Reality in Horsepower & Weight

[Wild Will]

Old news, this, but it bears a reminder that the rear wheel BHP figures AND weights of the machinery we genuflect before (and thrash about) are oft different than the ones on the sales brochures.

Scale is at L.A. County Raceway, and the dyno is a Dynojet or Cycle Dyn:

'05 BMW R1200GS: 83.9 bhp and 544 # wet weight.
'06 BMW K1200R: 141.1 bhp and 547# wet.
'03 KTM 950: 88.9 bhp and 495# wet.
'03 Suzi Hayabusa: 156.1 bhp and 550# wet.
'05 Triumph Speed Triple: 119.8 bhp and 490# wet.
'03 Yamaha FJR 1300: 126.8 bhp and 641# wet.
'03 Yamaha V Max: 116.5 bhp and 631 #.

Material borrowed from Motorcyclist. Interesting to note just how much of that 100 horsepower of the 1200 GS is borrowed by the drivetrain getting the power to the pavement!

[DarthRider]

Well, Wild Will -
Those are, I assume, stock motorcycles...does anyone ride stock motorcycles?
I know my Speed Triple actually makes 198HP at the wheel and weighs only 312 lbs. It hasn't been dyno'd but that's what the guy told me who sold me the parts...

Dave

Dave

[Ed K]

Dave,

198! 'fraid to ask what you did to it?

[supermotoC]

'05 BMW R1200GS: 83.9 bhp and 544 # wet weight.
'06 BMW K1200R: 141.1 bhp and 547# wet.
'03 KTM 950: 88.9 bhp and 495# wet.
'03 Suzi Hayabusa: 156.1 bhp and 550# wet.
'05 Triumph Speed Triple: 119.8 bhp and 490# wet.
'03 Yamaha FJR 1300: 126.8 bhp and 641# wet.
'03 Yamaha V Max: 116.5 bhp and 631 #.

SO, in lb per 1 HP is:

GS = 6.5lb per 1 HP
K12R = 3.9lb per 1 HP
KTM = 5.5lb per 1 HP
Haya = 3.5lb per 1 HP
Trium = 4.1lb per 1 HP
FJR = 5.1lb per 1 HP
Vmax = 5.4lb per 1 HP
my KTM Duke II (328lb/52RWHP)) 6.3LB per 1 HP
my BMW 1150R (538lb/72 RWHP) 7.1lb per 1 HP

figures rounded to tenths of a lb. HP is not the key, less weight means quicker to go, quicker to stop, quicker to turn.

[Deans BMW]

Several intresting points WW, We did some dyno work at San Jose BMW, using two different dynos. One was the Dynojet, (Power Commander) when they did research with Chris.
http://r1150r.smugmug.com/photos/21315603-M.jpg

http://r1150r.smugmug.com/photos/21315606-M.jpg

The other was Chrise's dyno. We found that with a R1200GS, adding a can only actually reduced power, but when adding a complete Remus system head pipes and can, we added appx 8 RWHP to the bike, on chrises dyno consistantly 89 ish RWHP. When we ran my ST with its reported 110 HP, we were completely suprised to find 98.5 RWHP on a completely stock 600 mile ST, subsequent RT's and ST's have shown appx the same HP's on the same dyno, my ST now well broken in and with a full Remus shows between 103 and 105. Remember, you can only compare HP's performed on the same dyno. For example on the same day with the Dynojet dyno on two diff R1200GS's before and after a full Remus install on both showed a 8 RWHP increase with a smoothing of the torque curve.

[fnfalman]

I do notice that adding a full exhaust system to BMWs tend to add more power than would have on other bikes. The Beemers are too severely restricted and detuned.

[supermotoC]

The Beemers are too severely restricted and detuned.

I'm pretty sure it's spelled "catalytic converter", but I could be wrong.

[fnfalman]

Every other bikes also have catalytic converters. BMW is just anal about making their bikes run strong and to the fullest potentials. You slap a full exhaust system on a rice burner and you'll be lucky to get 3 or 4 HP increase.

[Wild Will]

Funny you should mention them; I have two, 25 pound "boat anchor" GS stainless exhausts (stock) in my pickup to take to the dump. Seems like such a waste. If only they could come from the factory with systems we want. Hey, I guess we're lucky the govt. still allows the manufacture and street use of 2 wheeled vehicles at all.