BIKE mag slow?

[cat-tard]

I took the MZ to the dragstrip at Bremerton this past Sunday (it's a long story - the gixxer was broke and I needed to show up to make the points). ANYway - I was surprised to coax a 14.24 sec ET outta the thing at 88mph. ...especially since the BIKE UK test for the Baghira lists a 14.7 and I've never been able to get closer than .5sec (slower) than the mag-tests for any other bike I ever owned... maybe they were just sorta half-hearted about dragracing a thumper?

ANYway - I had a grand time - people were grinning and giving me the thumbsup and stuff... I lost in the second round to a guy (Milo) on a 9-sec dragbike. LOL

ANYway - just thought some of ya'all might get a kick out of the info.

[Brian]

What would I have to do to to run mine just for grins ???

[cat-tard]

What would I have to do to to run mine just for grins ???

Just look at the schedule for a "street legals" and/or "test-n-tune" night... you'll hafta pay like $20 but you can line up and make as many passes as you want before it gets dark and there's no win/lose eliminations or anything... just get in line and race whoever shows up in the other lane. Last time I went to a street-legals night at Bremerton, I got 4 passes in before it got too dark. They also do "street legals" at PR - but I've never gone there for that.

You'll need to rig some sorta "deadman" switch so that if you were to part ways with the bike, it will stop the engine from running. Easiest way is just to put a lanyard on the kill-switch and attach it to your wrist (don't make it too short). Otherwise, you'll need a leather or armored-textile jacket, some sorta durable pants (jeans are acceptable for bikes slower than 130mph), some sorta leather shoes that are high enough to cover your ankles, and a helmet. ...I can't remember if DOT only is good enough for the slow bikes or not... if you have a SNELL helmet, it'd best to bring that.

That's all there is to it! Launching the thing is easy - I just climb as far forward as I can with the fuel-cap in my crotch, then when the stage light is lit in both lanes, I lean my chin out over the front fender and get my elbows up/upper body down. I pin the throttle when the 2nd yellow light lights up, and dump the clutch on the last yellow. I was actually doing 60' times that were only 0.1sec slower than my gixxer.

short-shifting it works just as good as revving the snot out of it in each gear... I love the way this motor makes torque... and since there's no tach, it's way easy to bounce the rev-limiter if you're wringing it out.

Wanna know the best part though?

I was NOT the slowest bike out there on Sunday!

[Brian]

I'm with ya up till the crotch/gas cap position........ owies....

How much lift do you get when you launch out of first, pin the throttle and dump the clutch ? you are hard core LOL.... I'm picturing me looping my bike.....

[RichBeBe]

I have never drag raced my Mastiff, but I would. I worked for a race shop for a number of years that built some really fast dragbikes and I have gone pretty fast previously. The fastest I ever went on a bike was 8.012@169mph on a turbo Kawi, I had four 8-0 passes in a row and never got a seven. I also went 8.38 on a Hayabusa with a street tire and no bar, which was much more fun . I only drag race maybe once every year or so and it is fun for the day but not addicting to me. Though I did a lot of illegal street racing in my early 20's. Once my hands are not splinted or casted i will take out my mastiff and tell you what I run with it.
BTW I worked for a shop called Orient Express.
http://www.orientexpress.com

[cat-tard]

I'm with ya up till the crotch/gas cap position........ owies....

How much lift do you get when you launch out of first, pin the throttle and dump the clutch ? you are hard core LOL.... I'm picturing me looping my bike.....

If you don't have your body weight far enough forward and low enough, I suppose it could loop... ...but mine was only hopping the wheel maybe 6" or a foot off the ground and then it'd bounce once, and then it's time for 2nd gear. The rest of the pass is pretty uneventful unless you get over-ambitious without the benefit of a tach and then it just kinda noses over on the rev-limiter.

The 1/8mile timer shows 8.854sec and 75.5mph and it gets to the 1/4mile in 14.241sec @ 88.74mph... obviously most of the fun is pretty much over by the time the 1/8 is gone.

OrientExpress! :drool:

[Whysub]

[quote="cat-tard"]...especially since the BIKE UK test for the Baghira lists a 14.7 and I've never been able to get closer than .5sec (slower) than the mag-tests for any other bike I ever owned... maybe they were just sorta half-hearted about dragracing a thumper?....[quote]

I can catagorically state that not one of BIKE magazines test riders has any mechanical sympathy whatsoever Their slow time may well be a result of that-launching a thumper is different from that of a multi.

Run What Ya Brung (as they are so called here in the UK) are popular as ever, and some of the home engineering is ingenious