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The engine is basically brand new. I went to DC when my oldest brother picked it up, it was brand new in the box and probably has less than 3 hours running time. He had it installed in a 6 wheeled off road vehicle but it kept snapping axles. Torque is rated at 15 foot pounds at 2500 RPM, max HP is 9 at 3600 RPM. With lightly loaded tires (about 40% of rated capacity with just a driver) and 3 wheels, the rolling resistance should be small.
The rating of 180 grams per shaft HP does not specify the RPM at which it is achieved but the max fuel consumption works out to .5 gal per hour.
With vehicle weight including a driver at 12-1300 pounds and first gear max speed at 23 MPH acceleration will not be great but I don't drive any of my vehicles that hard anyway.
Peak torque is 2500 RPM and top gear should be 55 MPH with that engine speed. With a theoretical top speed of 83 MPH and 23 max in 1st, that should work out to about a 12-15 MPH spread between each gear change at max speed of 3600 RPM, but I will probably shift just after peak torque so it should be about 16-23-36-49-55 in the individual gears to get to 55.
I figure anything after that is gravy, but with a very low CD, low mass, low rolling resistance, and low frontal area, it will be interesting to see what it will actually do. Chain drives and straight cut gear bike trannies are very efficient.
The torque is about what a 250 CC Honda Rebel produces and I know a Rebel will go 85 MPH, but ti is much lighter than this vehicle. I'm thinking it will be about a fast as a tractor trailer up to about 35-40 MPH. After that who knows but that will be fast enough.
I have driven my Fiesta through many tanks of fuel and never exceeded 3600 RPM.
regards
Mech
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