motor cycle speed | GTAMotorcycle.com

motor cycle speed

R

rome

Well-known member
Forum Sponsor
I'm just curious, is there a differential on speed of the bike versus car speed?
I ride a cruiser bike, once in a while I would really push it on the highway, not to mention how fast, but I can't believe the speed
that I can reach.
 
Bikes generally have better acceleration. Might feel faster as you are out in the wind on a bike and buffered in a car. If you think a cruiser can go...try a sport bike.
 
It is rather unclear what you are asking.

100 km/h in a car is 100 km/h on a motorcycle.

100 km/h on my Honda CBR125 (a sporty-ish-styled bike) is very close to that bike's top speed ... depends which way the wind is blowing and how much uphill or downhill it is.

I've owned cars that wouldn't exceed 100 km/h by a whole lot. (1970s Honda Civic) The UK's 70 mph (= 112 km/h) national speed limit was established because that was the top speed of a Ford Anglia, a popular family car at the time. (1950s)

A 1000cc sport bike will exceed 100 km/h by a lot ... in first gear. It is capable of accelerating violently while already travelling 100 km/h. (My cbr125 is not!)

A buddy of mine has a 2016 Corvette Z06. It will probably do that, too. My Fiat 500 (non turbo) ... will not! actually no car I've ever owned would do that. (mostly VW diesels and 4-banger small stuff)

So, back to the question: What on earth are you asking??
 
what i'm really trying to get at; is the speed odometer reading.
sometimes I can't believe that my bike can do the speed that I'm seeing on my speedo.
and by the way I know what you mean about sports bike. I tried the GSXR
 
rome said:
what i'm really trying to get at; is the speed odometer reading.
sometimes I can't believe that my bike can do the speed that I'm seeing on my speedo.
and by the way I know what you mean about sports bike. I tried the GSXR
Click to expand...

If there's some question about the accuracy of your speedo, strap on a GPS and go for a ride and compare the GPS reported speed with what your speedo is displaying.

It's not uncommon for speedo's to be off by a small margin (my VTX reads ~5KPH fast) but unless something is wrong it shouldn't exceed much more than that, 10KPH difference max.
 
i'm new to bikes, around 6 years. I was going to the GPS route.
it was mention to me before that some bikes might go a bit slower the speedo. is putting out.
 
I find bikes that I have owned to read higher then actual speed, like some radar signs when rolling into small towns....
 
In my experience with various cars and few motorcycles, speedometer always shows higher speed then on GPs, my Camry shows a difference for 4-5 km/h my CB500 speedo is 5-6 km/h faster than GPS
 
Generally speedos read faster than actual speed. Not by much, usually 5-10km/h faster than actual. Difference usually goes up the faster you go. Think of it like a %age.
 
It's a percentage ....I notice it most on the US slab where the speed limit is 75 mph and traffic moving at 8-85 mph - which translates to 136 kph and indicated near on 150.
But my GPS is showing legal.

I also notice few riders ( including me unless I want to get home fast ) are willing to pace the fast lane in the GTA 400 series. Even at 140 indicated there are always those going faster.

WIth all the frontage on the Vstrom staying at 140 is a chore unless there is tailwind tho there is lots left if you drop a gear.
....CBF? not so much - it's not working very hard at ALL :D

There are speedo healers out there that correct but there is some notion that it can mess with sensors on modern bikes. I figure the extra "buffer" is not bad and dropping to 50 after cruising at 140 feels like I want park it and walk. ;)
 
rome said:
i'm new to bikes, around 6 years. I was going to the GPS route.
it was mention to me before that some bikes might go a bit slower the speedo. is putting out.
Click to expand...

Ooooh, so the issue is "speedometer error".

The regulations that motor vehicles have to comply with, require that the speedometer not read lower than the actual speed for any tire size that the vehicle is approved for, and there is a certain allowable tolerance. So the result is that speedometers generally display a few percent higher than the actual speed. The amount of that error varies from one vehicle to another.
 
I remember reading somewhere that manufacturers are allowed to be off by up to 10% on speedometer accuracy
 
I typically calibrate my vehicles by running with a couple of gps. I've got a couple of phone apps and then determine which indicate the same.

I find vehicles always indicate higher than actual by 5-8% at 100 km/h. (GPS)


HDs actually keeps an accurate indicated speed until 150 km/h or so. I've owned 3 and they all were very good.

Which reminds me, I should take the Buell out for high speed test run.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
my speedo is accurate when I run a size bigger front tire. Stock is 60, I run a 70. Speedo is driven from the front hub.
 
Switching to a new faster bike is always an entertaining ride. When I picked the Ape up in KW, I pulled out onto the street in front of the shop and very shortly after thought things were going by quite quickly. A quick look at the speedo brought new respect for the bike.

My K75 speedo was way off when I bought it (approx double). On that bike you could calibrate the speedo with an adjustment screw in the instrument panel and electrical transformer near the sensor (or near the panel, I can't remember) to provide a rock solid 60Hz test signal. It was a pretty cool system.

The VW speedo is high and does not cooperate well with attempts to fix it. 127 indicated is 120. With VCDS, you only have a few options to choose from and none seem to make much difference, so you just end up giving up and translating in your head.

The mini doesn't even have a speedo, just math to get from tach to speed. Who needs a speedo in a toy car.

Nakkers - HD is accurate up to 150? It isn't accurate above, or you haven't checked it above? I've never seen a non-linear speedo.
 
Last edited:
Brian P said:
A 1000cc sport bike will exceed 100 km/h by a lot ... in first gear. It is capable of accelerating violently while already travelling 100 km/h. (My cbr125 is not!)
Click to expand...

Dont you love that feeling?
 
rome said:
what i'm really trying to get at; is the speed odometer reading.
sometimes I can't believe that my bike can do the speed that I'm seeing on my speedo.
Click to expand...


Lol... Good. 'Cuz the speed indicated on your speedo might not be the speed you're moving at.
The speedo on my bike is out by 7 to 10 %.
 
rome said:
I'm just curious, is there a differential on speed of the bike versus car speed?
I ride a cruiser bike, once in a while I would really push it on the highway, not to mention how fast, but I can't believe the speed
that I can reach.
Click to expand...


My bike was off by 9%. Fixed it with a speedo healer. Makes me happier to know that the speedo is right on now, hated trying to figure out in my head what the actual speed was.
 
GPS has a slow response time/poor accuracy. Head out and find a radar sign, and compare it to your speedo. Or maybe you feel like it's off because while the speedo said you were doing 20 over and a cager still whizzed by like you were standing still?
 
My Ducati reads 8% high from the factory. Says so right in the owners manual. Then there's this:

European Union Directive 2000/7/EC set the requirements for speedometer accuracy.

There are two main requirements when tested:
1. That indicated speed is never below actual speed.
2. That indicated speed is never above 110%+4 km/h of actual speed.

For actual production motorcycles and motor tricycles, the upper limit increases to 110%+8 km/h (but remains 110%+4 km/h for mopeds).

So for a production motorcycle rolling at an actual 80 MPH, the indicated speed can't be below 80 MPH, and can't be above 92.97 MPH.

As this upper limit is 16.2% higher than actual, a built-in 8% error puts the Ducati motorcycle firmly in the middle of the legal range at highway speeds.
Forum Sponsor
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom