how significant is a 12 hp difference?

[vito]

My Honda Silverwing supposedly has 50 hp. I am thinking of trading it in on a new Triumph America which has 62 hp. How much difference in acceleration and top end power will this 12 hp make?

[shubonker]

Being that the Triumph is a motorcycle, you would be able to accelerate much quicker off the line than the silverwing, which i assume is an automatic scooter. Just a guess here, but i think it'd be a pretty noticeable difference all around.

[primalmu]

It's probably the Goldwing's little brother from the 80s, not the scooter. Having said that, the Triumph should be quite a bit quicker. It should produce a lot more torque, too.

[CookinBeans]

Twekve more horsepower can mean a lot- or nothing. Differing weights are just one big variable. In this example, I'm guessing it won't be
that big of a deal.

[vito]

It is a scooter; but it is pretty quick and can do just over 100 mph.

[MntShadow]

It is a scooter; but it is pretty quick and can do just over 100 mph.

Your best bet would be to take the Triumph for a test ride and see for yourself. :biggrin::biggrin:

[primalmu]

The scooter? I did a search and found that the scooter puts out around 38 HP, not 50. The GL500/650 put out about 50 HP.

[Biker Dash]

Take two identical bikes in the 50hp range, then mod one to produce 12hp more, and it's possible to see a drastic improvement. Then again, you might not have any real world improvement.

The thing is, there are too many variables involved. If you have a boost of power across the rpm range, then that would be a strong improvement. If you end up sacrificing a good deal of power in the low end for a gain in top end, (and usually, it's a larger loss than gain) then you may not really see any true improvement. If you throw in other factors, such as gearing, engine type (and the associated differences there) weight, how the bike is set up, ect. ect. it will come to the point where the only wat to tell is, as MtnShadow suggested, is to ride the two and compare.