Voyager 2013 top speed

[kf4zkl]

ALL TIME I RIDE IN HIGHWAY AT 65-80 MPH MAX ."(ONLY FOR TEST)" LAST SUNDAY IN FOURTH GEAR 110 MPH, IN FIFTH GEAR 125 mph, IN SIXTH GEAR 111 mph. TOP SPEED IS IN FIFTH GEAR. IF YOU DO NOT BELIEVE TEST IT.

[Top Cat]

I would love to, when are you going to be in New York State with your bike

[Silent Sam]

...Break channel 19'er...there's a smoky at mile post 13...

[rick6375]

Did you notice the tach at these speeds, and is it totally stock?

[schoeney]

How far off is your speedo?

[HwyRider]

Were you expecting more from 6th gear? It is an OD gear for more relaxed highway riding for longer periods of time.

[kf4zkl]

Yes is stock only I drilled out the rear two baffle plates.

[kf4zkl]

I know what is the function of the sixth gear but many people say that nothing more reach 110 mph. to do the test in fifth gear and you will see the difference.

[captj3]

Originally Posted by rick6375

Did you notice the tach at these speeds, and is it totally stock?

The tach read 4k@120 mph speedometer reading in 6th gear. That's on a 2012 vaquero. Never tried it in 5th gear. The bike was very stable at that speed. Of coarse you really need to come to normal speeds to let the motor and oil cool before getting off the hwy.

[RACNRAY]

Here is some helpful info...

First of all, i must stress the absolute total inaccuracy of factory speedos and tachometers on most skoots. It is the rare occasion that I find these meters even close. Utilizing my dyno for over 21 years has allowed me to see the facts. My dyno's speedo is accurate to 1/10th mph, and when using a GPS out on the road the 2 methods are usually within 1 mph of each other. Stock speedos can be in the range of 4-7% too high.

The tachometers read horribly high on most skoots. My dyno's tach is not mechanical, purely electronic and has no variation from actual rpm. Performing dyno runs on 1700's has produced some very usable numbers.

The 1700's rev limiter kicks in when the bikes tach is showing 6200-6300 rpm, the real number as shown on my dyno is 5800 rpm. This is a typical difference of about 5-6% that we see on many different skoots.

Now, top speed in 4th, 5th and 6th gears are as follows, but i must stress these are MATHMATICAL CALCULATIONS based on rpm vs mph on my dyno. You will NOT see these numbers out on the road due to the gauges inaccuracies.

4th gear top speed at 5800 rpm is 105mph which is 18.10 mph per 1000 rpm.

5th gear top speed at 5800 rpm is 127mph which is 21.89 mph per 1000 rpm.

6th gear top speed at 5800 rpm is 155mph which is 26.72 mph per 1000 rpm.

We all know 5th and 6th are overdrives, both having less than a 1 to 1 ratio, but couple those overdrive ratios with the primary and secondary gear ratios and they are truly over over overdrive ratios!!!

Top speed of any vehicle is always dictated by horsepower, gear ratio and aerodynamics. The 1700's have horrible aerodynamics and would need about another 50-60 H.P. to be able to see 150+ mph in 6th gear. Inadequate power, horrible aerodynamics and the overall ratio in 6th gear makes it impossible for the 1700's to see mph it is mathematically capable of.

The 1700's are the best example of how many and I mean many skoots are geared too high for the bike to reach redline in top gear, even on some sportbikes. In this case many times we see skoots achieving higher mph in 5th gear than in 6th gear. I found this out over 2 years ago when i ran my skoot as fast as it would go in 6th gear, saw and felt how the skoot was struggling. Redid that run in 5th gear which has a gear ratio (thus the appropriate) torque multiplication that allowed the skoot to achieve a higher mph.

More hard nmbrs... this is to show the typical speedo inaccuracies...it is impossible to achieve ACTUAL 110 mph in 4th gear. The skoot would have been well into the redline area to achieve 125 mph in 5th gear, that speed was prolly more like 115 mph. Also 4000 rpm in 6th gear is only 107 mph. Since the speedo and tach's are so far off on these skoots we can only use them to make comparisons if we make power improvements to the skoot and what any change may be had in top speed, they are just too darn inaccurate for real world hard numbers accuracy. Also rear tire wear or the use of tires of different circumferences will also alter the overall gear ratio.

But the op does show how these skoots will achieve higher mph in 5th than 6th, all due to not having enuff power to overcome the extremely low 6th gear ratio and horrible aerodynamics.

RACNRAY

[schoeney]

Ray

That all makes perfect sense. Thanks for sharing the knowledge.

[landman]

my vaquero topped out at 115 in 5th gear according to the gps.

[Silent Sam]

..My 1966 Honda 305 Scrambler 4 speed,...would run 91 mph in 3rd gear...and about 85 in 4th...I was young and dum...

I'v not pushed any of my bikes since then..to find out how fast they would go, tho I did run up to 105+/-, on my 02 1500fi Nomad, a couple years ago out in the Bad Lands of SoDak...to get ahead of a couple Harley's...

[ponch]

The worst speedo I've had was on my Vulcan 800. It was 12% off. My Nomad was 8% and my BMW is 3-4%.