Well, gentlemen, spring has arrived early in Utah. Unfortunately, things didn't progress this winter the way I had hoped, so all that talk of paint and powder coat and dropped jaws just didn't pan out. Such is life. I did manage to tidy up a few minor details with the wiring harness.
After some cautious exploration up one of our favorite mountain passes today, one of the fellows I frequently ride with and I decided to compare bikes. He has a '12 BMW S1000RR and at first, you'd think that would not be much of a comparison. His weighs 458 lbs. and has 197 HP with all the electronic rider aids. Mine's about 525 lbs. with what- 125 HP? I brought up the weight difference in riders, mainly that while his bike weighs about 75 lbs. less than mine, I weigh about 80 lbs. less than him.
It was at this point we got our phones out and pulled up dyno charts of the two bikes. At no point does the BMW ever make more torque than the ST, and the ST makes as much torque at 2800 RPM as the BMW does at peak. Comparing the two bikes RPM for RPM, the BMW makes less power until it hits 9500 RPM, or about 60 MPH in first gear (the BMW's first gear, not the ST's).
Neither of our bikes have tuners. I just have the Tyga Moto Maggot slip ons, and he has a Taylor Made full exhaust. Other than that, both bikes are bone stock, power wise. He has about 5000 miles on his, and my engine has about 48,000 and change on it. Both bikes have stock sized rear tires and stock gearing. Temp was low 70's.
After some discussion, we decided that the best comparison would be to drag race from a roll. That is, clutch out, first gear, rolling at about 5 MPH. We did this partially because he has launch control and I'm horrible at launches, and also to fully compare the two engines power delivery from just off idle. He figured I'd have a slight jump on him and then he'd pass me before I got out of first. I countered that he'd probably pass me at around 60- 75 MPH because that's where his bike starts making some big numbers and he won't have to shift until he hits 92 MPH.
So off we rode out to a road with a nice flat mile long straight in the middle of nowhere with no traffic, houses or trees. The deal was that he'd honk his horn three times and on the third honk, we go for it.
Anyone care to guess the outcome?
Think it was close?
Think he mauled me?
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On the 3rd honk, we went WOT and he immediately disappeared behind my peripheral vision. I just started banging off gears and focusing on the job at hand, waiting for him to come rocketing past me.
So how fast was I going when he get around me? Well, that's the silly part... he didn't. I was coming up on my mental braking marker, so I shut it down towards the top of 4th at about 123- 125 MPH, and he was still in my mirror. He was coming up real fast by that point and we both guess he would have passed me by the time I'd gained another 8- 10 MPH. As a side note, you'll remember several pages back that my bike maxed out at 143 MPH with a 15 MPH headwind, to give you some idea just how deep into my performance envelope we were. Neither of us could believe it, and I accused him of either sand bagging or forgetting to take his bike out of rain mode, so we did it two more times, each with relatively the same result.
We ran out of time by that point, but the results were so remarkable, we plan on doing more comparisons with different start speeds. The next time out, I'll put a GoPro on my tail facing rearward.
So there you have it. According to our uninstrumented, unscientific, illegal as hell, and as- close- to- equal- as- we can- make- it test, the ST1300 engine can give the S1000RR engine a solid run for its money.
As I sit here editing my post for clarity, I pause to contemplate the personality of this engine. Since day one, I've been amazed in particular by this engine. It's unlike anything I've ever experienced on two wheels and really is something special. However, looking at the size of the ports and header pipes while considering the relatively low compression ratio, I wonder how it would respond to some head work, cams, a bump in compression, and a bigger, shorter set of headers? Maybe go a step further and add forged rods, stiffer valve springs and a stand alone engine management system to allow it to spin up to 11,000- 12,000 RPM? Or, how fast could I spin it and have it survive? What would the limiting factor be in how much power this engine can produce? What part between the crank and the rear tire would break first? Would first gen Hayabusa levels of power and torque be out of the question? What about forced induction? Does anyone have a spare engine laying around they'd care to donate?
Perhaps when I have the budget for it, rather than doing the paint and powder coat as advertised, I should explore what this engine has to offer. What do you guys think- make it a beauty, or make it a beast?