Staintune

[PowerDubs_imp]

This is where it gets confusing if you don't understand what gearing is-

"if the actual available power doesn't change"

Depends on where you measure and define 'available'.

Again- engine power output does not change. Power applied to the rear wheel does.
Oh- and yes I 100% agree with the above suggestion of improving your own skills as that is much much more important. And protective gear. Lots of it.

Before you should ever consider $1,000+ into more power you should have $1,000+ worth of armor when you ride into the battle of today's traffic. If not- the world is your cheese grater.

 

[misterprofessionality]

No, well maybe. If you are used to riding around in a certain gear at a certain rpm, riding around in 1 or 2 gears lower will make it feel peppier. I usually ride at 2500-3500 rpms in 5th or 6th gear at say 55 mph. If I were to ride around in at the same speed in 3rd gear, the rpms would be more like 4-6000 and it would feel peppier upon acceleration even though the motor is not any stronger actually. Changing gearing (lowering it with bigger rear sprocket or smaller front sprocket) has the same effect.

ahhah. and I'm already running in the 4-6 range most of the time (unless i'm in the middle of nowhere maintaining a steady speed). i do that specifically because my acceleration is measurably better and more responsive in that range. So, in terms i can understand, i'm already kind of doing the thing.

This is where it gets confusing if you don't understand what gearing is-

"if the actual available power doesn't change"

Depends on where you measure and define 'available'.

Again- engine power output does not change. Power applied to the rear wheel does.
Oh- and yes I 100% agree with the above suggestion of improving your own skills as that is much much more important. And protective gear. Lots of it.

Before you should ever consider $1,000+ into more power you should have $1,000+ worth of armor when you ride into the battle of today's traffic. If not- the world is your cheese grater.

yea that's me.

 

[the Ferret]

another thing to consider lowering the gearing to make it feel peppier, will have a detrimental effect on top speed. You will reach rev and speed limiters sooner and your top speed will be lower. Now this is where an ecu reflash would help as with a reflash you can raise the rev limit in each gear by 500 rpm and eliminate the factory top speed limiter.

Plus that process is less than 1/2 the cost of a slip on with a lot more real world benefit.

 

[Capo]

Looks like I'll have a minty Staintune off my '13 to sell. PM me for details.

 

[PowerDubs_imp]

another thing to consider lowering the gearing to make it feel peppier, will have a detrimental effect on top speed. You will reach rev and speed limiters sooner and your top speed will be lower. Now this is where an ecu reflash would help as with a reflash you can raise the rev limit in each gear by 500 rpm and eliminate the factory top speed limiter.

Plus that process is less than 1/2 the cost of a slip on with a lot more real world benefit.

2 nitpiks (sorry )

Gearing lower IS peppier, not just 'feel'.. I know what you mean, but to someone who doesn't understand gearing and engines this could be another point of confusion.

And on top speed, like most matters 'depends' is the answer.

Taking the limiter out of the equation, most vehicles end up being drag limited as opposed to gear limited.

Meaning they basically run out of enough available power to overcome the wind at speed- and simply can't pull the gearing even if 'on paper' shows a mathematical speed calc.

In such a case, gearing lower can actually increase real world top speed capability but not by huge amounts. The faster you go, the power required increases dramatically. A very small increase in mph can require a relatively large increase in power comparatively.

When you hear people telling stories talking about driving really high speeds- most are either bs, speedo error, etc.

I've been in cars before that will go faster in 5th gear than 6th for example.

 

[misterprofessionality]

Powedubs: just to make sure i'm not misunderstood, all of my concerns about performance come from the point of view of a commuter. top speed is totally irrelevant to me, because you'll never catch me going any faster than 90. I just want it to be as assertive as possible, without overstressing the engine, while getting there.

 

[the Ferret]

Dubs totally agree with all that except for a bike like the CB 1100 which comes with artificially low factory ECU set rev and speed limitations.

if MP is never going to exceed 90 anyway, a lowering of gearing would give him the least expensive and most bang for his bucks. Doubt he could lower the gearing enough to worry about the factory set top speed limiter.

Looks like I'll have a minty Staintune off my '13 to sell. PM me for details.

Hey lower the gearing for under $100 and buy Capos used Staintune and you could have the cats meow for acceleration and sound.

win win

 

[SportsterDoc]

RGR, so to confirm what i'm hearing here: All the BHP gains i've been reading about/been told about are lies, and the true gain is never any more than about 5 HP in total from fueling/air modification. That does change my plans if true. Understand, it's very misleading when i poke around on the net and read posts from people raving about how much more power and throttle response they get when they do an ECU flash, only find out later that it's really just a piddly increase in performance. I'm glad there's somebody out there willing to tell me how it really goes.

There is very little info on the internet about the CB1100, other than this forum and I am a fairly new member.

 

[PowerDubs_imp]

For actual real world all day fun- a simple sprocket change will make the bike accelerate quicker, in all gears, at all rpm. The RPM cruising on the highway will be a little higher if that matters. I find the '14 6-speed to be fine with that.

I would not change the muffler or pipe looking for power- but a Staintune sounds and looks fantastic. I love mine.

Other than that- save your money towards good riding gear, a riding class or the book 'proficient motorcycling' and suspension if you want to improve the way the bike rides.

 

[SportsterDoc]

Lower gearing will increase acceleration, but will also lower the first gear and successive shift points.
Keeping it under about 8,000 RPM, shift points are about
First: 60 MPH
Second: 80 MPH
Third: 100 MPH

Pulling out onto a highway near one of my hiking areas, with vehicles typically at 80 MPH, I can easily reach merging speed in second gear, in ~/< 6 seconds.

Considering the peak RPM for HP, I see little benefit to raising the rev limit.

See this link for 2013 model and note the HP/torque graph.

2013 Honda CB1100 - Road Test Review

Excerpt:

"What you get instead of a lofty peak is a beautiful, wide plateau of usable power: 56 foot-pounds of torque is immediately available below 2000 rpm, and over 60 ft.-lb. from 3000 rpm to beyond the 82-hp peak at 7200 rpm. Once you’re in top gear and rolling, shifting is mostly optional. A little vibration in the grips and seat maxes out at about 5000 rpm and 90 mph, which is faster than you’ll want to go on this one until you find a windscreen or some lower bars; a limiter cuts in at 110 mph, anyway.

For 2014:
86 HP @ 7500 RPM
65.6 ft lbs @ 5700 RPM

 

[misterprofessionality]

Dubs totally agree with all that except for a bike like the CB 1100 which comes with artificially low factory ECU set rev and speed limitations.

if MP is never going to exceed 90 anyway, a lowering of gearing would give him the least expensive and most bang for his bucks. Doubt he could lower the gearing enough to worry about the factory set top speed limiter.

Looks like I'll have a minty Staintune off my '13 to sell. PM me for details.

Hey lower the gearing for under $100 and buy Capos used Staintune and you could have the cats meow for acceleration and sound.

win win

way ahead of you on that
edit: looks like I wasn't ahead enough. i've been scooped.

For actual real world all day fun- a simple sprocket change will make the bike accelerate quicker, in all gears, at all rpm. The RPM cruising on the highway will be a little higher if that matters. I find the '14 6-speed to be fine with that.

I would not change the muffler or pipe looking for power- but a Staintune sounds and looks fantastic. I love mine.

Other than that- save your money towards good riding gear, a riding class or the book 'proficient motorcycling' and suspension if you want to improve the way the bike rides.

rgr. you're on record. i'm going to get it quoted.

 

[SportsterDoc]

Re PowerDubs post 65:
Another of my frequent hiking areas is close to 8,000 feet elevation.
The two lane up to it is 6% to 8% grade from ~6,000 feet to ~7,000 feet.
Rolling on from ~70 MPH in 6th, the bike does not want to do much more than 95, but will readily pull 110 in 4th.

Gearing can be done by shifting, changing the rear sprocket (would not want to go smaller on the front) or even running smaller circumference tires. Gearing importance is on a par with HP.

For cruising at 80 (or slightly over) on Interstate 15 in Utah, north of St George (80 MPH speed limit), I am completely satisfied with stock 2014 standard gearing.

 

[Retsel_imp]

Dubs totally agree with all that except for a bike like the CB 1100 which comes with artificially low factory ECU set rev and speed limitations.

if MP is never going to exceed 90 anyway, a lowering of gearing would give him the least expensive and most bang for his bucks. Doubt he could lower the gearing enough to worry about the factory set top speed limiter.

Looks like I'll have a minty Staintune off my '13 to sell. PM me for details.

Hey lower the gearing for under $100 and buy Capos used Staintune and you could have the cats meow for acceleration and sound.

win win

way ahead of you on that
edit: looks like I wasn't ahead enough. i've been scooped.

For actual real world all day fun- a simple sprocket change will make the bike accelerate quicker, in all gears, at all rpm. The RPM cruising on the highway will be a little higher if that matters. I find the '14 6-speed to be fine with that.

I would not change the muffler or pipe looking for power- but a Staintune sounds and looks fantastic. I love mine.

Other than that- save your money towards good riding gear, a riding class or the book 'proficient motorcycling' and suspension if you want to improve the way the bike rides.

rgr. you're on record. i'm going to get it quoted.

way ahead of you on that

edit: looks like I wasn't ahead enough. i've been scooped.

For actual real world all day fun- a simple sprocket change will make the bike accelerate quicker, in all gears, at all rpm. The RPM cruising on the highway will be a little higher if that matters. I find the '14 6-speed to be fine with that.

I would not change the muffler or pipe looking for power- but a Staintune sounds and looks fantastic. I love mine.

Other than that- save your money towards good riding gear, a riding class or the book 'proficient motorcycling' and suspension if you want to improve the way the bike rides.

rgr. you're on record. i'm going to get it quoted. I'll have to agree with PD. I have added a Straintune, had Guhl re-map the ECU, and added two teeth to the rear sprocket. I am happy with each. Each provided it's own benifits however, the two teeth to the rear made the most enjoyable performance difference, for me. Reading your riding style, you may also desire to drop a tooth on the front sprocket as well. It would be very inexpensive and easily reversed, if you decide you don't like it.

Sent from my SM-T710 using Tapatalk

 

[LongRanger_imp]

Probably the easiest and healthiest way to improve the bike's performance is to lose some weight, either your's or the bike's. Assuming the bike's 86 hp and 540 lb curb weight, losing 20 lbs is equivalent to gaining about 3.1 hp, which is a 3.7% increase. A pipe and a diet can work wonders!

 

[misterprofessionality]

Probably the easiest and healthiest way to improve the bike's performance is to lose some weight, either your's or the bike's. Assuming the bike's 86 hp and 540 lb curb weight, losing 20 lbs is equivalent to gaining about 3.1 hp, which is a 3.7% increase. A pipe and a diet can work wonders!

well, i'm looking to do more than that over time. I want smaller fenders, a smaller pipe, smaller lighter mirrors, and i've heard some hearsay about how LED head lamp assemblies are much lighter than the standard.