11-19-2018, 02:00 PM
(12-15-2013, 04:38 AM)The ferret_imp Wrote: Yep, but in todays 415 pound, 180 horsepower, 9 second quarter mile times its a pussy cat lol.
I don't think anyone could have envisioned how far motorcycles would go, how light, how fast, how reliable. Simply amazing. I mean how far can we go from here?
I love at the end of the story where every mfg came and picked up their basket of parts and hauled them off but the Honda guys put the 750 back together in 2 hours, started it up and rode it home. That was great!
I was also surprised how far the mighty CB 750 had fallen in such a short time. Earth shattering in 1969. Also ran in 1973. Yet Honda continued with this same motor for another 5 years before bringing out a slightly better dohc model in 1979.
Bike tech-innovation decelerated quite a bit throughout the late 80's and much of the 90's. By '85 most sport production big bore did sub-10.9 second quarters and weighed in at 600 lbs before gas and rider. After the same time cars caught up and passed by in terms of innovation. Hairs can almost be split: Carbs vs. fuel injection, old-school frames vs. lightweight frames, no emission restriction vs. emission restriction. I am wondering if the 1 or so second differential is lost mostly in the "noise" of innovation. Sure, more power is typically faster, but throughout history that has always been the case. A naturally aspirated fossil burning engine has a theoretical limit of performance for a given displacement. The next quantum generation will have to do with electric propulsion and the profile algorithms. Conversely, the power will remain maybe the same, but range will be improved with fossil burning models. Arguably, the CB1100 has pretty good economy for its engine displacement. My '84 CB750 was a pig on gas - in comparison.