Harley blew the LTD away???

[ghostrider52005]

Ok another dumb question from a former v twin rider only until the wing. 85 LTD. Normally I dont jump on the bike as far as really hammering it since it is after all pretty old though in great shape.
And id never noticed not pretty much accelerating with about anything until tonight.
As myself one of my crew and another groups two members were coming home, (all the other three bikes are 103 Harleys my brother member with a screaming eagle package and a bit of mod on his) the two in front really romped on their bikes and started pulling away. Quick hock: So I snicked down a gear from OD at about 60 mph to fourth and rolled her back. Started to catch up to the front two quick as we hit a long up grade with my bike taching about 5 grand at someplace over 80 mph and my bro holding his own behind on his harley 103 CI.
Now is where things get interesting. Im catching the front two fairly fast get a little uneasy as the tach goes over 5 grand and went to OD still up hill on a fairly stiff grade and ZOOM my brother member on the harley behind goes past me like im sitting still and keeps pulling away till we hit the crest of the hill and over then im on them in a blink and on the brakes while they are still gassing on theirs. hock:
Now being a V twin guy forever I know they have more bottom end torgue than other engines especially on Harleys. But I also know that a V Twin shouldnt be able to walk off on a 4 cylinder bike, except at maybe a 40 to 60 throttle roll on with no down shift from either bike until the speeds get up there.

My question is this. The LTD was plainly coming on hard at 5000 rpm in forth at 80 plus. The shift to overdrive though made at 5 grand caused it to fall on its face compared to the 103 harley that passed me. Now being used to no tach for most of my life and v twins maybe im thinking wrong or just that much rpm feels wrong to me, and i know the redline is way on up the dial but can the LTD take more than around 5000 rpm and not scatter itself all over the highway??? It FELT like it was just really getting into its power band good. But at 5000 rpm??? :-\
Normally im cruising on the interstate at around 80 and never never break 4000 rpm so this 5 grand and up rpm thing is sort of unknown territory for me and I dont want to scatter the engine out of gut feeling that it can take more. Thanks for bearing with me on what im pretty sure is a dumb question for you guys that have had these bikes a lot longer than i have. :oops:

[Siberiancat]

if I am not mistaken the redline is 7500 on the 1200s not 100% on the LTD though

[85GL1200I]

maybe they were on their way to make their bike payments before the bank closed??

:twisted:

[Guest]

All 1200 engines are pretty much the same. The LTD is just fuel injected. It will handle the red line. Twist it!!! Poorboy

[bluewing]

I have had my 1200 at red line a few times as I looked in my mirror and saw the V twins behind me. Normally I stay under 4000 RPMs but a few times I had to prove a point.

[wingandaprayer]

One of our riding pals rides a H-D our Wing doesn't have a snowball's chance of keeping up with in a drag race so yup 2 cylinders can out accelerate 4 if the twin is making more power and packing less weight.

[robdavspa]

Why compare appples and oranges. The modern V twin is much bigger in displacement than our 1200 Gls. Piston speed in our 1200s is only about 65% of piston speed in a V twin. That is why the GL engine lasts so long. Short stroke and tall gearing do this for us. I just enjoy the sweet song my Asp sings and just keeps on singing. I don't see any 1984 H-D bikes doing that.

Guys with Harleys mostly know better than to drag race a GL1800.
Bob

[unionjack]

You should have used 3rd. and 4th. gears only, then take the RPM up closer to the redline.

Overdrive is only for cruising along at low RPM and getting best GPM. Your gas consumption will suck, but the bikes engine is only just getting into it's power band starting at 3500 rpm, and will continue to pull hard right up to 7000 rpm. with the max power found between 5000 and 6500 rpm.

[ghostrider52005]

Thats sort of what i figured from the feel of it last night but just wanted to be sure.
Not comparing the two bikes Harley vs Wing but I knew that that street glide shouldnt have shot past me like that at that speed. So it was either something wrong with my bike or I was just to leery of pushing the rpms up past 5 grand.

That normally isnt something I am confronted with anyway. and catching front two was just a matter of out running them thru the curves if I would have had too which is easy enough with those two particular riders. Just my own groups member is the only one that blew the ltd off on that hill and I was pretty sure it was i had shifted to soon out of concern for the engine rather than something wrong with the bike.

Thanks a lot for the info. I sort of had a gut feeling I was being to conservative with the rpms in that situation. I tend to baby the old girl a bit as far as rapid take offs etc though once rolling ill run it into the 80s on a long trip and it doesnt seem to breathe hard doing it all day long. I just normally take my time getting up there lol. :d

Thanks again for the info. Ghost ^^

[detdrbuzzard]

the guy on the v-twin that passed you, what gear was he in. you shifted to od maybe he stayed in 4th and made the climb

[RayJay1959]

5th gear is called overdrive for a reason. In 5th, my 1200 hates going up a hill. Next time, run that baby to 7000rpm and see if the Hraleys can keep up with you!!

[ghostrider52005]

His is a six speed he was holding in fourth when i went to OD. Today coming back from our toy run and coming up the very steep grade to my home, i decided to just see what the LTD could do once you guys reassured me that 5 grand on the tach wasnt sudden death for the engine. I can read the red line but having driven semis etc most of my life I also know that just because an engine can reach the red line a lot of engines will scatter pretty quick doing it, hence my apprehension that night.
Anyway came around the sharp curve at the bottom in third like normal then pushed up to about 4500 rpm instead of going to fourth like I normally would and kicked the LTD in the butt. Held it to around 7000 thousand which came up quick caught forth kicked it again shot to 7000 rpm again and honestly by then I a caught of glimpse of 94 mph or there abouts when i went into od and let off. (2 lane country road and not a very long straight away :mrgreen: )
All I can say is there's a beast hiding in the wing that I really had no idea was there. hock: And Ive ridden all three bikes that i was running with that night and none of them could have kept up had I wrung the rpms then like i did today. To be honest I was a little shocked that this old of a bike could make things happen that fast. But it was fun :d
Will I be jumping on the old girl like that much? No. I didnt get it to race just get us down the road for a long ways at a good clip and not beat us to death doing it. And it does that quite well with the wife and i being over 50 and just having road 1156 miles in 23 hours and 45 mins a couple of weeks ago. But its nice to know its there if I need it for some reason. :d
Thanks guys Ghost

[garyft]

More than once I've felt a serious kick when the tach hits 4500 RPM, that's when the powerband REALLY kicks in. These bikes love to be revved and make most of their power in the upper RPM ranges.

[desertrefugee]

I love my Goldwing. But if I want a serious kick, I take it to the Max (below).

Any Harley rider with half a brain knows when to mind his business...

(and no, it's not stock).

[CBX n GL man]

Nice story, good to know the Wing has balls when needed. Later.