Is the RE Interstate-Worthy?

[Ice]

Welcome aboard jedaks,

 My old Iron Barrel handles 155 kilos two for 50 Kilometers at up to 80 KPH on occasion without complaint.

 I think two up as you describe at 85 KPH might be a bit much even for the vaunted UCE powered C5 and G5 machines.

 Solo at 100KPH  should be no problem for the UCE's. Have you thought about a one for your Missus as well ?  They do come in nice colours.

[neil]

Hutch is Right!

"Go with the flow or die." Riding an enfield on the interstate is done only by someone with a death wish. I don't want to be riding along on the travel lane and have a semi pass me at 80 in the passing lane. Being sucked under all those duals under the box, not for me. I'll stick to the two lanes where 55 or 60 is just fine.

[nmcop]

I would like to thank everyone for the hearty debate on the cruising ability of the bullet. I saw my first bullet, an 08 Military, for sale down the street from me and fell in love. I hit the internet and found my new girlfriend, the C5. My wife doesn't mind because she has her 500 Yamaha. My only concern was ability to cruise at 60-65. I don't really want to go any faster. Too old and lazy. THANKS

[Ice]

Welcome aboard nmcop.

 Let us know when you bring her home to meet the wife 

[OLD CRUISER]

I live in So. Cal. I run the interstate all the time.  I average 60 mph. I have never had a problem.  My travels take me through L.A. on the 10 now and then. 
 I drove big trucks for 15 years, and have learned the Smith system. It works for me.
I now wear a safety reflective vest.  I think that you are more likely to get nailed on city streets, where you have the possibility of people pulling out in front of you stopping etc.    And the famous words "I DIDN'T SEE YOU'.
DRIVE AWARE    

[Lwt Big Cheese]

What's the Smith system?

[barenekd]

My response is, since I go both ways, is use the freeways if you want to get someplace relatively quickly like a club ride that starts early in the morning and the meeting place is 60 or 80 miles away, and you'd have to get up two hours earlier to do it on the Streets.
I run the freeways at 60-65 in the RH lanes generally, maybe up to 70 to make a quick pass.I honestly have been keeping up with the slower traffic just fine on these SoCal roads. Probably my biggest gripe are these damn dirt trucks that get sand blown out of their trailers and that stuff smarts with a porridge pot helmet on. I guess I need to find one of my old scarves. I have been running LA freeways on 150+ mph motorcycles for over thirty years. Doing it on the Bullet takes a little different paradigm!
But, it wasn't a difficult transition. In fact, I rather enjoy it.
If I don't have to hurry, I use the streets, but it takes longer. On the other hand, I take a little different route every time and really get the lay of the land around here. It's amazing, the diversity I find. Anything from farms and ranches and orange groves to ethnically diverse towns and neighborhoods, big cities, nice little neighborhood twisties and little picturesque lakefront communities. It has been a real adventure just cruising around my own neighborhood and finking places I didn't know existed, even streets that are nice shortcuts that I never knew about.
The biggest difference I find is that, if I spend say 90% or so of my time on the freeway I get about 65 mpg. On the streets I get about 76 mpg. If I have the time it's the streets every time. If I were to go cross country, I'd never get on the freeway. You just miss too much. Can't find those Triple D restaurants on the freeway!
Bare

[Alan LaRue]

When this thread started in 2007, I don't think there was a UCE. My opinion, having been commuting on I-10 into Houston now for a couple of weeks, is that my Bullet is quite adequate for freeway rush-hour use. I've slowed down some over the years, so that when I'm in my car I generally run 65-70 mph. Houston traffic on the east side has slowed down some, too, with many people going 60 even when it's clear ahead, and fewer doing 80. The Bullet feels fine at 65-70, though I can't yet speak to wear-and-tear.

I had a Yamaha V-Star Classic (650) a few years back, which may have had a bit more power, but weighed over 500 lbs, and it was no better suited to freeway speeds. I also had a Yamaha FZ-1 for about a year, with 140 hp, and I actually hit 130 once in order to insert myself into a spot in traffic where I wanted to be. Got where I wanted to be in a flash then looked at the speed and decided that I'd been stupid. (Sure was easy!) But I get around slower traffic in that spot nearly every day, and it was quite simple to run from 40 up to 70 mph on the Bullet this morning to hit that seemingly ever present space.

I bought it for the freeway commute, which is probably not typical use, but I like it better than anything else I've commuted on. Once I do my second oil change, I'll explore the limits of it's velocity, which I expect to be a bit over 80 mph.

[GlennF]

I bought it for the freeway commute, which is probably not typical use, but I like it better than anything else I've commuted on. Once I do my second oil change, I'll explore the limits of it's velocity, which I expect to be a bit over 80 mph.

My B5 winds out to 80 odd mph easy enough and seems happy to sit on 65-70 mph for longish periods.


HOWEVER be warned, even with a front disk the Bullet does not STOP very well from 80 mph   Just saying .....

[iowarider]

just curious, I have seen oil dip sticks with temperature gauges built in. Would watching oil temperature work? Sounds like it would be easier than trying to Gauge the air temp.

[barenekd]

I had an oil temp gauge on a SR-500. Prompted me to put an oil cooler on it. Really didn't help much. You're much better off not knowing. Actually the SR ran at about 230 degrees.
I don't recall for sure, but I don't think it had any more oil capacity than the Enfield. I used to cruise at 75-80 with it. I don't go that fast with the Bullet. The SR was only rated at 29 or 30 hp, too.
So I ride my Bullet at a bit lower speed than the SR, but 65, +/-5, seems to be fine. As far as weight goes, I have ridden far lighter machines on the freeway with no problems. Te bigger factor comes with how much windage you have. That's a sailing term about the amount of side area the boat has to let it get blown around. If you look at racing sailboats, they don't have much cabin area sticking above the hull line. As for motorcycles, the more fairing area it have, the more it's going to get blown around.
I have ridden the Bullet in quite strong winds that would blow my Honda 900s and other Superbikes all over the road. The Bullet is pretty much unaffected by crosswinds comparatively. Wish I could say as much about headwinds!
As far as the front disk goes, It's more capable than the front tires to stop the bike. I have locked up the front wheel several times. If I had any more braking, it wold be even easier. As it is, it's pretty controllable.
So, to answer the question, it is Interstate-Worthy as long as you remain around the speed limit.  There have been several threads in the forum of guys who have gone on  cross country rides on their Bullets and used a lot of Interstates doing it. I don't recall any failures that were due to the bike. Someone falling off doesn't count. Frankly with an unfaired bike you wouldn't want to go much faster anyway.
Bare

[cyrusb]

Here ya go

[jedaks]

yes it is interstate worthy...
between the hours of 0100 and 0445.

[Alan LaRue]

Thread is 5 years and counting!

Searched through your other posts, jedaks, to see what you were riding and where you are. Queensland traffic must be awful! What sort of cruising speed is comfortable with the 535?

[gremlin]

Speaking of ambient temperature, I wonder what the effect of humidity is on cooling.  If you took air at the same temperature, but changed the amount of humidity in it, would the cooling efficiency increase or decrease. 

Humidity adds thermal conductivity and thermal mass to any unit volume of air.  the temperature differential between hot metal and cool(er) air is the thermal pressure between the two.  Therefore ~ with any given motor & air temperature, adding humdity will increase the flow of heat out of the engine and into the atmosphere.