Dyno numbers...

Greetings!

I volunteered at Washtenaw Community College's "Cars and Bikes on Campus" car and bike show today. The motorcycle service technology department puts on a horsepower shootout using their dynamometer.

It wasn't too busy so I put my 2003 R1150RT into the que for a run. My bike is bone stock with 65,5xx miles on the clock.

She pulled 81.72 hp at the rear wheel which seems about right given the factory spec of 95hp at the crank. I _think_ I understand the you usually loose about 15% between the crank and the wheel.

The funny thing was that the gallery was laughing at how quiet it was compared to all the other bikes being run. They jokingly put my numbers up under "Metric Modified" as I took the bags off for the run. I was in second place behind the S1000RR which made twice what my RT did!

I'm not betting my number holds up, but it was fun to see just what my RT could do.

Best regards!

Jim

that's pretty cool Jim.

About twenty years ago I was in Daytona for bike week and we rode over to the Daytona BMW dealer. The dealer next door had a dyno setup in the parking lot and we walked over to check it out.

This guy rolls his Harley up and as the technician is strapping it down for the run, he's blabbing how it's a stroker this, cammed out, drag pipes, running about 108 c.i. I recall. "should run about 110hp at the rear wheel with ease", he said.

When his run was over and his slip said 70 something horsepower, WE all started laughing.

The talk in the parking lot was that the newly introduced, R1100RT ran about 80hp at the rear wheel earlier in the day....a very quiet 80hp for sure.

The Harley guy needless to say, was aghast. LOL!

As I've learned with my tournament ski boat over the years, horsepower is nice, but torque is what puts a smile on your face.

RPG

HI Rick!

It is neat just to know what the old girl can do. I also have a baseline as we go forward to monitor the health of her motor.

When they fired up the drag car on the auto dyno across the hall, they decided to start leaving the door on the motorcycle dyno room open to compete. It's amazing how loud some of those bikes are indoors.

I said to my instructor that I didn't mind having a not particularly big HP number...that's not the point of this bike...but couldn't they have left their hearing protection on when they ran it? :-) They have enough experience to know exactly what was rolling into the room.

I'm with you, torque is really what it's about. The S1000RR's 168hp is neat, but where would you use all that on our wonderful roads here in Michigan?

Best regards!

Jim

The S1000RR's 168hp is neat, but where would you use all that on our wonderful roads here in Michigan?

 

Best regards!

 

Jim

The point is that the S1000RR is not having more fun than you are. Most likely, his threshold for where the fun starts is much higher than yours.

Hope this helps....

The S1000RR's 168hp is neat, but where would you use all that on our wonderful roads here in Michigan?

Jim, long time no chat. Having been a Michigander for 80% of my life, There might be a few places you can use that kind of power. Then again, there are definitely more places in Michigan than there are in the Upstate of SC. lol. Too many curves here for that. We love torque here.

Shawn

Hi Shawn!

It has been a long time. I hope things are well in SC.

i would love to have more twisty roads around be here in SE Michigan.

I don't know if I'd ever get the S1000RR, if I had one, close to its 186 mph limit, but it is very capable in the turns. That would be great...

...plus the sounds it makes are wonderful!

Best regards!

Jim