How fast have you had your ST?

I can tell you that the mirror cover will come off at 145 indicated if it's not attached correctly..............Don't ask me how I know.


+1.... Earlier ST's had little split-rings that fit around the mirror mount fingers to increase their holding power, my '05 didn't have them, but I put them on. ("clip, tube" P/N 95002-02100)

Drew
 
A bike that looks a lot like mine has gone over 130 numerous times. It is usually trying to catch some other individuals that post on this site.:eek:
 
:eek: :yikes: :bigeyes: :holy crap: :yowza: :eek:4:

[Serious Rant] In engineering terms, loads on key parts of the bike go up as the square of the speed. By 'loads', I mean drag, hoop stress in the tires & rims, stress on engine & drivetrain parts, ... etc. The following table shows such loads as a function of speed, relative to 60 mph.

Speed, Loads
60, 100%
70, 136%
80, 178%
90, 225%
100, 278%
110, 336%
120, 400%
130, 469%
140, 544%
150, 625%

Just a quick burst up to 90 that we each seem to find on our speedo at times more than doubles the load on key parts. From 90 to 130, it more than doubles again. Scary stuff.

It only takes a slight imperfection in a tire and you are done with life at such high speeds. If a piece of fairing rips off and the bike no longer has symmetric loading...done. A rim cracks...done. A bearing siezes...done. One of many engine parts gives out...done. A tooth on the driveline failes...done. You hit something on the road...done. The road is damaged...done. Someone misjudges your speed and pulls in front of you...done.

I implore you to slow down. [/Serious Rant]

John, I appreciate your post and your information. I know logically that is probably not a good idea to go as fast as this bike will go but your stats are very eye opening. I will think twice in the future before I turn the throttle.
 
Disclaimer: I never intended to go this fast...

Coming home from work last week I was coming north up the 110 freeway just south of USC in the carpool lane about 1215am... Very light traffic, I notice a pair of headlights coming up on me, I was doing about 70 at the time. Guy pulls up right behind me, instead of getting over into the left carpool lane I increase my speed after blinking my brake lights at him... he's still pushing me... so I rev it up a little bit more and put some distance between us...

He finally gets the clue and changes over to the other lane. As he does I back off the throttle. Just as we are approaching the merge a CHP cruiser pops his lights behind the guy and hits me with his spot. So I break it and pull over along with the mustang driver.

I shut down pop my helmet and walk back to the officer who is now approaching the car (dark black Mustang GT) officer shines his flashlight on me and tells me to just hang on right where I was.

He does the routine with the guy in the car, the whole time I am just standing there watching. Gives the guy a ticket while saying "It's your lucky night!" Mustang driver gives me the ugliest most pissed off stare I had seen and pulls away.

Now I think man I am I in the ****!! Officer walks up to me (dressed in my space suit) asks to see my license and registration. I walk up to my bike he follows and I pop my left saddlebag and pull out my reg and insurance and give him my license. He check's it out and hands it back to me.

Pauses a moment looks over the bike and me and says "Do you know how fast you were going?" I said no sir I didn't look at the speedo just trying to gain some distance on the guy in the car that was riding up on me to close and to fast. He laughs and say's yeah you passed me about a mile back I saw what was happening and that's why I gave the guy in the car the ticket. **Forgot to add he let me know we were doing 115mph +**** Do me a favor and next time just bail from the car pool lane give guys like that the clearance they need. By the way you have a really nice ST, my buddy is trying to talk me into one of those. I thanked the officer earnestly and said I hadn't realized i had it up that fast but I assured him it was not the normal riding speed for me ever. I enjoy cruising along at 75mph or so. He says yeah you come up this freeway nightly don't you, I see you at least 2 or 3 times a week and you are usually doing around 70mph. He shook my hand and went back to his cruiser.

Talk about a relief! My wife would have killed me for a speeding ticket no matter the circumstance... especially on my commute, she worries enough as it is. Considering this guy could have arrested us both for excessive speed I thought both the car and myself got off very easy.

As a side note the bike was rock solid and I know it had alot more to give as I was incrementing up as that guy in the car kept pushing up on me.....

Sorry for the long post but thought I would share this unique example with the rest of you.

Might even tell the wife about it some day. :eek:
 
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I finally got it up to 126 and there was plenty left. I have a ST1100 (99) and I'm ready to go for 135. No wobbles or nothing, straight as an arrow
 
Ive had mine to 125mph with the wife ont the back aswell looking down at the speedo then looked up and then i realised that i was rapidily running out of road
 
I don't think I would ever go that fast , but it's nice to know that if you wanted to it's possible.
 
Does the ST definitely have a rev limiter? If so I'll take it to ignition cut out in top gear.

To those making a big deal out of speed, you pick your place, hit it at 70 mph and in less then a mile you've topped it out. Takes 30 seconds.

ST: 140 on speedo, tach knocking on redline.

XX: 190 on speedo, actual about 178.

Sounds like you were in 4th on the ST as it will bump the rev limiter at about 130 actual mph and about 140 on the speedo. It won't pull redline in 5th. I thought I swallowed a valve or something when that happened to me and the engine cut out. Boy was I relieved when there was one more gear left.
 
Sounds like you were in 4th on the ST as it will bump the rev limiter at about 130 actual mph and about 140 on the speedo. It won't pull redline in 5th. I thought I swallowed a valve or something when that happened to me and the engine cut out. Boy was I relieved when there was one more gear left.


Cool. Now that I know there's a limiter I'll be doing it again.

Maybe I was in 4th.:confused:
 
98 ST 1100

135 MPH indicated

Steady as a rock

two lane road 2 or 3 mile stretch

I might have been able to milk a few more mph out of it, but not much.
 
Yeah, I've never been able to redline my ST in 5th either. That'd be something like 165 and the best I've gotten is a little over 150. That was down a gentle incline on Texas 118 going from Alpine to Terlingua. I've had the Blackbird considerably faster, but its not nearly as comfortable as the ST is above 100 mph. The Blackbird fairing and windscreen "almost" protect you from the wind blast so you really feel like you are riding fast.

There are a lot of places you can ride fast west of San Antonio. The odds of running across any kind of law enforcement are slim, but you do occasionally pass a county sheriff. I spent a lot of Sunday Morning riding between 80 and 100 mph south and east of Rock Springs. Heading home I passed a truck on Texas 16 and just after I slowed down I came across a DPS car sitting on the side of the road with his windows rolled down. He had to have heard me winding through the gears on the Blackbird, but he just waved as I passed.

The one place I wouldn't do it is on the interstate. Too much other traffic to contend with, and you actually have a "slight" chance of talking yourself out of a ticket on a back road with no one around for miles. You have no chance on an interstate when you are endangering someone besides yourself.
 
125 on speedo, Zumo said 113. stable, no wiggles, very calm day no wind at all, almost no traffic, Pan Euro topbox was on the ST13. Thought that was fast enough, if I didn't have the topbox on I may have tried going a little higher.
 
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