How Fast Is top Speed

Hi All, I have a 1980 kz650 f1. It's speedometer goes to 80 mph. I was just looking at a picture of a 1978 kz650 and its speedometer goes to 140mph. :blink: Was there some change in gearing in the two years that made my bike not need a 140mph speedo? Does the 78 have another gear? Not that I will be trying to go 140mph or anything.:whistle:
Thanks!

i dont really know for sure about a gearing change but i know in the 80's everything's speedo toped out at 85 mph.

No, it was a solution devised by politicians. It was realized that they couldn't make vehicles go slower, so they figured if the drivers/riders didn't know how fast they were going, they wouldn't speed as excessively ... which is sort of the 'ostrich head in the sand' solution to a perceived problem. It obviously didn't work

just keep in mind just because the speedo say's 140 or 150 or even 160 that does not mean the bike can or has done these speeds,or if the speedo only says 85 chances are what ever bike can/will do more than that.

The gearing should be the same between your F1 and a '78. The D models had a slight gearing difference, but I'm not sure what the ratio differences are off hand. It wouldn't be much that affects top speed.

My '78's speedo goes up to 220! KPH

I've never had her up to that. 50 KPH over the limit in this area is considered Racing, and can lose you your bike.

Post edited by: rstnick, at: 2007/07/12 09:44

Yea the 85mph speedo was mandated on all vehicals in the US starting in 1980. This was a safety solution by Joan Claybrook who had all kinds of great ideas, one of which was even changing motorcycles to rear steering. Now that would have been a great improvement I would have to say :sick: Of course these crappy news shows like 60 minutes did not help matters when they would run episodes edited to make it appear to the general public that any motorcycle with a top speed of over 65mph was certain death to all who rode them.

Post edited by: RonKZ650, at: 2007/07/12 10:45

My 80 1000 has a 85mph speedo as do all the Mustangs, Camaros and Vettes from the eraly 80's. You can change the speedo if you want but you will need the whole setup from the donor bike, not just the speedometer.

kawtoy wrote:

My 80 1000 has a 85mph speedo as do all the Mustangs, Camaros and Vettes from the eraly 80's. You can change the speedo if you want but you will need the whole setup from the donor bike, not just the speedometer.

Yeah, all the early 80's. Even the DeLorean had an 85 speedo (with the 55 in red, just like pretty much everybody elses). Really stinks if you're trying to make a movie where "88" is the magic number. They're all easily replaced and regeared as kawtoy mentioned, though...

fastestz1 wrote:

just keep in mind just because the speedo say's 140 or 150 or even 160 that does not mean the bike can or has done these speeds,or if the speedo only says 85 chances are what ever bike can/will do more than that.

exactly!

about an honest 135 is the best i could get out of a stock 77 1000 with dynacoils and ignition