limits

[Cyalaytr]

OK here is my question. In modern motorcycles (prolly anything gas powered with shift type gearing) is there a maximum speed that could ever be reached no matter how much horsepower is added or how many gear changes you make (even going as far to include more gears and not just change the final drive gear ratio?

Example:
1st gear... 0 rpms - 14000 rpms / maxspeed 60mph

2nd... 3000 -14000 rpms / maxsp = 95mph
3rd .... 4000 - 14000 rpms / maxsp = 125
4th .... 5000 - 14000 rpms / maxsp = 145
5th ... 6500 - 14000 rpms / maxsp = 160
6th.... 8000 - 14000 rpms / maxsp = 178 mph

thus.. you could keep adding gears to lower the rpm until you reached a max rpm setting there for reaching a higher speed but either way you would eventually reach the max no matter how many gears you had an how many gear changes you made. Correct? Adding horse power would not make you faster only quicker. IE how fast you reached a certain speed.

Any thoughts?

[demon chloe]

jeez i saw a math problem..and ran like the wind....


screw the motor cycle...buy some shoes! [img]graemlins/thumbs_up.gif[/img]

[GravyTrain]

well, i dont' know about gear ratios and all that stuff, but less than 100 years ago, we thought that around 20 miles an hour might be the top speed for anything on land (not including trains) (and give me a break, i'm trying to get a point across, i don't know my speed history)....about 50 years ago, a max speed was no where neer the 220 mph barrier that i believe we are at now....for stock cycles and automobiles.....but if you will think about it, other land vehicles (the ones used for speed records) reach speeds of much higher, past the sound barrier even....

this leads me to believe that the technology to increase speed, instead of quickness, just hasn't been broken into yet...will speeds get higher, no doubt....

after i finished typing this, i realized, i don't think i answered your question

[Cyalaytr]

true from past to present we have increasingly gained in speed records but due to technology most were due to lighter weight, lighter engines, better aero dynamics etc... also once they reached a certain point I think the use technology was in their benifit as it was easier to switch to such things as jet power. I can only think of 1 maybe at the most gas powered engine that can break the sound barrer and it was in a plane. MAYBE.. but even that seems a stretch for gas powered.

[TastinGood]

Two words....

Wind Resistance.

What did Rossi's GP bike do this year...204? Granted that was on a track, but that isnt much faster than a stock Hayabusa or ZX12R, but we know it has gobs more power and is lighter.

Wind resistance would eventually negate any horsepower differences, imo.

But wtf do I know?