. It's like when your parents tell you not to drink, or not to smoke, or that there is nothing worthwhile being out of your house after midnight. You have to try it all yourself, make up your own mind, and at least in my case, I found out they were right. So I don't drink, I don't smoke, and I am usually in bed asleep, long before midnight. I no longer have the urge to push the limits, on/in anything. Certainly not on something that affords me as little protection as a motorcycle. I no longer take unnecessary chances, and I'm perfectly happy.

Not only young riders will have anecdotes to tell from the past. May they be 'funny' in the way, everything is well that ends well, or not.

Here are two:

I once came into a little village with my Kawa LTD Twin 750 and did not slow down that much, when a policeman jumped out on the street and stopped me. He told me, he could not find out how fast I was, because he hadn't finished installing his mobile radar system. But I should drive more adaquate further on. So far, so good.

Years later being on the Autobahn with a Guzzi California I accelerated more and more neglecting speed signs always going down, a bad mistake, but the Guzzi ran somehow good, which it didn't on other rides. Suddendly a black car passed by, stopped me and 2 policemen in civil showed me a video sequence, I'm not longing to see. The end of that story was a resting period without my driving license.

Sometimes one needs such a break for reflection....

The holes in the net in Germany has over the years become smaller and smaller, years have gone by with a lot of lessons learned, of course not all of them, and I'm paying much more attention to traffic signs as I did in times, when everything seems to flow by itself without any restrictions and punishment....

Nevertheless motorbikes always have an inherent temptation of finding out how fast they will go or accelerate, which sometimes means the same. My bikes are differnt in topspeed but they all offer the possibilty to often break the rules in a lot of situations. I keep myself back these days. The one who is without a sin throw the first stone....or set himself apart.

Wisedrum

[Jvanvuren_imp]

I too have slowed down over the years, having done my time on some fairly fast bikes (V65 Magna, Vmax, Triumph Speed Triple, etc) and knowing exactly how fast they would go. I do still enjoy quick acceleration every now and then but don't care too much about top speed. I'm actually a bit disappointed in the CB1100 in 1st and 2nd gear as it seems a bit "flat" at higher rpms, I think I read something about the ECU intentionally pulling power (ignition timing?) under such conditions. Off to research the Guhl thread I suppose

[Cormanus]

Jvanvuren, the CB has a rev limiter, but I don’t know that I’ve ever made its acquaintance.. someone’ll tell you about it.

[flynrider]

I got my last speeding ticket in '92 on a Kawasaki 750 twin. I still exceed the limit occasionally, but I've got a system now. I only speed if there's someone going even faster ahead of me. It's worked pretty well for 26 years (knock wood).

I started riding in the days of the 55 mph national speed limit. Nowadays, Interstate speed limits are 75-80 mph, so I never feel the need to speed on the slab. Twisty back roads are another matter.

[Jvanvuren_imp]

I'm not anywhere near the rev limiter... just seems like the power tapers off quicker than it should as the tach climbs. My bike is completely stock (a '13, single exhaust, etc) and I'm at 6000+ altitude. On old carbureted vehicles we can get away with a bit more ignition timing here at high altitude compared to sea level, so maybe my bike would like some timing advance (or maybe the right way to say it is "removal of timing retard")

[flynrider]

The dyno charts I've seen for stock bikes generally show the power begin to taper off at around 7300 rpm. That's a result of the tuning (i.e. cams and intake). Honda was going for low end power and linear delivery on this engine (which suits me fine). The price paid for that is that there is no top end punch that you'd commonly find on an inline 4 tuned for peak hp.