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Top Speed on the 500?

99K views 34 replies 22 participants last post by  bronxnz 
#1 ·
Was wondering how fast you guys have gotten up to on your 500s. Im a fairly new rider and dont want to push too hard, I've been on the highway a few times up around 60, with all the wind it feels like I am flying. Thinking about getting a windshield.

Anyhow, feels almost like the engine might be straining at that speed, but with all the wind and outside noise I can't really tell. Curious as to your thoughts! Can you cruise at highway speeds (65-70mph) for long periods on the 500 without doing damage to the engine?
 
#3 ·
Yep, but because there is no tachometer I sort of have to guess. I believe it was <5000rpms in the first 500 miles... not really sure how that matches up to what I am hearing, I just change gears when it feels right haha... and up around 60 i can barely hear the engine anyway.
 
#5 · (Edited)
oh...they gave me a set speed to not to go over until I get to 500, I have it written down but dont quite remember what it was. I was just wondering if that was why you heard what you thought was strain on the engine. I have a 750, just was wondering, that is all.

Oh yea, I put a windshield on my bike and you wont believe what a different it made.

Another question, what gear were you in, did you settle at 5 or did you get it to 6...(I am assuming the 500 is a 6-speed like the 750)...just throwing things at you for thoughts.
 
#6 ·
After engine break-in you can cruise all day long at 65-70. During engine break-in it's best to not do this and instead be sure to shift early and not run at a constant speed. By the time you reach 500 miles the engine is fully broken-in and you can ride at a constant speed of 70 mph (or even faster) on a Street 500 without causing any engine damage. Speeds of 65 mph during break-in, so long as you very your speed often, do not harm the engine because it's not really rev-ing that high at that speed. While I didn't have a tach either I'd guess that the rpm at 60 is about 3500 but have no why of verifying that unless I ran the "gear" numbers. The gearing on the Street is lower than my Sportster and Sportster turns about 3000 rpm at 60 mph so it's just an educated guess on my part.
 
#9 ·
Of interest I was talking with my partner that used to race motorcycles and their "break-in" was 15-20 minutes of revving a new engine in the garage and then race it. This is very similar to what we did when I was involved in NASCAR racing. Of course our machining was probably better than for a production engine but we basically worried about seating the rings and then it was race time. We also blew up engines once in awhile but we never blamed it on break-in. LOL
 
#14 ·
Gregmart, Being chicken has nothing to do with the bike struggling to reach 70 mph, in my opinion. You can easily judge whether it's struggling or not. Incase, it is, then I suggest you have it checked. My bike does not falter at all and I have 1250 km on the odometer as of today and I have briefly touched 140 kmph and the bike was raring to go faster.
 
#18 ·
mine peaked at 140kmph down a slight descend, hitting the limiter in 6th gear, tucked position.

all stock with slip-on exhaust, 98 octane fuel. I did notice the fuel light flicker like it wanted to come on, maybe it was starving fuel cuz of the limiter. or perhaps it was low on fuel and whats left of it decided to splash around in the tank at that speed, can't say for sure.

I dont think it could go much faster than that stock
 
#22 ·
i have a street 500 it tops out at 85. . . barely goes 75 up hill lost that little silencer that came with the exhaust and if i remember speed limit is 80 on the highway in some places you will red line at 85-90 in forth gear was thinking about getting a fuel pak but i really just want to drop this harley since the dealership i am buying it from likes to screw people over "selling it new when the title clearly says used"
 
#24 ·
You can backfigure out what your RPMs are, from your speed, at least in sixth gear. See this post I made a while ago.

The engine is rev limited to 8,000 RPM. The FP3 and probably the Harley Stage 1 download can lift that up to about 8500 RPM.

90 MPH in sixth gear is about 6000 RPM.

I don't know if my math is right, but it seems like 90 MPH in 5th gear would probably be about 6750 RPM, and in 4th gear it'd be about 8000 RPMs.

Someone who has a 2016+ Street, or any Street 500 or 750 with an FP3, could verify the speed at RPM calculations for us. Not a Street Rod though; it has a different size rear tire and that changes the RPM calculations. If someone wants to cruise along at 60, and report the RPMs at 60mph in 6th, 5th, and 4th, then we could update and know what the RPMs would be at 90 MPH.
 
#26 ·
Top Speed 500 & 750.

Don't really know the top speed because I'm not 16 years old anymore and top speed is not my goal in purchasing a motorcycle.


Based on running in the 80mph on the 750 at times and considering the throttle position at that speed, I suspect the top speed is probably north of 100mph on the 500 and definitely that on the 750.
 
#27 ·
Was wondering how fast you guys have gotten up to on your 500s. Im a fairly new rider and dont want to push too hard, I've been on the highway a few times up around 60, with all the wind it feels like I am flying. Thinking about getting a windshield.

Anyhow, feels almost like the engine might be straining at that speed, but with all the wind and outside noise I can't really tell. Curious as to your thoughts! Can you cruise at highway speeds (65-70mph) for long periods on the 500 without doing damage to the engine?
I own a Street 500, and i have no problem hitting 100 mph , with throttle and,what seems to be,lots of acceleration remaining. Rpm s are around 6000 at this point. Again, the motor sounds like it's comfortably muscling this out. Where's the redline?
 
#28 ·
As Gaijin mentioned above, his xg750 engine is rev limited to 8,000 RPM. Following the thread he linked to, my guess is that he used the tachometer feature of his FP3 and just ran it up against the rev limiter to get that figure.

I don't know if the xg500 is set up the same or not as this thread seems to mostly focus on the xg750. Does anybody with the xg500 care to repeat Gaijin's experiment? It looks like dabomb1000 volunteered to do so but may have gotten distracted once things warmed up enough to try it.

I vaguely recall another thread in which they mention the xg750a has a 9,000 RPM rev limit. I forget whether that was stock or by downloading a new map to a tuner.
 
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#31 ·
As Gaijin mentioned above, his xg750 engine is rev limited to 8,000 RPM. Following the thread he linked to, my guess is that he used the tachometer feature of his FP3 and just ran it up against the rev limiter to get that figure.

I don't know if the xg500 is set up the same or not as this thread seems to mostly focus on the xg750. Does anybody with the xg500 care to repeat Gaijin's experiment? It looks like dabomb1000 volunteered to do so but may have gotten distracted once things warmed up enough to try it.

I vaguely recall another thread in which they mention the xg750a has a 9,000 RPM rev limit. I forget whether that was stock or by downloading a new map to a tuner.
The 500 is geared exactly the same as the 750. I assume it can actually rev HIGHER, since it is a smaller piston, but you probably can never get to that RPM in 6th gear.
 
#32 ·
It makes sense that they are geared the same. I suspect the rev limit is also the same, but could be increased with a tuner.
 
#33 ·
Was wondering how fast you guys have gotten up to on your 500s. Im a fairly new rider and dont want to push too hard, I've been on the highway a few times up around 60, with all the wind it feels like I am flying. Thinking about getting a windshield.

Anyhow, feels almost like the engine might be straining at that speed, but with all the wind and outside noise I can't really tell. Curious as to your thoughts! Can you cruise at highway speeds (65-70mph) for long periods on the 500 without doing damage to the engine?
How is 60 mph gonna strain the engine the top speed on bike is 100mph
 
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