[showmedude]

As the older site was dwindling, my brother Blue Fox had started a thread to see if we could find a way to compare the performance of our bikes. I was hoping to use the results to see if my 2-month-old purchase (GL500I) was behaving within a normal performance range for that type. The suggested benchmark was time to accelerate from 30 to 60 mph in 4th or 5th gear, along with as much info as needed to give a valid comparison. I believe before the site went down there was one data point for a CX500 in Colorado, a little over 10 seconds if I remember right.



I took mine out yesterday to see how easy this measurement was and to see if the test had the bike "lugging" harmfully. It seemed to work OK in 5th, and 4th was of course no problem. I don't have a dyno app for my GPS, so I used a wristwatch stopwatch in my jacket where I could start and stop it easily with my left hand. I also verified the speedo was accurate at both ends of the range with a Tom Tom.



Anyway, I made 12 runs in 5th, back and forth on a fairly level stretch of road. Back and forth because the constant wind where I live makes a significant difference. For my stock 82 GL500I, full fairing (no bags), ATGATT rider at 200 lbs, 2500 ft elevation, my average time in 5th gear was 12.5 seconds. Fastest was 10.1 seconds downwind, and slowest was 15.3 into the wind. I think it's the average that's important, tho. Five runs in 4th gear gave me an average of 8.6 seconds.



I don't want anyone to do anything they consider dangerous, but if anybody feels like sharing similar information I'll keep track of it and keep it handy for reference.



Blue's Bro

 

[Allan]

I believe before the site went down there was one data point for a CX500 in Colorado, a little over 10 seconds if I remember right.

Blue's Bro

That was me I think (Harold on the old forum), not from Colorado though.



1980 Custom (no accelerator pump)

50km to 100km (5th gear)

Avg. 10 seconds

195lb. rider

ele. 3900 ft.



I timed myself with the stopwatch on my cell phone.

 

[showmedude]

Thanks Harold/Allan/?. You are right, it was you, sorry about the locale mixup. Sort of hoping that I'll get at least a couple of responses. Everyone I've talked to says the CX500 out-performs the GL500, so I'm not surprised your time was 15%+ better than mine.

 

[Allan]

You are right, it was you, sorry about the locale mixup.

No problem.

My first name is Harold but I have always been called by my middle name,Allan. I just use Harold sometimes on the internet.



At least we are near the same weight, that makes a difference. I am still trying to double check the elevation, I found the 3900 feet number on the internet but I am not sure it is really that high. If I do find out that is not right I will make the correction.

 

[showmedude]

I'm bumping this up, as I just completed a carb replacement and wanted to see if I got any better numbers for a 30-60 mph, 5th gear time.



Bought a set of carbs on the i-net, an ultrasonic cleaner at Harbor Freight, and Larry's Book of Carb Rebuilding. More on that in a different post.



I cleaned the carbs, balanced them yesterday (with a Morgan CarbTune - thanks for the loan, Blue Fox) and went out last night in the wind to try out the the "new" getup. With 14 runs back and forth, I gained about .5 second in time over the old carbs from 30 mph to 60 mph. Low 12s vs middle 12s. Not eye-watering, but at least trending in the right direction. What was impressive was the responsiveness going up through the gears when I wasn't doing the timed run. Wow! I had been complaining that the GL500I just didn't "snap" like I thought it should when accelerating from a stop sign, but now it's, "Twist and Hold On".



I'm still interested in collecting any data that folks would like to provide to establish a performance baseline, if you will. A couple of us chose 30-60 mph, top gear for a fairly safe and sane check run. The numbers from this may not tell you everything about a bike, but they should be useful to determine if a bike is running in the normal range for performance.

 

[Steve in Wa]

I tried mine the other day and it seemed to take about 14 seconds. Interstate models w/ their extra weight and heavier riders will get larger times. The 10 second time for the CX custom seems very good.

 

[showmedude]

I tried mine the other day and it seemed to take about 14 seconds. Interstate models w/ their extra weight and heavier riders will get larger times. The 10 second time for the CX custom seems very good.

Steve,



Thanks for the info. You are right, there are lots of factors that affect performance. My hope is that we can gather enough of the same type information about each trial run to have it for comparison. In other words, if we know the type bike (GL/Interstate/CX), how it is outfitted (fairing/windshield/bags/re-jetted carbs) and the conditions of the trial (overall weight of bike and rider/elevation/wind) we should be able to compare times taking all that into account and get a good idea of how each bike stacks up to the others.



An example: I have a fully outfitted stock 82 GL500I, riding at 2500 ft elevation, and I weigh 200 lbs with all my gear. You have a similar bike, and if your weight and elevation were the same as mine and I'm getting 12 second times and you are getting 14s, then one might be inclined to look at reasons why. That's why I started this line of thinking - I had just gotten a bike and didn't have anything similar to compare it to. Since I wasn't thrilled with my bike's performance, I wanted to know if it was just the nature of the GL500I or if my bike was slower than others.