I guess that must be at/near the limit of grip? Very cool to meet those guys too!
New BattlAx tires
- Thread starter 02SE
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Yes, to be clear, I met Patrick (Ghost Rider) at a different time. He wasn't on the Salt. Without bodywork there is a lot more Aero drag, so 238 mph is the best it could do with the tire spinning. Fully faired but stock bodywork 'Busas could run up to 20 mph faster, before experiencing tire spin, and limiting running higher speeds.
This bike which produced over 600 rear wheel horsepower on VP Import gas, and geared for 290 mph, held the record in it's class at a two-run average of over 246 mph for several years. It would also just spin the tire when the aero drag was sufficient for the tire to overcome the available traction. 40 mph worth of wheelspin at those speeds, can quickly overheat and blow the tire. So it's definitely risky...
Just for fun, here's that bike in the process of being tuned on the dyno, prior to running at Bonneville. Yes, it was licensed and street legal... 
Just for fun, here's that bike in the process of being tuned on the dyno, prior to running at Bonneville. Yes, it was licensed and street legal...
How fast do you have to go on pavement before it will hook up reliably? Or not want to go over backwards....
The carwow guy youtube drag race video's on a unprepped runway, are interesting to see how hard these crazy hp bikes are to control below like 100-120mph.... I can't imagine on salt, but I guess the gyro effects of the wheels going so fast kinda wants to keep the bike pointed the right direction?
One of my son's friends just got a 2021 450cc mx bike, and I took it for a rip, and that is fast enough for me! On the road it was impressive(and safer!) to do a 15 to 75mph roll just in top gear as it wouldn't try to go over...
Of course he has it in the most aggressive throttle map too, but it was interesting that from a dig on pavement, my son could flog my "race tuned" old YZ250 to sneak ahead of the 450 until the 250 just ran out of high rpm power in top gear at 60mph, and the 450 just keeps revving. The 250 was just easier to launch, sits lower as I have the sag set low, forks raised a touch, and had 40-50lb weight advantage between the bike and riders. I think the gearing on bikes is almost the same too, but the 450 has an 7k rpm power range and revs to 12k, and my 2T power band is like 2500rpm and the show is over at 8500... I think an experienced rider on the 450 would do better on dirt, but it was interesting to see how they compared when traction wasn't a factor.
Well, the owner of that bike (I just worked on it for him, although I took it for a few rides too) told me that during shakedown runs on an unused paved frontage road, the bike started to wheelie when the full boost came on at over 200 mph in 4th gear. He said he thought he he saw god, used him as a braking marker, slammed the throttle shut, and pressed on the rear brake pedal for all he was worth. The front came back down. When he came to a stop, the GPS showed he had reached 217 mph. So the answer is I don't know how fast you would have to be going for it to hook up reliably, and no longer want to wheelie. On the Salt, wheelies are not a concern, as the traction isn't good enough, and it will just spin the tire. Spin the tire enough, and it has a tendency to want to come around and pass the front.
NOT good.
Here's a video of another friend who I was out visiting with. He was being helped by the guy who gave me a bunch of info on his bigbore stroker Hayabusa, when I built mine. He raced in ECTA Landspeed racing. I think @ZeeOSix gave him some aerodynamics help on his bike.
Anyway, Jason was running against the record that the bike above had set, when he ran over a piece of debris, which cut his tire, and the bike spit him off at around 244 mph. He was okay.
As for dirtbikes, I have an old KTM 550MXC, a big bore 2 stroke. The wife rides a CR250 2 stroke.
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