BHP required for 'normal' riding

[TheMadRatter]

[The Shaggy D.A.]

My CB500 had about 48, and that was plenty for me on an unfaired bike. It was enough to keep ahead of the majority of traffic, and to sit on the motorway at 80 without dying on hills. Top end was an indicated 115, but being unfaired you didn't want to sit at more than 80 for a prolonged period anyway.

The EFI Enfield probably has about 25 at the rear wheel, but it's a different riding style/mindset, and one that's more suited to me now. There is the odd occasion I'd like a bit more, so maybe 30 would be nice. The 535 Continental GT has noticeably more oomph over the standard Bullet but it's just the wrong position for me, otherwise I probably would have had one.
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Currently : Royal Enfield 350 Meteor
Previously : CB100N > CB250RS > XJ900F > GT550 > GPZ750R/1000RX > AJS M16 > R100RT > Bullet 500 > CB500 > LS650P > Bullet Electra X & YBR125 > Bullet 350 "Superstar" & YBR125 Custom > Royal Enfield Classic 500 Despatch Limited Edition (28 of 200) & CB Two-Fifty Nighthawk > ER5

[evilzed]

I have a 20hp (rear wheel) Inazuma 250 and I find it completely adequate and even quite fun to ride day to day in the city and 50 limit dual carriageways.

I also have an FZ1, the extra power makes me feel a little safer to power out of crappy situations but this isn't too frequent so I'd say ~50HP is plenty.

[asta1]

I currently have an A2 MT-07 with 47bhp. It's plenty I reckon. I've spent 2 years counting down the days till I could do my full A and buy a R1, but now I'm finally in a position to do it, I find I'm not that fussed.

I like my bike. Think I'll keep it a bit longer. I will get my A though!
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CBT Acquired: 09/07/2015
A2 Licence Passed: 12/02/16
Current Bike: Yamaha MT-07 bought 02/07/16

[M.C]

~50 bhp is enough to beat most cars, but you know your place in the biking world so generally don't bother racing other bikes. It's enough until you need a burst of power on a motorway (at 'normal' motorway speeds).

~100 bhp the temptation's there to be an idiot (traffic light GP).

Not ridden anything more powerful so f**k knows what ~150bhp feels like. On paper it should feel like going from a full power 125 > an A2 bike, but the jump from 50 bhp > 100 bhp doesn't feel that drastic, so I assume the power you can actually utilise decreases. Power modes and rider aids probably limits the amount even more.

[Rogerborg]

[stevo as b4]

Not many of you have mentioned weight or power to weight here though? Does that mean weight and power per kg isn't important but only outright power figures?

Is the above because power and top speed are largely defined together where as power on its own without considering weight has no bearing on acceleration.

The reason I ask is that some light bikes suit lower power engines best, and some 150bhp+ bikes don't feel comfortable or planted or stable and nice and comfy to ride unless they weigh 250kg or more.

Is a 147bhp baggy tired sloppy and wobbly old ZZR1100 as good as a late model circa 147bhp GSXR 750? Does the light bike win as better to ride, or does the heavy stable much less slap happy old sports tourer make better use of it? Is 147bhp from 750cc that revs higher with less torque better than an 1100cc with the same power and a load more torque?

Do you feel the torque difference between them? And do you ride on the road feeling the torque or the peak power as the main feeling from the bike?

Oh and Paddy said 150bhp makes your willy bigger. So does 200bhp turn it into a huge Dang? Or are 150bhp bikes still better road bikes than 200bhp ones? What if your bike is turbo charged to 350bhp, is that OK for road use and your willy, or is it a huge disadvantage?

The thing about the 50-60bhp bike being ok on the motorway at normal motorway speeds 60-90mph? But being crap for suddenly piling on huge levels of acceleration from these speeds, when and where would you need to do that? Does being able to blast from 80-150mph in a few seconds make it safer and more useful for motorway use?

I think people just have preferences and like what they like. There are some people out there that will always choose every bike to have say 120bhp because they think that is what is best, and you won't change their view no matter if one bike was 100kg and the next one was 250kg. Its the same as the people that always buy a 1.6 Golf etc, as they think a set size engine is the best and they don't care or look at kerb weights, aerodynamics or torque figures etc.

[Powderhead]

My bike puts out about 70bhp, and it's too much for my needs. I'd probably be more than happy with 40bhp, and it would no doubt make me ride like less of a tit.

I've had a go on a Striple, which is about 100bhp, and I found it far too mental for the roads (although many lulz were had).

I'd love to have a go on a 150bhp+ sportsbike, but I'm sure I'd shit myself and it would eventually see me deaded.

[M.C]

[Alex A]

About 0.7bhp/kg.
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Current: Ducati Panigale R / Ducati Streetfighter S / Suzuki GSX-R1000 L5

[MCN]

It is a area poorly understood by a lot of people.

BHP or the other creature that lives inside your engine, FtLbs?

What is more important?
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Disclaimer: The comments above may be predicted text and not necessarily the opinion of MCN.

[stevo as b4]

[Shaft]

[stevo as b4]

[Howling Terror]

[M.C]

[kgm]

[Teflon-Mike]

Power is torque times revs... so the what's more important, power or torque quibble is flawed from the go-get, one is mathematically dependent on the other.

Drill down into that and the question isn't about power vs torque, it's about power delivery, and how much the delivered motive force changes with throttle or revs... in which the shape of the power-curve comes under the spot-light, and the little revelation we aren't so concerned with the 'rated-power', the peak maximum an engine may deliver at wot ad peak power revs, but what, at any actual revs and throttle the engine is pulling it's providing, and how much it may vary around that.

A good example is the lore of 'race pipes'. Slap a free-flow pipe on a sports bike, and the likelihood is that will not help the engine make any more power, and dyno shootouts frequently show that. At best on a 100bhp motor, a full system may help find and extra 5-6bhp on the peak. On the road, rider will swear the increase is far greater... reason being that in gaining that extra 5% ish on the peak, the pipe has actually robbed perhaps 20% in the mid-range; and for most of the time the motor is actually delivering less power to the road..... but.... the rider compensates, uses more throttle and lower gears to get the 'same' delivered power, and when the motor starts to come 'on the pipe' it drives out of that hole in the mid-range much more fiercely to the peak, giving the impression, as the rate of change of power is higher, that they have more power..... it's the same as the legendary two-smokes, with hard-hitting all-or-nothing power-bands. They rarely actually make such huge power... they just give the impression they do, from the rate of change as it comes in..... oft amplified by low-mass around the motor, making it a far more dramatic experience.

Hence a 10bhp tiddler can feel very very frisky and be incredibly 'entertaining' compared to a 100+bhp big-bruiser.

Practically... you need about 3bhp to shove a person sized object through air at around 30mph.... you need around 9bhp to shove same person sized object through air at 60mph; you need around 27bhp, to get same person sized object through air at 90mph.

That covers the 'normal' range of road-speeds, certainly up to and a bit beyond UK-Legal speed limits...... and 30bhp aught be 'enough' for any of them...

Any more, then, and its back to the power-delivery and not peak power but power delivery and throttle response. Whether you want to rev the knackers off the thing in every gear to get at and use the power, or so it on the throttle.

And STILL how dramatic it will 'feel' wont be in how much power the engine may make or how much torque it may have, or even how heavy the bike around it is, or what gearing it's running, but in the power delivery and the 'character' of the bike a whole.

3bhp gives you 30mph, 9bhp gives you 60mph, 27bhp gives you 90mph, 81bhp gives you 120mph 'ish'

So... you dont really 'need' more than a 30bhp bike to cover pretty much all UK speed limits and road conditions.... more just means that you have more 'spare; more often... and it's all back to that charecter and nature of the motorcycle as a whole, not just it's engine, A-N-D your own preferences for achieving the same ends, as far as getting from A to B, and whether you rate the 'drama' of screaming power delivery and the rush of acceleration, in the myriad other drama creators of UK roads from school-run-mums backing off drives at speed to steering-wheel munnchers doing sudden lane switches on the motorway, etc etc.

Dumbing down to provide an specific answer to an unspecific question, anything with 'around' 50bhp power-rating is probably 'enough' for most folk, most of the time.. and the 45bhp provided by the A2 licence, probably isn't far off the mark for that... it's then a case of picking the 'package' that best suits your style, frantic or lazy, single minded or versatile, light and flighty or hefty and planted.

Interesting to note, how as 'emissions' and 'economy' have, over the last quarter century started to drive motorcycle development over either minimal cost or ultimate performance, that the 'center' has seemed to have naturally hovered at around the 75bhp 'rating' mark, and it has been the style and nature of package that's put in that as varied, rather than the motor-rating... and it seems a pretty 'useful' power-rating to have, to me.
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[pepperami]

[Rogerborg]

[Howling Terror]

My <<<Those look quite pert.


2up or solo....I much prefer the 83hp and 62 ftlb of torque.

From my house to say Ruth's house, I preferred the 27hp 250cc. It barely has any straights long enough and is flat as a witches tit.

From my house to say Andy's, then the 83hp pulls me up the hills with ease.

From my house to the moon...I take the 190hp bike.

So yes power is relevant.

The hugely overweight chap on his 125 scooter I occasionally see on his commute...That bloke needs moar...More power...more seat space...more wind protection....more pies.

Stirring gearboxes gets quite boring if it is your daily ride..smaller engines always wanting their oil changed...grumble.

Bigger engines ..well apart from losing your licence before you've made 3rd gear...they're just better for everyday riding.
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[chickenstrip]

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[M.C]