Thread: Getting power out of a harley

Originally Posted by 257weatherby

A long time ago, way in the distant past, my road bike was a 996 SPS, the exhausts worked rather well, I may have been guilty of doing laps of the underground carpark at Countdown to see which car alarm sounds I liked the best....... wife was on the back at the time, might have been scolding me for being juvenile, but I couldn't hear her - felt the punch in the kidney though....

Impossible to sneak up on the house, whole damn street knew I'd arrived.

I had a similar experience but not with the noise....We (Wife and I) were riding and had a mate of mine on his bike with us. We were travelling up a long straight on the way home after a week away. He ripped past me and I thought "no you didn't..." so I passed him and thus we started to ride down that straight much faster than usual...at one point my wife on the back starts poking me in the ribs to "slow the F__K down...." and I glance at the dash to see the bike sitting just n redline at 7000 rpm and doing about 180kph...I had never taken it that fast (before or since) but it revved and ran much better than I thought it would. Anyway I slowed down to the speed limit noticed I was still revving at 4500rpm so changed from 4th to 5th.......

Took near a week for the bruises under the ribs to go away....wifey had a bit of power behind those jabs......

A large chunk of the reason why I got the missus her own bike.

All the Harley's have potential. The higher the cliff the more potential.

Hog rindin' fools.

Originally Posted by gadgetman

All the Harley's have potential. The higher the cliff the more potential.

would certainly improve acceleration , and braking when they reached the bottom ... probably wouldn't help the handling though

Now now girls...

Have to admit if one of my sons/sons in law (25-35 yrs) called in with a new Hayabusa/Duke etc and told me he was into GP racing on way to Akaroa, with people falling off regularly etc, I would back my bloody truck straight over it and save the wives and family some grief. I would rather they arrive on a cruiser like Harley than something that would encourage track antics on the road and prompt visits to Ward 6...

Kawasaki KLR650 also a long term adventure/tourer bike. Pretty much unchanged from1987-2007, then few mods through to 2018. Don't know this bike but like the DR650 these dual purpose tourers do have their own following..

Originally Posted by mudgripz

Now now girls...

Have to admit if one of my sons/sons in law (25-35 yrs) called in with a new Hayabusa/Duke etc and told me he was into GP racing on way to Akaroa, with people falling off regularly etc, I would back my bloody truck straight over it and save the wives and family some grief. I would rather they arrive on a cruiser like Harley than something that would encourage track antics on the road and prompt visits to Ward 6...

Kawasaki KLR650 also a long term adventure/tourer bike. Pretty much unchanged from1987-2007, then few mods through to 2018. Don't know this bike but like the DR650 these dual purpose tourers do have their own following..

I have a 2011 klr650. 32l safari tanks
Road tyres/rims on it now but have the knobblies.
Seat could do with a little better padding though

Well 22 pages and we still haven't got any more power out of a Harley. I blame 5G

I like the look of the new Indian motorcycles, and they seem to have reasonable hp for big old thumpers. Their FTR 1200 is an interesting looking bike and has 123hp, and the base Indian Scout produces 100hp. That's enough to move it quite well. Anyone ridden them - I have no idea if they're reliable:

https://www.indianmotorcycle.com/en-us/motorcycles/

https://www.indianmotorcycle.com/en-us/ftr1200-s/

Originally Posted by mudgripz

I like the look of the new Indian motorcycles, and they seem to have reasonable hp for big old thumpers. Their FTR 1200 is an interesting looking bike and has 123hp, and the base Indian Scout produces 100hp. That's enough to move it quite well. Anyone ridden them - I have no idea if they're reliable:

https://www.indianmotorcycle.com/en-us/motorcycles/


https://www.indianmotorcycle.com/en-us/ftr1200-s/

They’re fairly strong encyclopedic but have a good rep from what I’ve heard.

I haven't ridden one had a good look at a couple in the showroom and they do look really well made

That FTR Indian looks pretty good. I like the upright riding position. My wrists and neck can't handle the race position anymore

Stayed up way too late last night looking at reviews, and then comparisons of Indian v Harley. I think all of the reviewers came down for the Indians - more modern tech, more power over base models, better performance etc. Harley remains as biggest selling american V-twin thumper, but Indian a very real alternative. Indian does alot of flat-track racing in US and that tech has improved their road bikes with several reviews commenting these things perform well for a heavyweight twin, and with handling that is actually quite good.

The 123hp Indian FTR1200 model is a strong performer for its 230kg weight with 3.4 seconds to 100kph, 7.3 secs to 160kph, and 11 second quarter at 119mph. That's alot quicker than most sportscars - unlike Harley. The Harley V-Rod produces up to 125hp stock but weighs round 304kg - and that's alot of metal to move. The Indian FTR 1200cc comfortably beat the 1800cc Harley in sprints.

Harley will remain the best seller for foreseeable future for big american twin fans - people certainly enjoy them. But if buying I'd definitely be trying out the Indian. Its almost like a hybrid - as though an engineer from Ducati went over and did some redesigning...

Cameron - easy way to get more power from yr 'Harley' might be flog it and play with an Indian!! Shearer - that KTM 790 Duke looks the goods - much lighter and apparently with excellent handling. We are spoiled for choice these days with big road bikes - some great machinery to choose from.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5XtYqNpLSY

It might surprise some but a lot of people buy Harleys just to ride, not to drag race, not to do the Coromandel loop in the fastest time.

Same as some people use muzzle-loaders to hunt

But the expression’if I have to explain you wouldn’t understand’ comes to mind.

Originally Posted by mudgripz

Stayed up way too late last night looking at reviews, and then comparisons of Indian v Harley. I think all of the reviewers came down for the Indians - more modern tech, more power over base models, better performance etc. Harley remains as biggest selling american V-twin thumper, but Indian a very real alternative. Indian does alot of flat-track racing in US and that tech has improved their road bikes with several reviews commenting these things perform well for a heavyweight twin, and with handling that is actually quite good.

The 123hp Indian FTR1200 model is a strong performer for its 230kg weight with 3.4 seconds to 100kph, 7.3 secs to 160kph, and 11 second quarter at 119mph. That's alot quicker than most sportscars - unlike Harley. The Harley V-Rod produces up to 125hp stock but weighs round 304kg - and that's alot of metal to move. The Indian FTR 1200cc comfortably beat the 1800cc Harley in sprints.

Harley will remain the best seller for foreseeable future for big american twin fans - people certainly enjoy them. But if buying I'd definitely be trying out the Indian. Its almost like a hybrid - as though an engineer from Ducati went over and did some redesigning...

Cameron - easy way to get more power from yr 'Harley' might be flog it and play with an Indian!! Shearer - that KTM 790 Duke looks the goods - much lighter and apparently with excellent handling. We are spoiled for choice these days with big road bikes - some great machinery to choose from.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5XtYqNpLSY

I have seen the FTR on runout so the price is pretty good too.

Originally Posted by Finnwolf

It might surprise some but a lot of people buy Harleys just to ride, not to drag race, not to do the Coromandel loop in the fastest time.

Same as some people use muzzle-loaders to hunt

But the expression’if I have to explain you wouldn’t understand’ comes to mind.

It's easy to explain. It's all about the image and looking cool because there is nothing a Harley does that some other bike doesn't do better.