General


What is torque vs. horsepower?

I've seen the horsepower rating for my V-Twin and it's really disappointing but the torque numbers are awesome. What do the numbers really mean?

In the proverbial nutshell torque is twisting force and is what's trying to separate your hands from the grips, your butt from the seat when you roll on the throttle.  Horsepower is what keeps the machine moving and more usually = higher top speed.

Cruiser (and V-Twin) riders generally want lots of torque and they want it down low in the rpm range so they have lots of take off 'grunt' from stoplight to stoplight. Sportbike riders with four and even six cylinders on the other hand couldn't care less about stoplight to stoplight, they want ultimate speed and don't mind revving the engine to 10,000 rpm to get it. Ya picks yer ride (and engine) based on the type of riding you want to do.

For more on the subject there's an excellent page posted here.

Last Updated: Thursday, August 09 2018 @ 10:54 AM PDT