Top speed so far for me
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I was cruisin' down the freeway the other day. Early morn'. Looked down at speedo, 95. For some reason my bike always likes to run at 95 mph without my knowledge. This is three times now that I thought I was around 65-70 to find the speedo at 95. Anyway, this last time I looked behind me... nobody. Looked in front of me... nobody. Rolled the throttle a tad more and took it to 100. Plenty fast enough for me, even though it was only ~90 mph true, it was very smooth and handled like it was at any other speed.
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I drove my car on some errands this morning - it was raining again. On the return trip, I was going up an Interstate onramp, looked back, and saw traffic approaching on the Interstate from behind. So I pushed down on the accelerator, the transmission downshifted, and the 200 hp 24 valve V-6 started to sing. It launched the big Ford Taurus up onto the Interstate well ahead of the oncoming traffic. For a brief moment, one side of my brain said "Hey, why don't you see how fast this car will go?". The other side of my brain immediately responded "Because you don't really care".
The first side of my brain said "Oh yeah..." and my foot lifted off of the accelerator.
You see, the Taurus is not a muscle car or a sports car. It is just an excellent general purpose workhorse. It will cruise as fast as I want to go on public highways, and it has enough power to pass or accelerate ahead of traffic when I need to. It never feels underpowered for the mission I bought it to perform. Will it top out at a higher speed than my Burgman 650? It's true - I really don't care.
I can't remember the last time I went for max speed in one of my cars - it might have been the 1969 BMW 2002 - I was kinda wild in that thing. I have not tried to see how fast my 1000cc V-Strom will go - I know it goes faster than I want to ride. In 6 years of ownership I never maxed out my 1000cc Kawasaki Concours, nor the 1100cc Honda Shadow before it. It's probably been more than 20 years since I tried for top speed on a motorcycle, and I'll bet that was my 1985 Honda Elite scooter. Kinda had to ride that thing at top speed just to keep up with highway traffic sometimes.
So why the heck have I done about a dozen top speed attempts on my Burgman 650 this year? Well, for the most part, it was to see what effect different size windscreens and other accessories (Givi Trunk, Remus pipe), and gasoline octane, had on performance. A bit of scientific curiosity. And at times, the results were interesting.
But after that thought process in the Taurus this morning, I had to ask myself. Do I really care if the AN650 tops out at 105 mph or 115 mph the next time I change an accessory, or burn a different grade of gas? And I think the answer is "No". You see, it is kind of like the Taurus. The only thing that matters is that it performs well - within the scope of the mission I bought it for. And it does that with ease.
The first side of my brain said "Oh yeah..." and my foot lifted off of the accelerator.
You see, the Taurus is not a muscle car or a sports car. It is just an excellent general purpose workhorse. It will cruise as fast as I want to go on public highways, and it has enough power to pass or accelerate ahead of traffic when I need to. It never feels underpowered for the mission I bought it to perform. Will it top out at a higher speed than my Burgman 650? It's true - I really don't care.
I can't remember the last time I went for max speed in one of my cars - it might have been the 1969 BMW 2002 - I was kinda wild in that thing. I have not tried to see how fast my 1000cc V-Strom will go - I know it goes faster than I want to ride. In 6 years of ownership I never maxed out my 1000cc Kawasaki Concours, nor the 1100cc Honda Shadow before it. It's probably been more than 20 years since I tried for top speed on a motorcycle, and I'll bet that was my 1985 Honda Elite scooter. Kinda had to ride that thing at top speed just to keep up with highway traffic sometimes.
So why the heck have I done about a dozen top speed attempts on my Burgman 650 this year? Well, for the most part, it was to see what effect different size windscreens and other accessories (Givi Trunk, Remus pipe), and gasoline octane, had on performance. A bit of scientific curiosity. And at times, the results were interesting.
But after that thought process in the Taurus this morning, I had to ask myself. Do I really care if the AN650 tops out at 105 mph or 115 mph the next time I change an accessory, or burn a different grade of gas? And I think the answer is "No". You see, it is kind of like the Taurus. The only thing that matters is that it performs well - within the scope of the mission I bought it for. And it does that with ease.
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I think the reason I'm fascinated with the Burgman's performance envelope is because it really is a new mode of transportation. The media have even come up with a new term -- maxi-scooter -- for them.
We obviously didn't pay prices in the high four figures just to buy economy trasportation: we could have bought Vespas or Honda Metropolitans for that.
And many of us could have bought Gold Wings for touring, but we didn't.
Nor Harleys for cruising, nor...but you get my drift.
We're explorers, and it's natural for explorers to want to examine the borders of their new-found territories. Am I stretching this analogy too far?
Anyway, I think it's normal for even a (normally) law-abiding citizen like me to want to know just how far I can go on a tank of gas, and how fast I can go when there's no one around to get in the way.
That way, when someone on a more mundane -- I mean, mainstream -- bike looks at me with a smirk I can just smile back knowingly. 8)
We obviously didn't pay prices in the high four figures just to buy economy trasportation: we could have bought Vespas or Honda Metropolitans for that.
And many of us could have bought Gold Wings for touring, but we didn't.
Nor Harleys for cruising, nor...but you get my drift.
We're explorers, and it's natural for explorers to want to examine the borders of their new-found territories. Am I stretching this analogy too far?
Anyway, I think it's normal for even a (normally) law-abiding citizen like me to want to know just how far I can go on a tank of gas, and how fast I can go when there's no one around to get in the way.
That way, when someone on a more mundane -- I mean, mainstream -- bike looks at me with a smirk I can just smile back knowingly. 8)
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Brian,
I do agree with the gist of what you said.
However, that law enforcement official, who just happened to be where we'd never expect him to be, ain't going to buy the "explorer" spiel. He's just going to be upset that you or I were going 105 mph on his public highway. And since we were riding a scooter when doing it, he's going to consider recommending us for a mental therapy program, as well as driver behavioral training - and a heavy fine, and maybe a license suspension. He may, or may not, let us ride home on our own... :?
I don't want to deal with that. So I'm going to voluntarily try to behave. Will I have a relapse? Possibly. Will I frequently go 5 - 10 mph over the speed limit. You Betcha. But I'm going to try to make more riding decisions biased toward avoiding the BIG ticket. The irony is that you can ride responsibly for weeks - then do that one 100 mph plus run & get caught - all that responsible riding doesn't count at that point.
That's just what's going through MY mind right now. No judgement intended toward anyone else. I've always loved high performance vehicles, so I can fully appreciate the temptation to open the throttle.
I do agree with the gist of what you said.
However, that law enforcement official, who just happened to be where we'd never expect him to be, ain't going to buy the "explorer" spiel. He's just going to be upset that you or I were going 105 mph on his public highway. And since we were riding a scooter when doing it, he's going to consider recommending us for a mental therapy program, as well as driver behavioral training - and a heavy fine, and maybe a license suspension. He may, or may not, let us ride home on our own... :?
I don't want to deal with that. So I'm going to voluntarily try to behave. Will I have a relapse? Possibly. Will I frequently go 5 - 10 mph over the speed limit. You Betcha. But I'm going to try to make more riding decisions biased toward avoiding the BIG ticket. The irony is that you can ride responsibly for weeks - then do that one 100 mph plus run & get caught - all that responsible riding doesn't count at that point.
That's just what's going through MY mind right now. No judgement intended toward anyone else. I've always loved high performance vehicles, so I can fully appreciate the temptation to open the throttle.
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Too true. Too true.pauljo said:
As I said in another post, I'm done testing the upper speed limits of my Burgman now. :angel5:
I don't want to risk losing my CDL; and my curiosity is satisfied.
Now I need to see how fast I can take 90 degree corners in town. :twisted:
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The last couple of posts from Pauljo and Brian have made great sense to me. Especially the part about the Burgman operating in the envelope that I purchased it to do.
How many times have you been asked if your Burgman will do 50 mph or will it keep up to traffic. Myself many times and I think this question is what caused me to take my Burgman up to 181kms one time only. I didn't wait to see if it would go any higher or not. It ran up to that speed very effortlessly and it was fast enough for me. Now when asked if it will keep up I just say that I have had it up to 180kms with about 1000 rpms left before redline.
I'm quite content cruising at indicated 20-30 kms over the speed limit. This seems to be my comfort area and I'm okay with that.
How many times have you been asked if your Burgman will do 50 mph or will it keep up to traffic. Myself many times and I think this question is what caused me to take my Burgman up to 181kms one time only. I didn't wait to see if it would go any higher or not. It ran up to that speed very effortlessly and it was fast enough for me. Now when asked if it will keep up I just say that I have had it up to 180kms with about 1000 rpms left before redline.
I'm quite content cruising at indicated 20-30 kms over the speed limit. This seems to be my comfort area and I'm okay with that.
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I'm with you. This morning, coming into work, I took a corner at a bit of a pace. Then, cruising down the straight, I thought, "Quit testing this thing. Ride it; enjoy it. And don't blow off people at stop lights who think they know what a scooter will do."pauljo said:
As for top speed, unless you had a part, other than twisting the throttle, what does it mean? I've never topped out any bike I've owned.
At most, 85 MPH over the speed limit on my old sportbike a few times. I'll live vicariously through the top speed trials of other Bergman owners.
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