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Hello All,

I hit the mythical 70 mph yesterday screaming down 94 going east from mpls. Man did that feel good. I wanted to get back to be office in downtown st. paul and I thought, "Well I could come across lake st., but that take sooo long, or I can take 94 E off of Hennepin and maybe stay in the right lane and try and keep up." To my surprise, I hit the mythical 70 and I was passing people......

Dave

Licensed Joined: 19 Jan 2005 Posts: 511

Mythical is right if you go by the indicated speed on the Stella speedo. Likely 65-67

I would say more like a Mythical 68 as it seems that the speedo is 2 mph fast, but what a ride..... I can't imagine how fast Scooterville Nate's bike goes.

Dave

Permit Joined: 03 May 2005 Posts: 95 Location: Mpls

I'm really starting to wonder about some of the speeds I'm seeing for stella's.I've got a stella engine in my bike and the bike itself weighs a third of a stella.I need to get my speddo working and see what it will top out at.Yep,I know Derrick,all I need is that little piece!

Licensed Joined: 05 May 2005 Posts: 130 Location: St. Paul

what bike do you have a stella engine in that weighs a third of a stella?

don't most largeframes weigh about the same?

maybe we should start a "stella engine in vintage bike" club...

If you want to do some speed testing, you're free to borrow my GPS for a little bit. It's got a 'Max speed' function, so it's perfect- no need to contantly keep your eye on the unreliable speedo or anything.

My max is 65MPH, and I think that was downhill into taylors falls, coming out of wisconsin. I can cruise at 64.4 or so on the P200 otherwise.

Permit Joined: 03 May 2005 Posts: 95 Location: Mpls

1967 GT.Maybe not a third,but a whole lot less than the stella.When I lived in NE,I used to have to carry that fucker up a half flight of steps to get it in the house.I wouldn't want to try that on my own with a stella.I just might hit you up on your offer Nate,the curiousity is getting to me,or I guess I could just fix my speddo.

Licensed Joined: 05 May 2005 Posts: 130 Location: St. Paul

i remember your bike, now. i saw it at SV when derrick was putting the stella engine in it. it was partly what convinced me to do the same thing with my bike!

as to weight, i suppose the stella's got all that extra junk, battery, cat, ele start. i guess it all adds up. plus the gl doen'st have a glove box does it... i'm sure it is lighter...

you know, i had my speedometer rebuilt by "the speedo king", AKA steve burdette in CA (sorry, i can't find the number here at work). he does vintage lammy and vespa speedos and has many rare parts and whole speedos and everything.

really nice guy and very professional. i recommend him...

i'll post the info when i get it unless someone else out there has it?

Your bike is so light because it's all rusted out, right? HA HA, just kidding.

Even a fixed speedo is pretty not that likely to give you a decent response.

By the way- Don't figure "2mph off", figure "10%". If it's only 2MPH off, does that mean that it reads 2 (or -2) mph when you're at 0? Probably not.
It's probably closer that your 70mph was somewhere in the neighborhood of 63-77. I'll let the crowd determine which direction to err. (My P tends to read in the mid-High fifties when I'm at full tilt. I tend to be concentrating hard enough on the riding that I don't spend lots of time staring down trying to figure it out.)

A lot of people think the Stella speedo is off by a certain number of MPH, but I think it's probably proportionally off - so in other words, if it's off by 2 MPH at 30, it's off by 4 MPH at 60. In my own personal observations, mine seems to be off by roughly 10% - so if it claims 60, I'm going ~54. When it claimed 62, I was really going about 56.

It's also likely to be a little more complex than that - possibly off by a certain percentage plus a certain number, due to where the 0 peg is set in relation to where the needle would actually be at 0 and/or all the numbers being slightly shifted. So maybe mine is off by 5% + 2MPH or something.

Either way, the speedometer is sort of like MSRP - it gives you a rough estimate, but you know it's an unidentifiable amount lower than the number you're seeing...

Licensed Joined: 19 Jan 2005 Posts: 1323 Location: MPLS

Permit Joined: 03 May 2005 Posts: 95 Location: Mpls

That's not rust and bondo.It's been aerodynamically reconfigured.And yes,you will be getting an ass kicking.

SPeed Holes or something like that..... Well 70 or not, but pretty damned fast... The fastest I have been on a stella...

Dave

Licensed Joined: 19 Jan 2005 Posts: 576 Location: St. Paul

Bob had a fast regular Stella, but yours has taller gears.

Dave, have you done anything to it except the upjet to 100? Is the Cat exhaust still on it?