Vaquero Top Speed

[bouson]

Just trying to get an idea of what the top speed anyone has had a stock Vaquero up to without crossing into the red.
I could guesstimate using the speeds I've ran in 6th gear against the rpm I was running.
When I was going;
35 mph = 1000 rpm
70 mph = 2500 rpm
90 mph = 3500 rpm
That would mean that the top end should be around 145 mph at the red line. Of course there is some variance to that in real life.
So far my top speed has been 90 mph for about 5 seconds then I slowed downed to 70 mph.
How about you?

[jestephens]

Needle read 110 the other day. Most likely 105 actual. Then I remembered that one time I got a sentence of 15 days in county that a good lawyer got reduced to "suspended execution of sentencing" and a 12 month probation for 106 in a 60, and shut it down. The trooper said my politeness, cooperation, and apparent resemblance to an off duty trooper, kept me from going straight to jail that day.

I will tell you, the Vaquero got there MUCH faster than the Nomad ever did.

[jhawkins]

At 100 mph my gps said max speed was 97 mph

[Monkeyman]

You can get them going a few hundred miles per hour pretty easily.......depending on the height of the cliff you toss it off of.

[cheriann]

I've only gone as fast as 90 and that scared me!
However, it sure did get to that speed pretty darn fast!

[ponch]

Originally Posted by bouson

Just trying to get an idea of what the top speed anyone has had a stock Vaquero up to without crossing into the red.
I could guesstimate using the speeds I've ran in 6th gear against the rpm I was running.
When I was going;
35 mph = 1000 rpm
70 mph = 2500 rpm
90 mph = 3500 rpm
That would mean that the top end should be around 145 mph at the red line. Of course there is some variance to that in real life.
So far my top speed has been 90 mph for about 5 seconds then I slowed downed to 70 mph.
How about you?

You'll never reach top speed in 6th gear. Probably 4th or 5th because of the lost of torque with overdrive vis a vis the exponentially increasing wind resistance. I don't know what the redline is, but I doubt it's much more than 5k rpm if that.

Most japanese speedometers are off at least 5% and as much as 12%. RADAR and GPS are the only way to know how fast you are going with any accuracy.

[ponch]

Originally Posted by Monkeyman

You can get them going a few hundred miles per hour pretty easily.......depending on the height of the cliff you toss it off of.

Terminal velocity is less than 300 mph.

[Monkeyman]

I'm good with "only" 300 mph.

[ponch]

Originally Posted by Monkeyman

I'm good with "only" 300 mph.

It depends on the height of the fall the amount of drag the GPS has. If you shot a bullet straight up, it would reach about 200mph on the way down. A sky diver falling belly down is about 120mph.

[jestephens]

on a brighter note, I don't think these bikes will easily reach their critical speed either . . . I want to hear more great stories of speed.

I took my '81 GL100 to 140mph once. Although I had to do some math to figure it out since the speedo's of that era only read up to 85. 140 happened to be that bike's critical speed. The handle bars started a vicious wobble, but I got it backed down and stable.

[ponch]

Originally Posted by jestephens

on a brighter note, I don't think these bikes will easily reach their critical speed either . . . I want to hear more great stories of speed.

I took my '81 GL100 to 140mph once. Although I had to do some math to figure it out since the speedo's of that era only read up to 85. 140 happened to be that bike's critical speed. The handle bars started a vicious wobble, but I got it backed down and stable.

There's very few places where sustained high speeds are possible, being able to get away with it and it will get worse, between speed and traffic cameras, sensors in the road and nanny state motorists that report people. I find doing short bursts is possible, like passing cars, but even then there is risk of paying the doughnut tax, which I have done more than my share. That said, 105-110 is not an issue for me at all.

[bouson]

Well the red line on the tachometer on my Vaquero is 6000 rpm.
As I said I reached 90 mph which was no sweat and the rpm was only 3500.
My 6th gear once you get to 70 mph which is 2500 rpm seems to have the same power as any other gear.
In Kansas we have a lot of roads that are long and straight and I'm going on a 170 mile plus run on the 4th, who knows what will happen. Have to be careful what I say since I believe fammdw may be local law enforcement. Wouldn't want to cause problems for anyone, including myself.

[ponch]

There are roads in Nevada that are pretty much desolate. Last year on the way back from Crescent City on was one road that I couldn't see the end to and no one was around and I mean nothing but tumble weed. That's the kind of place to test it. Going 100 there was nothing as there was no real frame of reference. I am sure there are places like that in AZ, but I also have heard of the Indian police out here and the fines are nuts.

As far as power as any other gear, you will see that change as speed increases. It's not a linear relationship.

[Cajunrider]

On those long desolate roads you have to be wary of the airplane or helicopter. LSP is constantly in the air watching divided/elevated interstate highways where coonasses tend to fly low.

[bouson]

Originally Posted by bouson

Well the red line on the tachometer on my Vaquero is 6000 rpm.
As I said I reached 90 mph which was no sweat and the rpm was only 3500.
My 6th gear once you get to 70 mph which is 2500 rpm seems to have the same power as any other gear.
In Kansas we have a lot of roads that are long and straight and I'm going on a 170 mile plus run on the 4th, who knows what will happen. Have to be careful what I say since I believe fammdw may be local law enforcement. Wouldn't want to cause problems for anyone, including myself.

Well made a little run of 195 miles this morning. Great ride for me and my 2 friends. They were each riding 750's, so I didn't get a chance to run for top speed. I did have two times when passing in a safe area to jump from 55 mph to 90 mph, back to 65 mph in less then 500 yards while staying in 6th gear (maybe I will try a speed run another time).

Also ran the total mileage for the trip. Used Mapquest to figure distance for everything. compared against odometer total trip and trip-meters A (Gas mid trip) & B total trip. Given that odometer doesn't show tenths of miles it showed a half (.5) mile farther then Mapquest for total. Trip B for total trip showed less then a half (.44) mile less then Mapquest and A showed one tenth (.1) more then Mapquest. Usually zero both and they read the same all the time.

I have checked my speedo against a friends truck speedo that is known to be correct (checked by radar frequently) and my speedo is right on the money with his.

That has to be a first for Kawasaki bikes as all the other bikes seem to have as much as a 10% error to the speedo. They normally show faster & the odometer showing more distance then is actully being ran. Really glad to know mine is all correct.