Quote:
Originally Posted by Onkel Neal
The Guzzi V7 was on my love list a few years back. I just need more than 65HP, though.
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65 HP is decent power. You need a good torque rating too, though. It all depends on if you have a shaft, belt or chain drive system though. Rear wheel HP is what matters.
You lose in the area of 25 % of your total power with a shaft drive.
You lose about 10 % with a belt drive.
You lose about 2% with a chain drive.
All of these power conveyance systems have their virtues.
Subtract those percentages from your total power and you have a final power curve. Factor in the weight of the bike and rider and you have what is used in the aircraft industry, a thrust to weight ratio. In this case, a weight to a rear wheel horsepower figure.
I have an old Honda Shadow 700 with 11,000 original miles on the odometer that produces 62 gross horsepower and 45 lb feet of torgue, and is shaft driven. Using the formula I mentioned, it has roughly 45 horsepower at the rear wheel. It easily kept up with Harley's and the others and easily cruised at 75 MPH or better. It also turned in 61 miles per gallon of gas as well while cruising at those speeds and had very low emissions. The carbs were fine tuned, however. What more can you ask for.