So today my neighbor asked me if I wanted to go for a ride since it was beautiful out. We ended up meeting with 6 of his buddies which all ride Harleys. I was the odd ball riding a gs500 but I like being different. It was my first time riding with cruiser, chopper type bikes and wow they are extremely fast. They all had work done and were partially  modded but It really put it in perspective how under powered the gs is. I know they weren't ordinary as these bikes could definitely keep up and give a good fight with a 600 sport bike (in a straight line 1/4 mile ). It was a great experience and everyone was really nice but the poor gs was struggling to keep up lol.       

A well-tuned Harley can put out 80-100hp, plus it will have a significant amount more torque given it's enormous displacement advantage over the GS500. A lot of them are on the heavy side, though. They might beat a sportbike in 1st or 2nd gear but after that the multi would be gone ~ we're talking bikes that top out under 200km/h versus a sportbike that will go 250+

I used to have an FZR600 years ago ~ it was a chore to keep up with my friend's GL1500 GoldWing off a stop through the first 2 gears.

And then I'd have to get on the brakes to slow myself down because he had slowed to turn onto a side road, and I was still accelerating LOL

I totally agree don't get me wrong a sport bike and a cruiser are 2 different animals and when it comes to speed and racing performance it's what a sport bike is made for  I was just shocked on how much power they had. On twisty roads they still drove spirited but I give credit to the riders themselves. I guess I under estimated the performance of a Harley, the one guy had 160 hp to the wheel and was a rocket lol. 

My brother bought one of the Can-am Spiders it a nice bike but kind of the same thing he can beat me off the line, but once the little gs wines out i can keep up, they also can't corner worth a shaZam!, but they are a trike so that kind of goes without saying. just saying

when you go out and play with bigger bikes, you have to be willing to use more of the tachometer to keep up 

Most Harley's I have encountered on my rides act more like mobile roadblocks. They'll zoom past on the straights while I am on he GS but I round them up in the corners. On my Ducati I only see them in my rear view mirror 

Quote from: Twisted on April 14, 2012, 08:08:07 PM
Most Harley's I have encountered on my rides act more like mobile roadblocks. They'll zoom past on the straights while I am on he GS but I round them up in the corners. On my Ducati I only see them in my rear view mirror 

What kind of Ducati do you have?

Monster 1000ie
http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=53366.msg689849#msg689849

You little whore I want a Monster, 
but i think i'll get a smaller one like 620 or something. very nice bike.

Quote from: knowles on April 14, 2012, 08:37:43 PM
You little whore I want a Monster, 
but i think i'll get a smaller one like 620 or something. very nice bike.

yes, yes I am quite the manslut.

160 rwhp Harley ? I don't even think the liquid-cooled VR1000 Superbike the factory used to race made that much power, yet some guy has an air-cooled model that beats it ? 

Not saying it's not possible, just sounds fishy. Maybe it has 160 seat-of-the-pants guesstimated rear wheel horsepower

Quote from: SAFE-T on April 15, 2012, 11:30:28 AM
Not saying it's not possible, just sounds fishy. Maybe it has 160 seat-of-the-pants guesstimated rear wheel horsepower

hahaha, my gs started with 50, now it feels like 15 lol

Hey I agree that was a lot of hp, I honestly take what people say with a grain of salt but he showed me paper work in his garage about how it was tuned and all that stuff. There was very little original Harley equipment left if any, even the frame was modified it was pretty insane.   

large bore v-twins are much quicker off the line (from traffic light to traffic light) than the GS or other small bore inlines.  There is no way, however, that a stock Harley handles a stock 600cc sport bike in a quarter mile.  That distance is way too long for the heavier cruiser to hang..

TJ

Quote from: entropic on April 14, 2012, 07:29:39 PM
So today my neighbor asked me if I wanted to go for a ride since it was beautiful out. We ended up meeting with 6 of his buddies which all ride Harleys. I was the odd ball riding a gs500 but I like being different. It was my first time riding with cruiser, chopper type bikes and wow they are extremely fast. They all had work done and were partially  modded but It really put it in perspective how under powered the gs is. I know they weren't ordinary as these bikes could definitely keep up and give a good fight with a 600 sport bike (in a straight line 1/4 mile ). It was a great experience and everyone was really nice but the poor gs was struggling to keep up lol.     

rev it more. or, just wait for the red light, or turn, or bar, and you'll be on top of them in a moment.

did you ride any of them ? parking lot or open road ? did they ride yours ?

that's the best thing about group riding, trying other folks bikes.

Quote from: SAFE-T on April 14, 2012, 07:44:28 PM
I used to have an FZR600 years ago ~ it was a chore to keep up with my friend's GL1500 GoldWing off a stop through the first 2 gears.

Lol, my dad has a lightly modded GL1800 that he uses to embarrass I4 riders all the time. Lots of good stories there.

I ride with my dad and his HD buddies from time to time. Those things are quick from a stop (and fun to ride in straight line) but im sure you enjoyed watching them fill up every 100 miles!! 

I see someone mentioned a Gold Wing, those bikes if ridden right will keep up with almost anything on the road.... anything!