Most manufacturers don't even bother to make a claim. It couls be argued that they are looking at power at the crank on a test bench where riders, tuners, and magazines always use a rear wheel dyno.
Exactly... Horsepower figures can vary widely, depending on a number of different factors, not the least of which is the type of dynamometer... Eddy Current dynamometers are the industry standard at the manufacturer level, whereas the lower cost dynamometers are water brake types. Few if any "tuners" or magazines have Eddy Current dyamometers. When I worked at Kawasaki Motor Corp., in their Snowmobile/Jet Ski R&D Center, we used both chassis and engine dynamometers. We had four engine dynamometer test cells, and two chassis test cells, one of those being a temp controlled "cold" cell. Those test cells were all equipped with top of the line Schenck Eddy Current dynamometers, which cost well into the six figure range, depending on size and power capacity.
Any horsepower figure is really relevant only to the dyamometer that they were gotten from, and under the particular test conditions at the time (temp, humidity, barometric pressure, etc.) Advertised horsepower claims, especially those from magazines, should be taken with a grain of salt.
Last edited by MotoMike; 11-09-2012 at 05:01 PM.
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Just FYI
The N300 does not have a slipper clutch, it has what they call an F.C.C. Assist clutch with functions similarly to a slipper clutch. Some of the reviews I read were not all that impressed with the new clutch.
It does have a slipper clutch and it also has clutch assist which makes for an easier pull when sitting at a light.
Most manufacturers don't even bother to make a claim. It could be argued that they are looking at power at the crank on a test bench where riders, tuners, and magazines always use a rear wheel dyno.
So this method of testing is different than how the manufacturer rates the bike's hp?
So this method of testing is different than how the manufacturer rates the bike's hp?
For the most part manufacturers use dynamometers for new product development, or R&D, and not for marketing purposes. If you look at the manufacturers spec sheets, it's pretty rare to see horsepower figures listed.
To compare horsepower figures between two different motorcycles, for example a CBR250R and a 250 Ninja, you would want to run tests for both bikes on the same dynamometer, and within a close time frame to each other, say a few hours (time frame would not be a factor if the dynamometer were in a closed, environmentally controlled test cell). Under controlled conditions, you would have test results between the two bikes that are relevant to each other. Under less controlled conditions, the test results between different bikes are less relevant to each other. This is why I said in my previous post that magazine horsepower numbers used for comparison between models, should be taken with a grain of salt. Thats not to say that using a dynamometer to test different components, aftermarket exhausts for example, or different EFI maps, isn't relevant... it is. This is what manufacturers mainly use dynamometer testing for, to evaluate components through the development process.
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Yup, caught that in one of the reviews. Kawasaki is claiming 39 somehow. Is it normal for hp to test lower than what the manufacturer claims?
The manufacturers normally test at the crank, this number will always be higher than the hp at the wheel. Whether they do this on purpose to make the bike sound more impressive, I don't know but you can normally knock off 10% of what the manufacturer is claiming.
39 at the crank and 35 at the wheel sounds about right for the Ninja 300.
1) I did not see any of these pics posted in this thread
2) Meh i just posted it from a fb page. The owner of the page has this stupid habit of watermarking it because when the pics float elsewhere, he thinks ppl would actually care to join his page aswell
More screens:
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