Hitchcocks Forum

I've got 800 miles on my new B5. Yesterday I tried out its top speed. The road was flat and there was very little wind. By the speedo, it got up to 70mph OK, but it took a while to get up to 75 and honestly didn't seem to want to go any faster.



Bearing in mind this is probably nearer a true 70mph it seems a bit disappointing. What are you guys getting? Should I be concerned?



I'm not interested in driving it at speed, but I want it to have the correct level of performance.

That's about it Thack - at least that's what I've managed.
I'm skeptical about reports of an easy 80 - 85 - 90mph!
I guess this is the reason Mr H is developing the performance kit for it.

The only person I believe when I see figures like you are hoping for Thack is Bullet Whisperer

Norm, I don't think Thack said he was hoping for any figures - just 'the correct level of performance'. And to be fair approx 70mph from a newly-designed 500 engine is not very impressive - a good 125 should do as well.

Sorry Presto, it was your 90mph figure that caught me, if you looked in the Electra manual when they came out I think they quoted 124kph top speed and that was all they were good for without modifications although I do believe the UCE is quicker than the Electra was by a little bit

I used to have an Electra and my Bullet EFI definitely feels faster although i've no way of proving it was actually the case.My EFI pulls an indicated 70 - 80 mph quite easily but again i have no way of testing the accuracy as it could well be the case that the speedo is very optimistic.

Listed top speed for the efi engine is 82mph. The bike will do that on the flat, although I wouldn't want to do it for long.
Personally I wouldn't be flogging the arse off it after only 800 miles from new. Mine kept on loosening up for around 12000 miles. You'll find similar experience confirmed many times over on the U.S. forum.
Also, haven't you been messing with the ECU....? Just sayin....

Incidentally, regarding speedo accuracy, I went through a speed trap recently at an indicated 45mph. Just received the Notice of intended Prosecution for doing 45mph in a 30 limit....
It also matches 60mph when following friend's Golf at same speed.

Hi Thack, I get 85 indicated on my Electra, but that is with 32mm Carb, pipe and silencer mods...confirmed using my new fangled IPhone thingy with a satnav/speed app. It does take a little while to squeeze out the final few mph though. Previously it was 70 ish, which did not inspire me at all...of course this is all done on a private road (should plod be reading this and looking for an easy nick).

Correction - owner's manual shows max speed to be 129kph (80.16 mph)