Any bike drag racers out there?


husker525

New Member
My bike will be seeing some 1/4 and 1/8 mile drag strip times in the near future at Bandimere Speedway in Denver.

I have never drag raced a motorcycle, other than rolling starts. I have great reaction times for a man of my years, and can pull holeshots in the dirt all day long.

My question is.....

What gear and what rpm launch to leave at the light? I already know about body position to minimize wheelies, and maximize weight shift and traction.

I am concerned about lighting up the rear tire, or worse, having the bike wheelie and fly out from underneath me on the launch.

Do I feather the clutch, dump it, or a subtle combination of both.

Once I have launched, I have the rest relatively under control. Any advice will be taken into consideration.

Thanks in advance...
 
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MikeN02

New Member
Maybe try to get or look into an extended swing arm and have it lowered. People who drag bikes do that to not wheelie the bike and some other aerodynamic stuff.
 

99vengeur

Administrator
Staff member
I haven't drag raced bikes, but I think feathering the clutch might give you the best control for initiating the launch while not overpowering the rear tire. Also, you may want to try launching in 2nd gear because the FZ6R seems to have a really short 1st gear.

That's just how my mind is visualizing it. :rolleyes:
 

husker525

New Member
Thanks for the tips, I appreciate them. As far as modifying the bike's suspension components, (i.e, lengthened swingarm), I still want to keep this bike as streetable and borderline stock (relative term now) as possible. I am looking into maybe fabricating a quick release wheelie bar of sorts, or something along those lines.

When you have an extended swingarm over 2", you move the center of gravity of the bike. This actually can cause more tire spin problems, as your weight is moved farther away from the rear tire. You can compensate for this with different tire compounds or even a wider rear tire, but a wider rear tire without fabbing a different swingarm configuration and width starts to come into some challenges.

I am only drag racing it at certain events for publicity, and to show that not only does it look good (IMO), it also runs well. Will it beat a liter bike or another 600? Who knows, a lot comes down to rider, but I know it won't be a slug either.

Keep the tips coming, please....
 

Funkmaxtor

New Member
Don't dump the clutch. I have tried to launch a few times now. Every time I end up standing the bike up almost vertical before chopping the throttle to bring it down. I'm still working on that slipping the clutch deal... I would guess that our bikes would be very low 7's on a 500ft track. But I really don't have a time or evidence to back that up. I would definitely like to see someones "official" time. Good luck!
 

husker525

New Member
I have seen a few articles on the net that stated our bikes ran in the low 12's for the 1/4 mile. I guess we will find out if thatbis more fact than fiction in the near future. The x-factor where I live is being a mile above sea level.
 

husker525

New Member
Well, it is official. I took the bike to the 1/4 mile dragstrip at Bandimere Speedway, located in Denver, Colorado at an elevation of roughly 5600' above sea level.

My 1st 2 time trials were a disaster, all because of me. Missed shifts and inadequate launches, as well as red lighting seemed to be a problem for me.

I finally got it sorted out, the best run was a 12.11 in the 1/4 at a speed of 124.

Just for the record, I launched at 8k, feathering the clutch, and shifted at 10k.

Stock rear tire, no NOS, just motor. I found I was carrying the front end through 2 gears, then hazing the tire 1/2 way through 3rd, (which was butt puckering for me, I might add).

I attempting to locate a scanner to see about displaying the time slips, but that will take a few days.

I totally suck at this bracket drag racing, and dont plan to TIVO me on any upcoming PINKS episodes...lol

The good news is I didn't crash, unlike one unlucky guy who broke his crotch rocket in half and walked away. I also had the fastest ATV in the 1/8 mile, all while smoking the tires and wheelying down the track. It was a fun day, and a learning experience.

Just for a footnote, the fastest bike of the day was a Hyabusa, which turned a 7.1 second 1/4 mile pass at 219 mph. OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

Superzoom

New Member
Wow, Husker, your time is really, really impressive. I think your time equals or beats what bike magazine testers are getting.

I've never had my front wheel come up. But I'd love to at least know how to get a solid launch from a dead start.
 

99vengeur

Administrator
Staff member
Were you launching in 1st or 2nd gear? Did you try both?

BTW, those are some pretty good numbers. See, our bikes are definitely not all show and no go! We can move and groove with the rest of them. Plus, we are a lot more comfortable doing it! :wav:
 

angelsneverlose

New Member
Do you have any of the slips? Im not calling BS or anything, but ive been three times now this year and the CBR's and R6's are trapping between 122-127 MPH for the 1/4. Two of them are friends of mine and running 11.3-4's in the 1/4.

I just find it hard to believe that our bikes are trapping at 124 when some CBR's are only able to get 122MPH... Clearly our bike is not as quick as a R6 or CBR, since i own an R6 as well and only trap 124 MPH and get 11.8's or so (i suck at launching, but this does not change the high end trap speed)
 

JonKerr

Senior Member
Elite Member

husker525

New Member
Do you have any of the slips? Im not calling BS or anything, but ive been three times now this year and the CBR's and R6's are trapping between 122-127 MPH for the 1/4. Two of them are friends of mine and running 11.3-4's in the 1/4.

I just find it hard to believe that our bikes are trapping at 124 when some CBR's are only able to get 122MPH... Clearly our bike is not as quick as a R6 or CBR, since i own an R6 as well and only trap 124 MPH and get 11.8's or so (i suck at launching, but this does not change the high end trap speed)
My motor has had some serious work, different pistons, cams, polished and ported, different exhaust, etc.

I am working on scanning the time slips, the picture I took with my cell phone cam sucked when you tried to see the printout. I have to wait until my friend is back from vacation the end of this week to use his scanner.

I launched in first gear, 26 lbs of air in the rear tire, and feathered the clutch. The bike never spun that I was aware of. The Yamaha rep was impressed at the wheelies, he said our bikes have a little longer swingarms to keep wheelies to a minimum. I am not sure if that is accurate information, but that is what he said.

I had to race in the Hot Street catagory for bikes 12.50? and faster. I got blown away on the top end of the track by the liter bikes and one Suzuki inline 2 cylinder freak of motorcycle nature.

I would like to see what the bike does with a decent rider (not me), on the spray, at lower elevations, or just to see what the top speed might be. Everytime I think about it on our freeways, a little bell goes off in my head and the thought of jail keeps me at about 78 mph. (Our speed limit is 75 on the freeways).

Thanks for all the comments, I put a lot of hard work into this bike, and a lot of other people have done some late night work and research to build some motor parts that hopefully everyone else will see within the next 12 months. We are going into the reliability portion of our testing now. The performance part is complete. I got exactly what I set out to build, a good looking bike with decent performance, at an economical price.
 

angelsneverlose

New Member
^^ AHHH, OK then - that makes your run just awesome :)

Again, i wasn't trying to call BS(incase you answered like you did), i just didn't know you had that much work and was going to say, owning both the fz6r and r6, that a stock or lightly modded fz6r has no chance of catching an r6 or gixxer with good rider... however, yours is just plan a best! Cant wait to see what else you can get out of it man!
 


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