I wasn't talking about a bike I am talking about my Daily Driver an Infiniti G37 coupe with a six speed manual transmission
Carl
just had to google that, trust the nips to put a 6 speed in a car, notice you don't mention mpg tho...
Back around 85 I drove a vette with a hopped up big block 454 and 4 speed manual from germany to spain, on the autobahns that bitch came in to its own, held it at over 150 mph for over an hour, it would have gone faster but the chassis / my nerves weren't up to it, got to france and spain and it was raining and wished it has the auto trans, way way way too easy to light up the back end and skid, had to stick it in a high gear and pull between 500 and 1000 rpm, way below the power band to control is safely.
reminded me a lot of the early porsche 911 turbo, great on the autobahn, complete fucking crap on twisty wet stuff.
Fact is I've found long distance is all about average speed, drive from here to greece and (quite apart from the weird tarmac they use in greece, no grip at all) when it comes to cars a decent pug 400 series or merc 300 series diesel is as fast as anything, and when it comes to bikes a shovel with a decent seat and 5 gallon tank is as fast as anything, stopping for fuel or to stretch your legs really kills that average speed number.
Boats teach you that I guess, you'd be surprised how far you can go at 8 knots if you're doing 8 knots 24/7... you think, pah, 8 knots, I can walk at 4 or 5, that's pathetic, but it works out at 1,344 nautical miles a week just by not stopping or slowing down.
For those that say 470 miles in a day is no big deal, much of the a30 / a 303 is not dualled, single lane each way, twisty roads through villages and up and down hills, then m3 for a bit, roadworks and 50 mph average speed cameras, then m25 for a bit, always accidents or something to slow you down, then m26, all the dover traffic, then cut across the 299 etc back roads again, then do it all in reverse.
it is a LOT harder work than sitting on a genuine motorway / autostrada / autopista / etc.
dunno what the 0-60 time is for my 1.9 diesel, but I don't cane things, change up at 1500 revs, so prolly something stupid like 45 second, also don't brake hard, brake soft and early, fast ain't fast, smooth is fast, and smooth is where you get your mpg from.
I see it all the fucking time, people will charge across town because fuel is 2 pence a litre cheaper, with a 40 litre tank that just saved you about 60 p assuming you fill up at a quarter tank, and you can save four or five times that amount by driving smoothly....