Triumphrat

mecscc · 03-28-2004

I was rolling down the interstate yesterday at an indicated 75-80 mph. Speed limit is 65. Cars were passing regularly. MANY cars, not just a handfull.. On the other hand, I usually put my speed control on my Grand Marquis at 72 and am seldom passed. Sounds like my Tbird speedo is more than a bit "optimistic."

Any of you seen any tests done on Triumph speedos, eg: at actual 60 indicated is 57, etc. Most of the tests I have seen on ALL brands of bikes show considerable optimism.. Or, have any of you had your bikes radar calibrated, etc.

Just curious, but if I really was going 75 then the traffic on I-77 is going a whole lot faster now than it was a week ago. I doubt that.

Monte

Jodel · 03-28-2004

Monte,

I've never checked my T-bird speedo but I know that my Blackbird speedo is also optimistic. When I go touring in Europe with friends, one of the guys has a GPS on his bike. We normally cruise on the Autoroute/Autobahn at a steady indicated 100mph - which equates to a genuine 90mph - a fair margin of error.

If you're running stock gearing, I'd be more inclined to believe the rev counter. Download the gear ratio spreadsheet from this site and compare rpm/mph.

BTW: Glad to see you drive a "proper" American car (even though it's made in Canada) :razz:

cafetbird · 03-28-2004

Preacher man:

Hop on your bike and head down 77 to South Carolina. Call me before you leave and we will figure out how fast you are actually going ny how long it takes you to get here!

;-)

Just kidding. Folks always told me that my 96 T-Bird was running faster than their Legends and Adventurers by about 5 mph at highway speeds.

Scot

mecscc · 03-28-2004

Thanks, guys.

Yep, Jodel. "Proper" is one word for Grand Marquises GM) and Ford Crown Vics. "Old folks cars," "rolling living rooms," and other such snickering comments are the usual replies. All I know is that I've been buying 2 year old Crown Vics and GMs for about 40 years now, with about 25-30K on them for today's equivelent of around $9000, putting another 100,000 on them, selling them for $2-3K, and buying another. Never had a problem. Current 98 GM has almost 70K on it. Literally the only thing I did was to put a set of tires on it at 60K, and the originals weren't worn out; I just thot it was time. No brakes, plugs, etc or any repairs. Just change the oil and filter every 5K. . Nary a hiccup. Nice cars for the money. But, wait! This is a MOTORCYCLE forum. Sorry............

About a trip to SC, Scot. Would love to do that. In fact, I will have a couple of weeks of vacation this year that the wife can't get off for and am thinking of going south to see some friends in Florida. If that comes off, I'll give you a holler before I leave. Maybe we could get together and swap some lies -- like how fast we go on our bikes. Actually, I'd lose. Fastest I ever go is about 80 when passing someone. Usually about 70 is comfortable for me, and I imagine that is really about 65. Today Sue and I were running down I-77 after a day of riding the twisties in SE Ohio and I was holding about 67-70 on my speedo. When we got home I told her I thot that her little Virago 535, pushing a full cruiser styld windshield, did well holding those speeds up some of our steeper long grades. She said she never had any problem at all, after all we were "only running between 60 and 65 the whole time." Go figure

Take care,

Monte