Carbonfibre said:
Old classic bikes like Norton and Triumph are just fine for relatively sedate riding, but sports bikes they are not and sustained high rpm running at or near maximum speed will result in major engine damage. The far superior reliability of the early 70s Jap machines was a major selling point, and like it or not this was something that helped to seal the fate of the Brit manufacturers.
The most absurd statement I've heard in some time.
I have a near bone stock 1969 (actually built from parts from '66 to '69) Triumph 650 Bonneville that I built for Production class vintage racing, with Sparx electronic ignition, and +.020 Emgo pistons, EVERYTHING ELSE STOCK. Steel clutch plates rubbed up on my shop floor, cheap Emgo friction plates. Stock (properly jetted) Amal 930 concentrics with OEM pancake filters. Entirely stock valve train, transmission, Lucas charging system and OEM oil pump. Bone stock rolling chassis (except clubman handlebars) built from mismatched parts (all Triumph big twin 66-69). Plain Dunlop 501 GTs, no sticky race rubber.
Even though it ran 12 laps of the Texas World Speedway with no oil getting to the top end (plugged feed line) at racing school, it suffered no ill effects. I then raced:
2007
Practice + 2 races at Sandia Classic in Albuquerque
Practice + 2 races at Barber's
2008
Practice + 1 race at Roebling Road Raceway in Bloomington, GA
Practice + 2 races at Daytona International Speedway
Practice + 2 races at Road america in Elkhart Lake, WI
Practice + 2 races at Grattan, MI
Cold Start race and Dirt Drags at New Ulm, TX
Set AHRMA class record on the 3-mile course at the Bonneville Salt Flats (BUB meet)
Practice + 2 races at Miller Motorsports park
Practice + 2 races at the Sandia Classic in Albuquerque
Practice + 2 races at Barber's
Finished 5th in points, in a field of 20 riders.
2009
Set AHRMA class record for standing Start Mile at the Texas Mile in Goliad
Cold Start race and Dirt Drags at New Ulm, TX
2010
Practice + 2 races at Willow Springs
Ran the Texas Mile spring meet
Practice + 1 race at Barber's
In all that time, the only service the bike received was an oil change at the end of each season, with fresh spark plugs every half-dozen or so races.
I did check the valve adjustment every once in a while, but have only adjusted them 2 or 3 times.
Clutch has never been adjusted, still on the same cheap Emgo plates.
Carbs have been cleaned once, after the historic rain and flooding that we drove through in the Michigan area in 2008, just a bit of water in the float bowls, nothing more.
The bike blew a fuse just into the first lap of second practice at Barber's in 2007, still no clue why, but it was fine in the race. I shook loose a coil connection in morning practice the next day, but got it figured out in time for the race.
I had a wierd failure in the second race at Willow Springs in 2010, the bottom of the tank rubbed through one of the coil wires, causing it to short and die. A similar failure happened at barber's, right at pit out, causing me to miss the first race ever.
Other than the wierd but very typical electrical failures, this bike has had ZERO MECHANICAL failures. It will wheelie on throttle alone, even crouched forward with the clubman bars. The clutch has NEVER slipped. The bike has gotten the holeshot on the field (check track photographers websites and available videos to verify) since the second race at Daytona in '08 (my 7th race as a rookie). I may not be the best rider out there, but the BIKE is among the best (if not THE best) in it's class as far as reliability.
I trust that if I were to install lights and a plate on the bike, I could ride it anywhere I want, at sustained highway speeds, with no worries of failure.
If I had the funds, I trust that i could race another season or two with no worries of mechanical failure.
Based on this, your most recent, statement, I believe ANY credibility you have ever managed to add to your posts SOLELY ON THE BASIS OF OTHER PEOPLE'S WRITING, WORK, OR EXPERIENCE, is now COMPLETELY LOST.
I am not among those that believe my Bonneville or Commando can outrun a Z6 on the track or run 175 MPH on the salt, but I am among the THOUSANDS who have FIRST-HAND EXPERIENCE WITH MACHINES I HAVE BUILT, who can categorically state that "...sustained high rpm running at or near maximum speed will result in major engine damage" is an absolute absurdity.
I believe your ENTIRE HISTORY of second-hand information (on this forum), none of which you can personally quantify, is thus essentially null.