cowboywildbill
Active Member
My wife's first big twin was a 1988 Heritage 80 ci. Stock except for pipes and air cleaner and carb tweaking, it would run 110 without any problem. My 93 Springer 80 ci 97 hp at back wheel with the tall International gear set would do over 130 in fourth but not really any faster in fifth.We had it on the dyno so I know the speed was acurate, but we wouldn't go over 130 on the dyno because of tire s rating. The gears in that year were taller than previous years and it was dead smooth at 65 mph. But it would get to top end pretty quick with no problem. But you did not want to turn or do any thing remotely evasive with that 21" front tire while riding at those speeds. Even at 80 mph on the hwy in a moderate turn it would start to wobble walk. I sold the Springer in 1999. It had 197,000 miles on it. But it had been freshened up a few times on the way to that milage.
I don't go over 80 now on my FLHTP and that's rare. I usually do the speed limit. On time on the Springer while doing about 50 mph on a long straight strech of hwy at night another bike came up behind me and was weaving back and forth about 5 feet from my tail light. I figured I'll just walk away from him. I hammered it and I was out of numbers and flat out in fifth gear
and then he passed me like I was sitting still and just pulled away like a rocket. He had to be doing close to 180 or 200 mph. I think it was a Ducatti. But he went by so fast I really don't know what he was riding.
It's pretty hard to tuck your tail between your legs like a scolded dog while your sitting on a motorcycle and you've been beat that badly. We were both out driving our head lights way before we hit 90. So if anything had been in front of us, we would have seen it just as we hit it. Both of us were pretty stupid now that I look back on it. By God's Grace I survived doing stuff like that.
You know what they say, "Don't ride any faster than your Angel can fly"!
I don't go over 80 now on my FLHTP and that's rare. I usually do the speed limit. On time on the Springer while doing about 50 mph on a long straight strech of hwy at night another bike came up behind me and was weaving back and forth about 5 feet from my tail light. I figured I'll just walk away from him. I hammered it and I was out of numbers and flat out in fifth gear
and then he passed me like I was sitting still and just pulled away like a rocket. He had to be doing close to 180 or 200 mph. I think it was a Ducatti. But he went by so fast I really don't know what he was riding.
It's pretty hard to tuck your tail between your legs like a scolded dog while your sitting on a motorcycle and you've been beat that badly. We were both out driving our head lights way before we hit 90. So if anything had been in front of us, we would have seen it just as we hit it. Both of us were pretty stupid now that I look back on it. By God's Grace I survived doing stuff like that.
You know what they say, "Don't ride any faster than your Angel can fly"!
