How would you compare a bike to a car BHP wise

[kneedown]

I was talking to my friend whos bang into cars, he started going on about this car hasd this BHP and that cars got that.

He asked how much BHP does your bike have, it has like 100hp or there abouts probably a little less.

So was wondering how could you rate a bike to a car, for example you have a car which produces 300BHP what would be an equivalent bike, in other words what would you compare an R1 (for example) to car wise

any thoughts

[Silver]

Simple answer is power to weight ratio.

[DrDonnyBrago]

[pinkyfloyd]

[MarJay]

[pinkyfloyd]

[angryjonny]

Quick Google search reveals the following:

My bike has 150bhp. At 208kg that works out at 721bhp/ton.

My car has 192bhp. At 1500kg that works out at 128bhp/ton.

Obviously - proportionally I add a lot more to the weight of the bike than I add to the weight of the car, and I can corner faster in the car without dying etc. So BHP/ton isn't really a sensible way of measuring how fast something is (realistically I think the bike is about 15mph faster than the car) but it gives an idea how overpowered modern sports bikes are.

[johnsmith222]

My ZZR600E has a better power to weight ratio than a mates tt supra. My bike is slower so power to weight ratio doesn't mean your bike is faster. Especially when you consider the only times you're going to be going from 0 to 60 is at traffic lights etc.

I know which one I'd rather have, and it isn't the ZZR.

[Kickstart]

Hi

Power to weight affect acceleration but the weight is pretty unimportant to top speed while aerodynamics is important. Bikes tend to have lousy aerodynamics (mostly salvaged by being smaller so giving a half decent cda despite a lousy cd figure).

You can't really have an equivalent between bikes are cars for power.

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[Frost]

Don't forget to factor in rider weight. An extra 80kg of body weight is sod all to a 1500kg car, but it is a lot on a 120kg bike!

[P.]

[pinkyfloyd]

another point that needs mentioned is how that power is put into momentum.

a 4 wheel drive car has all 4 wheels in use turning that horsepower into forward momentum. as seen on various motoring program, 2 wheel drive or front wheel drive sports cars are all but useless in power delivery.

a bike has 1 wheel to use getting the power converted into forward momentum, that single tyre has a surface contact area of about the size of a 10 pence piece.

theres just way too many variables to consider to draw a comparison between car and bike bhp l
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[Chalky.]

[Wafer_Thin_Ham]

[Wafer_Thin_Ham]

[loply]

It's difficult to compare due to aerodynamics, however, if we're talking sub-130mph then a modern 1000cc sports IL4 is roughly equivelant to a good 500hp car, in terms of acceleration.

Oddly, even an IL4 600 isn't far behind, you definately need over 400hp in the car to be in the right league.

Beyond 130mph though and the situation changes, though the car would need about 8 miles to take advantage of it's slippery slopes and catch the bike.
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Yamaha SZR660 Caution to the wind, the throttle pinned!

[calyx]

Ducati 1098(160bhp) vs Skinny Gallardo (530bhp)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GheILCh29-k

Show him this.
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Boris - London

[panrider_uk]

[WishayKillie]

[G]

[Cheeseybeaner]

[Wafer_Thin_Ham]

[Kickstart]

Hi

4wd does eat a load of power, but how much is going to vary. Launch hard and you will probably struggle to spin the wheels and will make very good use of the power that reaches the wheels (although your clutch might suffer). However you have a load more gears to drive which uses some power up, plus the transmission is probably trying to keep each wheel spinning at about the same speed so they will be fighting each other a bit (how much is gong to depend on how good the diffs are and how they are set up).

Good few years back I was with someone who had their 4wd car dynoed on a 4 wheel dyno. It made about 85hp, yet the claimed crank figure was 137hp, and you would expect quite a bit over 100hp from the lower spec engined 2wd version of the car. However that is a fairly crude 4wd system (front and rear diffs, with just a viscous coupling in the middle).

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[Frost]

https://www.nahblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/fat_biker_1.jpg

Power to weight

Generally in a straight line a bike will win on acceleration up to about 80 against a really hot car, up to about 100 against something good, 120 something alright and spank everything else. Top speed wise bikes are pretty crap. Braking wise bikes are also a bit pants.

When it comes to corners even an average car will give a superbike a run for it's money. 5th gear did another test that was bike vs car:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDTLtwSS7fc

GSXR Vs westfeild

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5DMmRp8KVI

Nissan GTR Vs Ducati 1098

[Spit-Fire]

0-60's etc, have always been helpful in putting the difference between
"car vs bike" in prospective for my car driving mates.

i think bhp, power to weight, etc is irrelevant.
(telling some one who drives a 250bhp hot hatch that your bike has 110bhp, isn't going to translate which is "faster" very well)


price is also a big factor also,
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