But, those HD's, Buell's, and Suzuki's are to stock bikes what a Nascar Ford or Chevy is to a stock car. The only things they have in common are the names.

 

I'm not saying that you can't invest $5,000, $10,000 or whatever into a Harley to give it quite a bit of horsepower, but if you are into "go fast" mode and looking for a reliable street bike that doesn't need to be tuned or rebuild every month you will never match the performance offered by some of the metrics.

I've owned nothing by Harleys since 1970, but if I wanted something that is considered a fast motorcycle I'd just plunk down the required $12,000 and pick up a 2009 Kawasaki ZX-14...

1352cc, 557 pounds, and 193 stock horsepower at 9,500 RPM... If that wasn't fast enough you could plunk down a couple thousand and up the horsepower well into the 200+ range.

 

I have a buddy that has one. It is his second. They are a bike you have to respect, no matter how seasoned you are. He learned the hard way on the first. He had been ridding a 750 class sportbike for years before getting the ZX-14. With 1500 miles on the clock, he came riding outta the wash bay at a dealership where he hangs out. For whatever reason, he decided to whack the throttle wide open while rolling along in first at about 5 mph. She took off spinning, hooked up, and shot across the parking lot like a rocket. He struck the side of a minivan, totaling both the van and bike. He was helmetless and in shorts and tennis shoes....He was torn up from one end to the other.

 

Referring to the Gatornationals? NHRA requires the jap bikes to carry a lot more weight than HD and Buell. If the weight restrictions were the same, HD would still be having problems qualifying.

 

I believe that the NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle rules were changed a couple years ago to even out the weight limit for all makes (around 615 pounds I believe with rider), but the V-Twin bikes get an advantage when it comes to maximum engine size;

"To ensure a level playing field, pushrod-equipped V-Twin engines are limited to 160 cubic inches, and the high-winding four-cylinder engines cannot be larger than 101 cubic inches. Fuel injection is permitted, and spec gasoline is the only fuel allowed."

 

As usual, people are going off on something Roadking Bob never asked. Its apparent many have never seen top Fuel Harleys run. He is talking about the fastest record in IHRA/NHRA top fuel Harley I believe it is the Zodiak as seen running in this link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCPye3wKrfQ



In a good run, these bikes lift the front wheel at the start line, never to touch the asphalt again until past the finish line, while accellerating from 0-60 MPH (0-100 kmh) in 0.7 seconds, and from 0-210 MPH (0-338 kmh) in 6.6 seconds !

 

Priceless! And true... This is exactly why true power addicts always have two bikes.

 

All is not as bad as it seems. My riding buddy rides a metric, a Benelli Trek. It theoretically can go over 150MPH. However, as with all metrics you have to be running some pretty high RPMs to get instant excelleration. Most people do not cruise around at these high RPMs. When we are fooling around in the 65 to 95 MPH range, my big V twin with its higher torque in the lower RPM range, can always out run him.

 

My '05 Busa will roll on in 6th gear at 50 MPH and destroy my 1200 sporty in any gear. You can pretty much stick it in top and drive it around without ever shifting. It has MEASURABLE LOADS more torque than any stock HD>

My brother's GSX-R1000 even makes the Busa feel like a dog because it's so light and the throttle response is so tremendous.

I am ready to sell the sporty because the Busa just does everything it does, but better.

 

I could be wrong, but I believe a Benelli is Italian, not metric?