Ho-ho. About 106BHP, as they left the factory. In the last couple of years of production they advertised a 'racing kit' and the bike the VCF prepared for the 'Protwin' racing series was alleged to be knocking out[1] 130 BHP at the crank. [1] See what I did there? TBF, it seems mine was almost certainly the victim of flaky shell bearings supplied in the very early days, which only affected the first 100 motors built. -- +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Pete Fisher at Home: | | Aprilia Shiver Yamaha WR250Z/Supermoto "Old Gimmer's Hillclimber" | | Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 | +-------------------------------------------------------------------+
It could be they had a more rounded rwhp figure in mind, & used something like the 12% driveline loss rule to come up with 104.nnn PS then rounded it up to 105. A crank hp figure is pretty pointless if you're ever going to pull bikes in for testing. Or maybe 105ps was the maximum power of any bikes available in France when the limit came in, thus ensuring they didn't leave lots of people with illegal, worthless bikes.
Is the law defined in terms of bhp or kW? The former would be a bit odd for a country that uses the metric system, whereas the latter would allow for 106bhp being some kind of colloquial rounding error.
To add to the mess the French law seems to have been based on 100 ch or (chevaux), not to be confused with the fiscal power CV. According to Wikipedia the ch derives from the German PS or 'metric horsepower' and is equivalent to 0.73549875 kW, or roughly 98.6% of mechanical horsepower. The French power limit was originally introduced in 1984 and they chose a nice round 100 ch. The rules relating to the homologation of motorcycle power outputs were subsequently formalised in Directive 95/1/EC. I found a forum post thus: Article 6 of this directive states that 'National legislation may permit Member States to refuse the initial registration and any subsequent registration within their territory of vehicles with a maximum net power of more than 74 kW.' How that produces the 106 BHP figure is presumably a conversion matter, which for the moment eludes my feeble mathematical capabilities. -- +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Pete Fisher at Home: | | Aprilia Shiver Yamaha WR250Z/Supermoto "Old Gimmer's Hillclimber" | | Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 | +-------------------------------------------------------------------+
Well I gave the figures further up the thread, and I can't see any way in which a nominal 100 of any unit of power could convert to 106 of any other.
Indeed. Perhaps there is some kind of 'margin for error' allowed, as most of the large capacity 'sports' French market machines from the major manufacturers come in at around the magic 106 BHP figure when you check their .fr web sites. -- +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Pete Fisher at Home: | | Aprilia Shiver Yamaha WR250Z/Supermoto "Old Gimmer's Hillclimber" | | Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 | +-------------------------------------------------------------------+
Tsk.. do I have to tell you cunts _everything_? The limit is 73.6 kW, with a 10% tolerance, i.e. 78.1 kW or 106 bhp at the crank. _cf_ Decree of 30 November 1984. HTH, HaND.
Tsk.. do I have to tell you cunts _everything_? The limit is 73.6 kW, with a 10% tolerance, i.e. 78.1 kW or 106 bhp at the crank. _cf_ Decree of 30 November 1984. HTH, HaND. [/QUOTE] So what does 10% 'tolerance' actually mean? It seems to be a case of 100 ch + 5%. -- +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Pete Fisher at Home: | | Aprilia Shiver Yamaha WR250Z/Supermoto "Old Gimmer's Hillclimber" | | Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 | +-------------------------------------------------------------------+
So what does 10% 'tolerance' actually mean? It seems to be a case of 100 ch + 5%.[/QUOTE] AFAIK, it's not '100 + 10%', but 'something else + 10%', which brings it to 106 bhp. Someone more skilled than I in maths (i.e. almost everyone) will tell you what that figure is likely to be. Delving back into memory, I seem to recall that the power is measured at the back wheel, but that the 'sortie du vilebrequin' (crank) obviously has a higher power output. So it's a 'loophole' which allows the 106 bhp limit to be obtained. TBF, who cares? When I was nipping around Paris on my FJR, I was regularly informed (by dealers and riders alike) that only one in three of French riders _didn't_ get the restrictions removed from their 'gros cubes'. I was too much of a wuss to get it done, though.
http://www.motoservices.com/permis/lepermis.htm "L'article R311-1 du code de la route précise qu'a dater du 1 janvier 1985 la puissance d'une motocyclette ne doit pas excéder 73,6 kilowatts (100 ch). ( En fait 106 ch avec la tolérance de 6%, soit 78 KW)." -- +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Pete Fisher at Home: | | Aprilia Shiver Yamaha WR250Z/Supermoto "Old Gimmer's Hillclimber" | | Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 | +-------------------------------------------------------------------+
Six pourcent? D'accord.. je me coucherai moins con ce soir.. -- des 'I wouldn't recommend sex, drugs or insanity for everyone, but they've always worked for me' (Hunter Thompson) <http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/>
Brought in as a direct result of Moto Revue (or Moto Journal; I forget which) beating the TGV from Paris to Marseilles on a GPZ900R, allegedly.
AFAIUI, bikes were required to be restricted at the time, then passed through the certification authority (les Mines) to verify this. In any case, I reckon the proportion of bikes over 106BHP is significantly different today compared with when the law was originally brought in.
Colour based overkill. A simple red cross on a white ground is sufficient to alert foreigners that a superior being has just overtaken them. ..
I'm not sure how many furreners actually know the cross of St George. I've just gone for the whole Union Flag, just to make sure they know.
