pg wrote on 11/25/13 at 17:34:24:What has been your experience with the big cc tourers? A ball park criteria would be able to go 75 mph at 4K rpm, carrying 50 + lbs of gear, and windshield that kept the wind off your face.
I have toured on a GS450E, the Savage, and my Vespa.
In the early '80's, the 450 doing 85 mph up I-5 to L.A. to S.F., was very buzzy. Moving over to 2-lane roads doing 45-50 mph was far more relaxing, and got about 80 mpg.
In '07 on the Savage I did L.A. to OKC. Day 1 was 570 miles, day 2 was 510 miles. 65-70 mph gives 60-65 mpg. At 70 mph the Savage does about 4,500 rpm. The exhaust tone is about 35 Hertz, the vibration is similar to the vibrating bed in a cheap motel.
Last year, in the cage to Kentucky, mostly on I-40, I noticed that cars generally run about 5 mph over the speed limit, trucks do the speed limit (speed control plus GPS), and touring motorcycles do about 5 mph
under the speed limit. On tour on the Savage in '07, the Interstate had about 50 vehicles per mile; back home on US-60 there was about one vehicle every ten miles.
You can do 75 mph on the super slab, but it is far more enjoyable doing 60 mph on two lane highways.