What is the “highest” HP someone has put into a Kitfox?

[Dorsal]

Not sure where you are getting the 90-100 mph figure from, mine is a pretty standard 7 with 100 ponies and does 120 fairly comfortably.

[DesertFox4]

Lots of misconceptions circulating yet about cruise speeds and adverse yaw.
I ran into those questions at the Kitfox booth at Oshkosh yet this year.

Most attributable to the Models 1,2 & 3’s. Of course the adverse yaw issue was solved with the model 4’s and newer model’s redesigned control mixer along with larger tail control surfaces.

The speed questions likely relate back to earlier models and some early model 4’s equipped with 2 stroke engines. If you are not cruising at 105 to 110 mph or better in a model 4 with a Rotax 80 hp and up, something is amiss.

[Rik]

Thanks, I was thinking of building/acquiring a S7 STi and they don't seem that fast with the big tires and I don't know how much of this is the tires and how much of this is the wing.

Just watching YT Video's such as Trent's and others with a 100 hp (minimum) engine and they are cruising in the 90-100 range and odds are more often closer to the 90 than the 100.

I do not care about meeting the LSA requirements if this matters. I see a lot of comments on this site in reference to the LSA rules but I don't have a sport pilots license so I don't really care. I'm out for fun not a loop hole to allow it.

I'm still in the planning stage and I don't even know if a KF is the best option for me. I want a STOL plane and I have a distaste for a tandem setup so side by side options tend to be between the KF and the JUST.

[Slyfox]

you got to understand, those guys don't give a care about what their top speed is. they want off fast. climb out is their game. basically. I do believe the sti wing is a low stall not so fast wing. that's what I heard anyway. you need to figure out your mission. the standard super sport in my opinion would cover 90% of what a person in reality would want and need. I know trent is getting everybody a hard on for the STOL flying that he and his friends are doing. You just need to figure out if it's what you want. like I said the standard super sport is a great airplane on it's own. best thing it will go 120 with the 912uls. still land short and have a ton of fun.

[Rik]

This is kinda why I am asking. The 120 to get there and then the fun once you can get to a place to have fun. Not exactly a plane to travel 350 miles with but 100'sh seems ok and then the HP concern was that I could use that to get the plane to climb to compensate for the faster wing, ad VG's and such and be a decent compromise.

I have a crazy engine plan but who knows

[Slyfox]

I think there is at least some things to think about for fun. Do you want to go out and lets say fly 20 off and zip around trees and play in the canyons. Do you want to go out and have fun landing and taking off in areas that have nothing but your guts to regulate where you land. Do you want to go out and land at grass fields in the back country and be satisfied with those type of landing areas with a seldom spot like a river bed. The middle one is extreeeem flying and can bite you real quick, the other two not so much. The first one you will do believe it or not just because you will be in the back country and it will happen. landing in the grass fields is really fun and you can do that with a standard kitfox along with the first example. now the middle one, not so much, like I said it can bite you. Now you need the freedom Fox type of machine. with some balls to go with it.

[Rik]

The canyon flying seems like fun but I think more people get killed doing that as there's typically little speed involved, most of these planes have little hp to spare, and if the terrain closes in on you your done. This happend to ICON at Lake Berryessa. Couldn't get out of the way of the terrain.

There are no rivers near me so it'd probably be more of landing in the desert areas after a sweep run to be honest. Stopping in 10-100' is bragging but not important, to me. Climbing like a rocket would be more fun too so that's why I asked about the hp.

I'm new to these forums but it's easy to get confused as KF makes/made several versions and the forums are all inclusive of a K1 to k7 and people are coming from their experiences with different planes so it takes a while to get a grip on what a K3 is vs a k5 and so forth. I say S7 as it's what's made today.