How much power do I really need in a motorcycle?
Your weight will slow your acceleration, will not make much difference in top speed. How fast do you need to go? I have a Vespa LX150ie, rated at a peak of 11.7 bhp, I hit a rev limiter at an actual 64 mph. NOTE: I ride the Vespa on the freeways of Los Angeles and tour on the Interstates. I am legal on the freeway, capable of passing some slower vehicles, I am *comfortable* on the freeways. But it is the bare minimum and very few people are comfortable that slow on the freeways. A SYM Wolf http://alliancepowersports.com/sym-wolf-... -- 149.5cc, rated at a peak of 14.79 bhp, rated to at 65.5 mph. Since my Vespa is rated at 59 mph, I would expect the Wolf to hit about 72 mph. Technically not freeway legal in California. Wiki claims the Honda 250 Rebel has 16.1 bhp and hits 70 mph. Comparing to my Vespa, the math figures 75 mph, which matches the Rebel Forum members. The Rebel is *totally* legal and capable on Freeways and Interstates. Many people have done Iron Butt rides on a 250cc class bikes. A Ninja 250 puts out about 28 bhp, for a top speed of about 100 mph, which agrees with the math. My old Savage 650 also had about 28 bhp, but could only do about 85 mph. --- Addendum --- Please ignore Smartypants who claims you need at least 50 bhp. I don't know what planet he lives, but on Earth all you actually need to go on any freeway or interstate is about 10 bhp or 60 mph. A motorcycle with a peak of 50 bhp can do 120-130 mph. For me, that is a crazy insane speed for public roads. The bottom line: Question: How much power do I really need in a motorcycle? Answer: How fast do you want to ride? A Ninja 250 has about 28 bhp and can do 100 mph. My Vespa 150 *CRUISES* at 60 mph, actual, not indicated, and I do ride quite comfortably on the Interstates.
Is 162 hp a lot for a motorcycle?
On the right bike its good for 180+ mph, so yeah, its a lot.
Is 140hp for a motorcycle a lot of horsepower?
To make a true comparison, you have to look at power to weight ratio. 140hp is a nice amount (about the same as my RC51) but, 2013 Camaro weighs 3780 lbs 848 EVO weighs roughly 390. At 140hp it has a p/w ratio of about 2.8lbs/hp For a Camaro to have the same, it would need about 1356hp. In high end sportsbikes, 140 is not a lot. The latest ZX-10 Kawasaki makes just over 200, MV Agusta F41000RR makes 201hp. BMW S1000RR makes 193hp. Of course it takes an exceptional rider to actually use all that power. My old 2001 GSXR750 track bike pumps out about 160 but it is only useful on the track. I recently went for a ride on a Honda CBR1000RR, and to really get to the power, you are going waaaay too fast for the street. Even in 2nd gear, it was doing about 160kmh at 10000rpm, and still had 3000rpm to go to redline and max power. Again, only useful on the track.
Motorcycle horsepower?
Dude anything over 100 HP is a lot of power for newbs (not me I was destined to ride fast)
How many CC's is considered a "big" engine on a motorcycle? And what would each range of CC's be used for?
Where bikes are basic transportation, as in SE asia, most bikes are less than 200cc, many are fitted with a sidecar too and carry what in the west would be considered absurd loads, such as 3 on the bike and another 4 in the side car! The speed is low and the fuel economy is better than any alternative.In the west Motorcycles went from basic transportation to sporting vehicles especially thru the ‘60s. Bikes since then became much larger in power for the sporting models, heavier and more luxurious for the touring types and just enormous for the cruiser models popular in the USA. Small but functional bikes lost popularity. Since then electric starters enable even the least muscular and light weight riders to easily get any size engine running.Weight becomes a serious consideration for bikes when used for serious sport. Off road race bikes are often about 200 lbs and 250 cc, most are less than 450 cc. and virtually all have one cylinder engines. Such a bike would not be pleasant to ride on the street, nor would it be legal in general. Pure road racing bikes gain cylinders and hp, but still stay well under 400 lbs, many are closer to 300lbs.Tomorrow, Jan 6 , 2018 the Dakar rally in South America will begin, currently the bikes there are limited to 450 cc and will cover about 9000 km. Those bikes are ‘small’ single cylinder models compared to the typically 1000 cc twin cylinder models used when the rally crossed the Sahara, Egypt to Senegal.
What is the fastest street legal motorcycle?
Most of the bikes the in the other answers here are electronically limited to 186 MPH (300 KM/h). This voluntary limit is on these bikes because governments and insurance companies are on the verge of banning these high speed motorcycles, sort of like what happened to the Muscle Car in the early 1970's. However the MTT Turbine Street Fighter is a street legal bike that has a top speed of 227 MPH (365 KM/h). And this is the base model with the 320 HP engine. This bike has an optional 420 HP turbine that will get this bike up to over 250 MPH (402 KM/h). Since this bike is limited production and much more expensive, it does not have any sort of speed limiter. Sort of makes the bikes in the other answers look like scooters. The only reason you don't see a lot of these is that the MSRP for the base model is $175,000 USD.
Average motorcycle horsepower?
A basic scooter has about 5 hp. Gets the job done commuting around town. A 250 ninja has about 26hp and is a great bike until you want to cruise on the freeway at 80 mph. Jumping to the 300 ninja at 34hp will get the job done. Old fashioned engines like the air cooled vtwin on a harley get awful horsepower for the size an 883 sportster gets about 40hp but is so much heavier and ill suited for cornering than the ninja, the biggest $40,000 1600cc harley with all the factory performance add ons still only gets about 65hp, and again way heavy and very ill suited for cornering. What I consider the unpretentious best designed most practical and useful bike is the Suzuki 650 vstrom. At 1000cc, 347lbs, and $32000 less than the harley it still gets 63hp and corners very nicely will handle dirt roads or the freeway. The average 600 sport bike is 100hp and can wheelie off the throttle in just about any gear. The average 1000 sport bike is about 150hp. Right now the 1400 ninja is the highest horsepower bike at about 190hp...and still $25000 less than the 65hp harley. So there really is no answer to your question. There is no dominant horsepower catagory. Alot of people riding alot of different bikes.
How much Horsepower does a 2019 Harley Davidson Motorcycle produce?
The 500cc Harley engine stock dyno tests out at 38HP and 32ft lbs of torque.The 750cc Harley engine stock dyno tests out at 45HP and 37ft lbs of torque.The 883cc Harley engine stock dyno tests out at 49HP and 58ft lbs of torque.The 1200cc Harley engine stock dyno tests out at 61HP and 70ft lbs of torque.The 107Cu in Harley engine stock dyno tests out at 79HP with 101ft lbs of torque.The 114Cu in Harley engine stock dyno tests out at 88HP with 111ft lbs of torque.Hopefully that covers all of them. Dyno Numbers were taken from the K&N air filters data set where possible, otherwise I went with the highest “stock” figures from fuel mapping units.
What amount of horsepower is considered a lot for a car?
There are really two parts to the answer. Top speed is a function of aerodynamics and power. Acceleration is pretty much a function of power to weight.For a car to have a high top end it needs to be powerful and aerodynamic. If it is powerful but isn't aerodynamic it just won't go fast.Equally 150 bhp on a motorbike gives you a feeling of pretty serious acceleration whereas in a 2.5 ton car, it won't be lighting your world.For that reason something like the lotus Elise is a fast car without having masses of power because it is light and aerodynamic.Back in the day 150hp was a bit of a milestone hp. It meant you had a 3 litre motor or thereabouts. A rover 3.5 v8 was good for anywhere between 155 and 175 hp depending on model . Fitted in a sports car, that felt pretty fun.Big engined sports cars like the 4.2 litre or 5.3 v12 jaguars put out low to mid 200s hp.Today any number of 2 litre diesels put out 150 hp, so the bar has shifted a bit but cars are quite lardy these days with all the airbags and equipment compared to older designs.For me anything that does 0-60 in 6 seconds or less and does 150 mph+ is a powerful car. That isn't to say that buying a modern sports car with that sort of specification really costs much these days. They are likely to be relatively light and aerodynamic with 230hp or more.
How much horsepower is needed for a motorcycle adventure trip?
Not all that much, really.People tour on these:It’s a Ninja 250R with maybe 30 horsepower. There are some who put thousands of miles on these every year. It has some limitations for weight carrying, passing power and places to strap stuff down, but it can make a perfectly capable tourer on and off road.People tour on these:It’s a KLR 650. They make a KLR250 as well. The 650 make all of about 35 horsepower. People have ridden these around the world several times.I ride one of these:It’s a VStrom 650 and it makes around 65 horsepower. They also make a 1000cc version of the same bike. I’m fine with the 650’s lower HP and have over 85,000 long distance road miles on it so far.You can make any bike into a capable touring bike. It just matters what you needs are and what bike matches those needs and your budget.