Terry Vance drag race video

[Don R]

Drag Racing Tips on the GS Suzuki's Terry Vance of Vance & Hines Racing Teach on GS1100 and GS450 (youtube.com)

[Don R]

TSCC video

Suzuki GS-1100 Dealership Promotional Sales Training Film T-S-C-C Spells Performance ( Restored ) - YouTube

[Rob S.]

Thanks for that video. I've finally got a dyno reading on a stock (1981) 11E: 86.6 HP. So my 99.3 HP isn't too shabby for my slightly modified '82. Manufacturer's claim of 108 would be nicer.

And although Cycle World did 11.18 @123 mph, the mag quoted in the clip could only get 11.33 @118 mph. Still record setting for it's day. I'd like to think my Suzi could run high 10s with a talented rider on board.

[GS1150Pilot]

Of course, one year later, the V65 Magna destroyed it.

I do enjoy drag racing. For a couple of years, a group of friends and I spent time every weekend at test n' tune at Speedworld on our variously modified FZ1s. My FZ had dynoed at over 130 hp at the wheel, but I did not have the skill to run anything less than an 11.5 on it. A friend, with much more skill, posted a 10.8 on my bike (and ran a 10.71 on his own).

But comparing motorcycle quarter mile times that have long been eclipsed is silly. What matters is how they ride, the joy they bring during the ride. I think the Hayabusa is an incredible machine, but these days, a Road King or a T120 appeals so much more because I don't measure joy in 1/4s of miles but in hundreds of them.

Obviously, YMMV, but unless you are building a hot GS1150 motor that won't be very streetable, the bikes folks most love here are veritable dinosaurs, and there is nothing wrong with that-but the race course has moved on.

That said, Terry Vance is a legend, for a reason. But legends require a sense of time having passed.

[Don R]

I was just sure I was getting a hundred HP bike. But my other bikes are a 78 GL1000 and an RC engineering 836 kitted cb750 so it's fast by comparison.

[grcamna2]

The 450E isn't too shabby either.

[GS1150Pilot]

I have an '82 CB900F that I want to get back on the road, but I want to do a complete resto-mod on it. It's funny: The 2016 Sportster I own, with a modified 1200, feels faster than it probably is. If I had to guess, I'd say it is a low 12 second quarter mile bike. The stock CB900f was in the 11's. But what I'd like to see these days is whether the Honda would be more fun on road trips than the Harley.

[Don R]

I've been to the drag strip probably hundreds of times but I've never done a quarter mile pass on a bike, a friend has a Z1 and a GS, either will run 8's. I'd dearly love to run a 12, and live to tell the story.

[GS1150Pilot]

Over the three years we ran bikes, we all became much better at launching, and, as you know, those 60 foot times are crucial. For the FZs, we'd simply strap the front ends, set tire pressures and run at 1/3 tank of fuel. It was pretty easy to get the bikes into the 12's, but getting 11's was not so easy for me. I'd love to have ever gotten a 10 second quarter on anything, but my skills didn't allow it.