Well, lets think about this for a second....

1. Both 4th and 5th gears are overdrive gears (0.906:1 and 0.750:1), which takes a lot more power to turn than a standard underdrive or 1:1 gear. (NOTE: the above state gear ratio's don't take the transfer cases 35/32T reduction ratio of 1.09:1 into consideration)

2. The Roadie engine peaks around 3600rpm (give or take a couple hundred), so going higher really isn't going to gain you much unless you've swapped cams, pistons and had the heads warmed over.

Theoretically, in 5th gear with a stock 33T front pulley (1600), the bike should be capable of reaching a calculated top speed of 169.4mph @ 5,000rpm. However, that calculation doesn't take several variables into consideration (weight of bike, road resistance, wind resistance, weight of passengers/gear, etc.). All of those forces will greatly decrease the potential top speed, and the faster you go the greater their impact will be (percentage-wise).

Now, if we adjust the calculator's data to set 3800rpm as the max to correspond with our engine's powerband, we get a max top speed of 128.7mph @ 3800RPM in 5th gear. Factor in the 10-15% loss for the variables and you're down to 109 to 116mph.

You'd have to do some serious internal engine work to move the engine's powerband up into the higher rev's to get much more speed.

Good grief just reading that almost gave me a headache, can't imagine the migraine it would have caused doing the math. Furious your a better man than me for doing that.

I have a 1600, and I peak HP at 4800rpm, not at 3600rpm, my peak tq is from 2200rpm to 3200rpm then tq starts to fall, hp is still going up. No engine mods, pipes, air kit, and a 42hsr, and a dyna set at 34A 5k rpm.

So by my simple & made-up calculations, as used on all muscle cars in the '60s , your Roadie can do 160 M.P.H. in top gear!

"I swear officer, at no point in time did I exceed 173mph."

ok, well so thats about what she will do, I'll go with that answer a little soot at the end of the pipes is probably normal. gps says 119 slightly down hill

tristate wrote:
ok, well so thats about what she will do, I'll go with that answer a little soot at the end of the pipes is probably normal. gps says 119 slightly down hill

I'm not sure if I would be reading the GPS at 119mph Pretty sure my eyes would be glued to the next 1/2 mile of road in front of me

Early this summer on my way back home from the M&G, I had my 07, stock, fully loaded with camping gear and clothes and even a cooler. At one point I was at 105 according to my GPS, and I had some throttle left and just for Grinn's I burped the throttle at 105 and it still had torque left in her, so I have no doubt that if I would have wanted to, she would have or could have hit 120.

While heading back home on a looong trip I took a "shortcut" in NM on Rt70 through the White Sands Missile Range. Since it was a 25 mile stretch without a turn(!), I decided to just hold it open and see what she would do.

Sad result: With tall shield, lowers, 240lbs of rider, 100lbs of luggage, and approx 4000 ft in elevation, top speed = 97.6 mph on the GPS. It wouldn't budge over that .6 either. The Ford Expedition behind me on the way to their sons football game had no trouble at all keeping up with me.

Never tried it without all that crap and at a more reasonable elevation around here.

PhatRJ wrote:
While heading back home on a looong trip I took a "shortcut" in NM on Rt70 through the White Sands Missile Range. Since it was a 25 mile stretch without a turn(!), I decided to just hold it open and see what she would do.

Sad result: With tall shield, lowers, 240lbs of rider, 100lbs of luggage, and approx 4000 ft in elevation, top speed = 97.6 mph on the GPS. It wouldn't budge over that .6 either. The Ford Expedition behind me on the way to their sons football game had no trouble at all keeping up with me.

Never tried it without all that crap and at a more reasonable elevation around here.

Welcome Back PhatRJ! Second time in a year?

160 mph on my R*? I'd need the new self-cleaning biker panties!