Harley-Davidson

Estimate your horsepower

This program will give you an estimate of the horsepower produced by your bike if you know the weight of the bike, a quarter mile ET (elapsed time) and the quarter mile speed in miles per hour. With these numbers, calculations can be performed that can provide a good guess of what the rear wheel horsepower is for your motorcycle. While these numbers are not very accurate, they can give a general idea of the power the engine is producing.
The default values listed are approximate numbers for a stock FXR, FXST or FXD.

What is the weight of the bike with you on it? pounds
What was the 1/4 mile ET? seconds
What was the 1/4 mile MPH? miles per hour

estimated HP using the ET method
estimated HP using the MPH method.

The weight of the average FXR, FXD, FXST with a rider is about 820 pounds. Sportsters are 100-150 pounds lighter, Dressers are 100-150 pounds heavier. For other bikes, look up the numbers in the owners manual.

To calculate the weight of a motorcycle, take the listed weight of the bike, add the weight of the rider, then add 35 pounds for lubricants, fuel, etc. This will give you a fairly accurate running weight for any bike.

These figures are calculated based on two formulas that estimate the rear wheel horsepower it takes to travel 1/4 mile. One method uses the elapsed time (ET) to determine horsepower, the other uses the miles per hour (MPH) at the end of the run.