Put Up Or Shut Up

[Brock Kickass]

If you've ever wondered how fast your 6R (or whatever you're riding now, since everyone here seems to have sold their 6R's) really goes, this is your chance.

Race the Runway | Smiths Falls Russ Beach Airport – August 25, 2012 Race the Runway | Smiths Falls Russ Beach Airport – August 25, 2012

The event is open to bikes and cars. Even if you don't run, you'll get to see some cool s&#t ripping it up! I've emailed the organizers about tech specs for bikes and their riders, I'll keep anyone intersted posted. I'm thinking about running my bike for fun, I'm curious about the real number. The event is in Smith's Falls, Ontario, Canada, less than an hour from Ottawa, and within a day's driving from most of Upstate New York and New England.

Standard Disclaimer: I do not stand to gain financially or in any other way in my promoting this event, nor am I associated with the event or it's organizers in any way.

 

[Perdurable]

that sounds pretty fun!!!

 

[JT]

that does sound fun. just a little to far for me lol

 

[Deleted member 9794]

Is the FZ6R's speed electronically limited?

 

[MC#4]

125-130mph seems to be the general concensus. 6th gear on redline put me at 126 on a flat road. Not electronically limited, just gearing/power limited.

 

[Johnie12341]

So if our bikes aren't electronically limited when I get my two bros exhaust and power commander and the claimed 5 extra hp I should be able to take it past 130 mph?

 

[JSP]

So if our bikes aren't electronically limited when I get my two bros exhaust and power commander and the claimed 5 extra hp I should be able to take it past 130 mph?

Not unless you changed your gearing. HP does not = more top speed.

 

[Johnie12341]

Sprocket ratios or transmission gear ratios? Or when you change one do you have to change the other?

 

[MistahT]

Sprocket ratios or transmission gear ratios? Or when you change one do you have to change the other?

You SHOULD be able to just change sprockets to get extra top speed.

 

[Brock Kickass]

The bike doesn't really have a lot of power, so gearing taller won't make a whack of difference unless you do some mods to gain some HP. I was never able to get to the rev limiter in 6th, and that was running a course with a pretty long straight. If I had more room I might have been able to sooner or later, but there's really not many places that you can hold a bike WOT that long safely or legally besides the Autobahn or a purpose-built top speed facility (Nardo or Bonneville come to mind, although technically Bonneville wasn't "built"). Besides that, at high speeds aerodynamics is the biggest obstacle you face, and it takes exponentially more power to overcome wind resistance as speed increases. IMHO, unless you're doing some really serious engine mods, there isn't really enough horsepower to max out stock gearing in a reasonable amount of space.

 

[Johnie12341]

Ok sounds legit I'm just surprised that with all the mods people are doing with the 6r like exhausts and power commanders and sprockets you never see any of them go over 130, I could of sworn they were governed to 130

 

[Marthy]

most than likely our ride is drag limited. I tried few different ratio and you get to a point the gearing doesn't do any thing at high speed. I never hold it there for minutes to see how fast it goes but I can say it much quicker to get in the 3 digits that it use to be with the stock bike and stock ratio.

I'm quite sure I can brake the 130-135 without the baggage and a small screen. But like you said... I have nowhere to give it a fair legally shot!

 

[Chevyfazer]

why cant they do something like this close to me!!!!

Id still love to find a open road race that allows motorcycles to compete too!

 

[Johnie12341]

So marthy your saying that our bikes were just never designed to go much faster than 130 even if you pump up the horse power it's still gonna be limited by drag?

 

[Chevyfazer]

your bike could have 1000hp but if you dont change the sprockets its going to be RPM limited. Marthy probably has the most powerful fz6r out there right now and i bet it would be hard pressed to break 140.

i cant remember all the math but basicly once you break somewhere around120 mph it takes alot more hp to climb another 10mph and that percentage grows exponentially every mph you go higher as the aero drag increases

edit: according to www.gearingcommander.com the fz6r's therotical top speed in 6th gear at 12,000 rpm would be 144mph (thats stock gearing)

 

[Marthy]

So marthy your saying that our bikes were just never designed to go much faster than 130 even if you pump up the horse power it's still gonna be limited by drag?

CheveyFaser is right. Drag is a killer. If I remember well is a coefficient of ^4. So let say you go 60MPH, your drag Co is 10. At 120 MPH (double) your drag Co. is 40. Numbers might not reflect proper values but it's just to give you an idea how it work. I might not be right spot on but it's kind of about how it work.

So in real life if a 180HP SS can go 200 MPH max out, our 80HP bike top off at around 125-130MPH. Theory sound about right... Now you see how much HP you need to really go that much faster. In the opposite, a little change in having less drag make you go much faster.

You should see the amount of work and money goes into a Indycar for the Indy500. The big team have "Speedway cars" just for Indy. Body fit with extreme tolerance. Even then we tape all the crack between panels and even clean and wax the underwing like a mirror. All the little details makes a huge difference between going 223MPH or 225 MPH. 2 MPH at that speed is like 8 car length every laps.

 

[Grumpy]

Drag plays a big factor in top speed. Bikes have a high Cd but less area.

If you want to know what you top speeds would be in each gear, run the bike out on a dyno. I know my VW GTi with a light tune does near 180 on a dyno, but will never see that on the street.


I did some cals based on absolute top wheel speed (no HP, weight, and Cd limits) the top speeds for a 2007 FZ6 with a 24.78" tire and a max power out put at 10,500rpm are as follows. These numbers seem pretty close.

1st = 56mph
2nd = 82mph
3rd = 103mph
4th = 120mph
5th = 135mph
6th = 148mph

 

[Chevyfazer]

^^^fyi that website www.gearingcommander.com will do all those calculations for you, you can even enter different sprocket sizes look at what the speed should be at different rpms and all kinds of other stuff! Pretty cool site

Talking about aero drag though, I remember reading a article in car and driver years ago about the NSX. They redesigned the mirrors headlights and I think something else too, while changing nothing in on the engine or tranny and picked up about a 7mph increase in top speed

 

[Grumpy]

Wow! that is a sweet website. Looks like my numbers weren't that far off +/- 1-2mph.

I knew that there were variables that I didn't have, i guess good enough for government work.

 

[Marthy]

^^^fyi that website Gearing Commander: Motorcycle Speed, RPM, Chain & Sprockets Calculator will do all those calculations for you, you can even enter different sprocket sizes look at what the speed should be at different rpms and all kinds of other stuff! Pretty cool site

Talking about aero drag though, I remember reading a article in car and driver years ago about the NSX. They redesigned the mirrors headlights and I think something else too, while changing nothing in on the engine or tranny and picked up about a 7mph increase in top speed

Rule of thumb with the old Indycar use to be +1 degree on the rear wing was close to +1MPH. (Actually the rear wing was nose up 3 to 4 degree in qualification trim)

So next time you check bump day on TV and wonder why people go nuts at the end of the day to make the show... they trimming the hell out of that rear wing to pick up speed... 90% of the time it all end up bad. Not enough rear down force. Rear end cut loose end BANG in the wall. Notice old footage or next year Indy 500.