Old Can Ride
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When me and my ex split she ended up with it. She sold it to get new boobs.
Well that's just wrong. Between the Vstar and the ex that's two sets of jugs you didn't get to enjoy.
Right - marketing.. I've been reading motorcycle hype for 45 years, it's written for a purpose.There are plenty of technical articles on the 700/750 engine that explain how the mission brief of maximum economy from given displacement was achieved
Show where the velocity of this piston would be too high given it's stroke and a little more RPM. I don't think you can. There are lots of big short stroke engines around where the stroke is about the same that have redlines way higher.You are correct. With undersquare (long stroke, torquey) engines, the long stroke means high piston velocity.
Right - cheap chintzy components, great. Actually I think, and this is just my opinion here, I bet it's not that bad and this engine has more capacity to rev.Our rockers are cast aluminum (instead of machined billet or forged). They don't even have the cast flashing machined off. Our valve springs are small and low tension. At high RPMs, this will let the valves float and lead to misfiring, burnt valves and seats, and possibly contact between the valves and pistons.
Talking motorcycles here - trucks are different. I don't think this analogy makes much sense.Kind of like comparing a 5.9 liter Cummins to a 5.9 liter V8.
I with Pegasus on this, only I have only 43 years experience. Once in a while an extra 1000rpm would be nice. No, it probably won't be the peak power but it provides some flexibility for certain situations.
Not picking on you Dave on this rant - rev limiters are there to prevent engine damage. But to work that issue - why would this particular engine be unusually susceptible to that? Any 650 modern twin is redlined much higher. Did Honda use such a junk design that the redline must be kept really low? I think/hope that is a rhetorical question. Piston speed isn't the issue. Hydraulic valves aren't the issue. Is there a mechanical issue like a really chintzy crankshaft design? I hope no. Would the engine run out of breath at 7000+, probably. Single throttle body, crazy exhaust port and header, long stroke, all conspire against good highspeed breathing. But most bikes have a redline that provides significant overrun past where the engine is making peak power. Why not just provide the overrun?
If you believe the marketing. I ride my NCX std like any other bike I've had (75-80mph cruise, brisk acceleration) and it's getting 55mpg on Kali winter gas. The Sprint 955i I had got 53 and I was *probably* going faster on it. So is Honda being an institutional "nanny"? Limit the power available and you shape behavior?
There are qualities to the NCX I like - comfortable, good offroad, light natural handling. The power is adequate for the most part, but for some situations it falls short. Those situations are safety related - with enough power you can do certain things safely, if you know what I mean. When I ride I don't sit behind motorhomes and cars on mountain roads - I pass them. With the NCX that's problematic. With a little overrun it would be less so.
Hmmmm - I have multiple bikes and have had many others over the last 40 years so I know what power feels like. Curiously, I have found the NCX has plenty of power for everyday riding at sane speeds.
0-80 the nc is quick enough to dispatch MOST cars with ease - over 80 - it runs out of breath. The bike WILL do the ton with ease - just takes a bit of a wait to get there.
Best way to make power for accleration past cars at speed is to short shift and ride the torque. More RPM will do you no good on this engine - the HP drops off at a little over 6k anyways.
I only wish they had made the rev limiter merely limit the revs instead of suddenly cutting out the power.
I agree with your comments, and for those riders who think speed gets you out of trouble-NOT! speed will get you into trouble. There is no production bike which can go from 0-60mph in a shorter distance than 60-0mph ( and any other comparable speeds)(even the bmw s1000rr has a shorter braking distance than accelerating distance). Gravity and friction are the two culprits for the longer acceleration distance while gravity and friction helps the braking distance. Most of the time, you can slow down and get out of trouble easier/quicker/safer than trying to twist the throttle...
I have to disagree.......I've had plenty of incidents where my throttle saved the day.
I'm in the same camp. I've had lots of too powerful bikes that I simply couldn't ride the engine to the upmost. A Ducati S4R was the worst - the front end would come up at 60mph! I'd nose around on sandy mountain roads barely cracking the throttle past the infamous Ducati surging.
I'm really pretty happy on any bike, however small. My beef is with cars I come up on, are clearly going a slower pace than me, but then speed up to block a pass. I used to ride a DR650 around, this didn't happen much, but once in a while... On a faster bike there simply isn't an issue, it's trivial to pass safely any (typical) car. I don't race WRX's, Corvettes, etc, and I don't split traffic on a two lane highway either, LOL! but I do cross the double yellow all the time. California a while back removed 90% of the passing sections on mountain roads. For cars this made sense as the straights were clearly not long enough unless the passing driver really nailed it and the driver being past cooperated. Human nature being what it is this didn't always happen.
Anyway, I have a tendency to argue technical issues, which is a little obnoxious (I'm told). Cheers, have a good ride!
Exceptions to every rule; just like people who complain about drivers driving too slow when it snows; most of the people who loose control on snow probably wasn't driving too slow.....
I only wish they had made the rev limiter merely limit the revs instead of suddenly cutting out the power.