Over the summer I put approximately 6000 on my 06 Girley that I picked up in April after returning from a middle eastern deployment. A buddy of mine and I rode in a fund raiser poker run and on one of the longer legs we ended up being passed by a couple of 110ci custom Harleys. They had overly loud pipes and were delighting in slowing down ahead of us and then cranking on the throttle to hear their own noise. We got tired of this little game and decided to "blow their bars off" I dropped two gears and laid on it. They didn't want us passing them and attempted to block our pass. At 120 mph they decided their machines just weren't up to it (or maybe their machines decided it for them) and we walked away from them. The two morons on their hopped up V-twinks were both about 150 to 170 Lbs and alone, as was my friend on his cammed and piped 1100 shadow. I was two up with full bags, I'm 6'5" and weigh about 200 lbs and my passenger was about 230 Lbs.
How sad that my fully loaded, two up $6000 used (stock) 955i Tiger blew away two $35,000+ bikes with light loads just because that is as far as you can take 1940s technology. God I love my Triumph!
:wav good on ya :thumbsup
Not near as good, because I was running against stockers, but...
Me: 1975 Ducati 860GT, Vetter Phantom fairing (remember those?), Hondaline detachable panniers and top box, PLUS a loaded trailer, full of camping gear from our weekend. Me and passenger around 14 stone EACH.
Him: Stock-looking FLH with about the same passenger load, no trailer.
Result: pretty much dead even. Which means an overloaded, quircky, high-geared Italian GT pulling a trailer is the equal of America's finest, even though the American is given 500cc, a 3-400 pound weight advantage, and the same number of cylinders.
Cosmo
P.S. If you're wondering: No, the local Ducati owners STILL won't speak to me...
The thing that highlights the real difference between proper motorcycles and harleys is corners.
HD boys rarely try it here... they know they can't keep up. :roll:
Your anecdotal evidence squares with mine.
Buells can corner though. Like very few other bikes I've ever ridden. But that's in spite of everything it has with an HD logo on it. ;)