04-23-2015, 09:58 AM
It seems to me, regardless of what bike the discussion takes place over (whether in print or just between guys at the coffee shop on a Sunday morning) the 100HP number eventually rears it's head in the discussion if the bike produces LESS than that apparent modern day benchmark. Riders of sport and naked bikes in particular appear fixated on the number. HP and top speed were never a consideration when I was shopping for the two new bikes I've bought in the past 10 months. I was looking for a number of things in the aggregate...comfort....fun factor (more than just raw HP and top end speed)....retro styling to a degree (not the angular transformer plastic bodywork that's so popular currently) ...reliability.....aftermarket support...value for the money. The 2013 Standard I purchased scores high marks in my estimation in all those areas. Bottom line: If I would have wanted 100+HP I would have BOUGHT a bike that produces them.
As an aside and again for a perspective (as so many of these performance or lack thereof discussions require), the Nissan GTR (considered by many car enthusiasts as one of the Worlds current great supercars) costs $101,770. For that you get a 3.8-liter, twin-turbo V-6 engine that is good for 545 horsepower and 463 lb-ft of torque and runs 0-60-mph in 2.9 seconds. Considering that with just a tuned exhaust, and potential airbox/filter mods gets your CB close to a 3.0 flat 0-60 time (1/10th of a second off a Worlds best supercars max effort) I'd say that's a heck of a performance bargain.
As an aside and again for a perspective (as so many of these performance or lack thereof discussions require), the Nissan GTR (considered by many car enthusiasts as one of the Worlds current great supercars) costs $101,770. For that you get a 3.8-liter, twin-turbo V-6 engine that is good for 545 horsepower and 463 lb-ft of torque and runs 0-60-mph in 2.9 seconds. Considering that with just a tuned exhaust, and potential airbox/filter mods gets your CB close to a 3.0 flat 0-60 time (1/10th of a second off a Worlds best supercars max effort) I'd say that's a heck of a performance bargain.