Comet Top Speed

R

Russell Icke

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Will a comet really do a ton?
My comet sits very happily at 50 to 60 mph, I cannot imagine how frightening it would be at 100 mph!
Do they really reach such speed without modification?
 
Bill Thomas

Bill Thomas

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With Grey Flash Spec Engine and a 36mm Dellorto, Standard Road Comet, No fairing !.
ONLY ! :D , Got 99.8 at the end of a Flying 1/4 mile, Proper timing at a Sprint Meeting on an airfield,
Nice tail Wind and we had 100 octane petrol back then at the petrol stations, mid 1970s.
No different than 100 mph on a Twin, Which is a piece of cake !.
Would now think would be a good idea to fit an Hydraulic Steering Damper, Only £50 plus brackets.

Maybe Because it was BLUE !.
I am sure it would have done 100 with a smaller rider ?.
 

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b'knighted

b'knighted

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Running a “standard” Comet with chronometric speedo and 20” wheel, my bike would do a registered 85 mph.
it would do this in third gear, pretty well regardless of terrain or load. It would not exceed 85mph in top, being more affected by gradients and headwinds.

Nowadays, 85 in third sounds much too busy.
 
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P

Peter Holmes

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I haven't ever bothered to check the gearing on my D Comet replica, but I would guess it has a standard geared Burman gearbox with standard sprockets, but 85mph in third sounds awfully fast to me, I travel to most places with a pillion passenger, which I suppose does blunt the performance a little, well quite a lot in reality. A 20inch front wheel will give you an optimistic reading, 21inch being more likely to give an accurate speedo reading. I run a 19inch front which is probably giving me an even more optimistic reading, but I wouldn't dream of taking it to 85mph in third gear, I would normally engage 4th gear at around 50mph and leisurely make my way up to a cruising speed of 65mph with the occasional foray to exceeding the legal limit. If I do want to go any faster it is so much nicer to give the Rapide a run out.
 
b'knighted

b'knighted

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That was 40 years ago and I wouldn’t be aiming for that speed now. The point was that the over gearing meant that top gear performance was lower than third gear.
The road tests suggested that the Comet would do 88mph but I couldn’t achieve that.
 
Bill Thomas

Bill Thomas

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Trouble is the Bikes are getting Older, like Us !,
I still have a photo of Tony Wheatley's engine in my head, He liked to Buzz it !.

Another day on my Twin, I started on the grass Just before the end of the airfield runway,
To give me even more run in, Trouble was all the riders were in a line across the runway,
With a small gap for me to get through, It was nearly a game of Skittles !!.
 
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