VMax vs HD 1200 Sportster..

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SpecOps13

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It's alright to pick on me because I have a Sportster as well as a VMax. Harley guys call it a Girls Bike and laugh. That lasts until we leave the first stop light or until I string them along up to 100 and then open the throttle the rest of the way. Those are big reasons why I have a Sportster over another bigger Harley ( Dog ). You here seem to target V-Rods which I am with you on. All of the kills here have convinced me that I really don't want to look for one of the Screaming Eagle Versions. Since My VMax should easily dust one of them.

This is going to be a tale of rude awakening for me and it'll answer questions I've had for quite a while. A friend has a 2009, 1200 Sportster with modifications to the intake and exhaust along with Vance and Hines ECU Mods. He and I have run his and my 1200 a number of times. He usually gets a bike and a half lead right away and maintains that until I run out of top end at about 120 mph. My Sportster is a converted 883 so it retains the gearing that's not as tall as his factory build 1200. I have intake and exhaust mods done to mine as well as a programmable ECU. Earl's is Fuel Injected and mine is Carbureted. His starts out with more Horsepower potential than mine. Mine makes up for the Horsepower difference with gearing.

We finally got my VMax and his Sportster out together. I haven't been feeling slighted on power between My Sportster and my VMax. To me they both feel pretty fast. I just haven't been able to figure out how to ride them both at the same time for a comparison.:ummm:

We didn't do the runs in any particular order but I'll try to make them logical for the purpose of making sense here.

Dead stop through a slow roll start in first gear. I left Earl every time. In his words it was like; I'd Gone to Warp Drive.

2nd gear rolling start, This one really shocked me bad. We made very short work of the road we were on. Earl actually moved out by a 2 bike lead. I was watching the tach with peripheral vision because I was trying like hell to catch him. I saw one of my shifts at 10,500. Desperate measure... When we hit about 100 mph, I began to pass, by 130 I had a slight lead on him. Not a whole lot though. If you could see the road we were running on, you'd wonder how we lived through it... The road was about wide enough for 2 bikes side by side and may have seen some maintenance many years ago.

We did a 5th gear roll on from 50. He walked up so far, I had to downshift to catch him. I cheated for the test we were doing. We tried the 5th gear roll on again from 65. He moved out front by about 2 bike lengths momentarily. I picked up between 1000 and 1500 rpm and left him behind...

All of this is very strange, My VMax seems to be running perfect. New Marks Exhaust and carbs set as perfectly as I've ever seen them.

It shows that the 1200 Sportster is by no means a standard Harley, Converting fuel into heat, noise and little else. There are odd instances where it can make a Gen I look bad even though the VMax overall is way more capable.

We never expected the results we got. We thought it would be a matter of him trying to catch me no matter how we ran. Surprise.. Watch out for running a Sportster that's already rolling, it may just catch your VMax at one of those moments you don't want to see.....
 
Depends on the year but Przmek is in the ball park. around 580lbs wet weight.

SpecOps, I know exactly what you are talking about. I literally just rode in the garage and came up and jumped on the forum after riding with a couple friends, one of which has a sportster.

His is nowhere near stock. It is a '05 883C. We installed a 1250 kit from NHRS. His heads are extensively modded. Different exhaust, ignition, carb, cams...... He has a good bit of $$ into it. Never did make it to the dyno but I've seen a few sheets from bikes with very similar setups putting out well over 100HP as compared to the stock 1200 sporty's 50hp.

I have found the exact same results. From a standing start the max will eat it alive. Doing roll ons while side by side (from a cruising rpm) is a different story. It takes the max time to reel him in. When I know we are going to run them I keep the revs a bit higher (over 5K) to start and I can take him every time. If I'm around 4K it will take some time to pass him unless I downshift.

Doesn't really matter which one is faster. They are all fun to ride.
 
Well that would be strongly modifed sportster vs almost stock v-max.
Think about stock sportster vs stock v-max...

Alos think about cosmicly modified sportster vs...lest say my v-max - nothing special I have but my v-max is 1300cc and strongly lighweighted.

Not to mention sportster vs Jim's toxic. :biglaugh:

Imagine funds trhowed into that sportster in Your vmax!
 
Yes, there was a lot invested in his motor. I could probably go out and buy another motor for what he spent and turn my bike into a 240 HP yamaha V8!

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I wanted to do a video with my Marks Exhaust but we never slowed down long enough for me to figure out the camera I had along. I shut the Max down, down the street and coasted in after the ride. I just pulled the plugs to get a general idea of how close I am with the carbs.. In my book the plugs are all perfect and match each other very well..:biglaugh: The ride was a Blast......

The sound from on the bike isn't as enjoyable as from behind. Earl said it's a cross between an Indy Car and a very healthy Small Block Chevy.. We found that we could sync the 2 engines while riding and get a harmonic that drove the Cagers Nuts. It apparently shook their windows.:rofl_200:Lots of them just moved out of the way, then gave us strange looks as we passed them.

Sportster Dry Weight: 553.4 lbs + oils and 4.5 gallons of gas
VMax Dry Weight 578 lbs + oils and 4 gallons of gas.

My VMax just lost the excess weight of the stock exhaust but Earl's Sportster has done the same.

Seems to be a very close comparison base on weight...
 
Nobody said the Vmax is a totally infallible bike, anybody who honestly thinks it so it just being foolish. It's a fast, powerful bike, but it's not the king of the road it used to be.

That said, as Satariel mentioned, OK....a heavily modified Sporty can take a mostly stock Vmax in a specific roll-on scenario, for a brief time. Like "lugging" at low RPM, where the twin's torque will give it a boost over straight horsepower.

Stock to stock? No contest. And if the Vmax had the same amount of work/money put into the motor as the Sporty, it'd be nothing short of embarrassing.

Against a M109, roll-ons from highway speed in 5th will result in it slowly pulling away, assuming we don't cheat and leave it in 5th. If we do a highway rolling, but "allow" downshifts, I drop it to third(he goes to fourth), and I cruise away no problem. Get the revs up and the HP takes over instead of torque.
 
Since I ride both a VMax and A Sportster I do a lot of comparisons. The VMax pulls steadily in a 5th gear roll on and gains a huge jump at 6,000 rpm and up. The Sportster reacts instantly to throwing the throttle open, it pulls the front forks to the limit of extension. The torque pulls the Sportster into an initial lead but that will only take it so far. Once the Max gains enough revs, that's pretty much all she wrote for the Sportster.

I'm really thinking about a Sassy, I'd like the boost to start at 4,500 rpm. I believe that would compensate for the torque advantage the Sportster has.
 
I have a t-boost module installed, but I rarely ever use it. Having it open early at 3k I think is too soon, since 3-4000 it's just running really rich and I'm sure is less powerful both hp and torque. If I want to haul balls on the highway a generous twist gets me over 100 and into stock boost range in short order anyway.

At highway speeds for me (75 is about 4400 with Venture drive), having it open does give a torquier feeling, less throttle gives a little more oomph. It also sends the gas mileage straight into the toilet so use with caution. I seem to remember hearing that 6000 on a stock geared bike is about 90, for me it's a tad over 100.

In other words, I think early boost gives a slightly better "feel" at a highway cruise, like for going up grades and easy passing. To me that torquier feel isn't worth 10 fewer mpg so I leave it on the stock 6k setting. However if you dump the gas I don't think there's much if any difference between shut and early open.
 
Have you had your bike dyno'd? I would be interested to see where it came in at.

Also, removing the unsprung weight is HUGE for racing. You get rid of that rolling mass and it'll make a HUGE difference.

Chris
 
Dyno coming, as soon as CaptainKyle decides on a date, I'll know if I can make it a date....
 

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