Track Bike - Plan B

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hondaror
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Re: Track Bike - Plan B

#451 Post by hondaror » Mon Jul 09, 2018 4:38 am

That was so Wurth the double post.
Rory
2 1984 RZ350s
1985 RZ350
9 1986-1990 RZ350s
2000 ST2
2005 749
2005 749 with 999 engine

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Questo vecchio rz
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Re: Track Bike - Plan B

#452 Post by Questo vecchio rz » Mon Jul 09, 2018 2:54 pm

Awesome, I drag race a couple if my RZs hundreds of times, was so much fun, especially back in the 80s beating so so may bikes that were much larger.
Out of all the road going,off the shelf pipes.You have the best for dragracing, no doubt. I ran a 15 tooth front sprocket, lowered my suspension, a "aired down" roadrace slick, I always used a steady pinned throttle style, as otherwise it just wheeliesd or pogos, if that happened it was iver. I just pin the throttle to my laubch sweet spot, hold it there then drop the clutch. At sea level, I managed somewhere on my best ever of a 11:40ish over a 1/4 Mile. Usually it would always lay down midd 11s with accuracy.
I gave a couple Xtra frames...I'd So love to do a drag RZ with a cheetah cylinder and Full side exit drag pipes, I know I could break into the 10s even all these years later. Lol All the drag strips have disappeared....Sad
Banshee (Baja) race bike,+ 2 A Arms,L.E.Ds, Toomey, +4 stroker IMS tank, run flats.
96 GSXR SRAD, Future Yoshimura rep.
85 custom Tri-Z
RZ/YZR bike(project)
86 VFR750 RC24 Merkel replica (project)
Royal Enfield Bullet 500

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Re: Track Bike - Plan B

#453 Post by Questo vecchio rz » Mon Jul 09, 2018 3:05 pm

Awesome, I drag raced or a couple if my RZs hundreds of times, was so much fun, especially back in the 80s beating so so may bikes that were much larger.
Out of all the road going, off the shelf pipes.You have the best for dragracing, no doubt. I ran a 15 tooth front sprocket, , stiff barrnett clutch, lowered my suspension, used a "aired down" roadrace slick,.
For my reaction times I always used a steady pinned throttle style, as otherwise it just would wheelie or pogo, if that happened it was over. I just pin the throttle to my launch sweet spot, hold it there then drop the clutch and it's GO time! At sea level, I managed somewhere on my best ever of a 11:40ish over a 1/4 Mile. Usually it would always lay down mid11s with accuracy.
I have a couple Xtra frames...I'd So love to do a drag RZ with the following..
1.) A Cheetah big bore cylinder.
2. ) Full side exit drag pipes.
3.) + 7,+10 or more!! stroker crank.
4 .) Full lockup clutch.
5 ) Full drag port.
6.) Undercut trans

Similar to this..

https://youtu.be/ho7ehqYOkO0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I know I could break into the 10s without question, even all these years later., with alky possibly into the 9s. Lol All the drag strips have disappeared....Sad
Banshee (Baja) race bike,+ 2 A Arms,L.E.Ds, Toomey, +4 stroker IMS tank, run flats.
96 GSXR SRAD, Future Yoshimura rep.
85 custom Tri-Z
RZ/YZR bike(project)
86 VFR750 RC24 Merkel replica (project)
Royal Enfield Bullet 500

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Re: Track Bike - Plan B

#454 Post by evan_calgary » Mon Jul 09, 2018 6:46 pm

The trophy is the best part of that whole story! I read the short'er' posts. Good stuff Steve! What sort of displacement were they running in those other bikes? Shows what poor performance they end up with trying to emulate harleys!

rzrej
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Re: Track Bike - Plan B

#455 Post by rzrej » Wed Jul 11, 2018 7:01 pm

Great job Steve! Very entertaining read, thanks for posting that up. So are you going to round 3? Is it at Rimbey as well?
Might have to change your onscreen name, lol.

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Smoker
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Re: Track Bike - Plan B

#456 Post by Smoker » Thu Jul 12, 2018 11:20 am

Enjoyed that story.

I imagine your little bike will be the hot topic with those Drag Racers.

hondaror
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Re: Track Bike - Plan B

#457 Post by hondaror » Tue Jul 17, 2018 5:05 am

Steve said that the RZ garnered a lot of attention. Rimby was back to back rounds, Sat and Sun. He's coming up to Edmonton this weekend to try his luck again.
Rory
2 1984 RZ350s
1985 RZ350
9 1986-1990 RZ350s
2000 ST2
2005 749
2005 749 with 999 engine

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Re: Track Bike - Plan B

#458 Post by rzrej » Tue Jul 24, 2018 2:45 am

Image20180721_115644_resized by reg, on Flickr

Steve will no doubt be along with the original version of events, but I had a few pics so thought to post them up. Was there on Saturday and Sunday, had 3 or 4 rain delays over the 2 days but still a lot of great racing. Rory came on Sunday and we had a view from right by the start line so that was great.
Loud and violent some of those bikes. Geez. Nitro bikes that run low 7's.......what sort of hp number is that.

But the fun part was watching Steve flog his RZ, rode it like he stole it. Bikes clearly a keeper.........lol
On Saturday morning the first couple races it didn't sound too crisp, Steve left it alone and on race 3 it sounder crisper, had great snap. And it was satisfyingly loud too down through the quarter mile. Lots of bark out of that dog, little 350 doing battle with the big bikes.

Image20180721_124521_resized by reg, on Flickr

Another pic of them waiting in line, probably 6 bikes or so up to the start line.
Image20180721_123723_resized by reg, on Flickr

About 20 feet or so to the right of the edge of pic was the starting line. This was on Sunday, great action.
Image20180722_105743_resized by reg, on Flickr

Steve getting ready to lay the hammer down.
Image20180722_110438_resized by reg, on Flickr

Was a great weekend, thanks for your efforts Steve, was great fun watching you ride that thing. Lots of very impressive machinery out there.......during rain delays we would wander over to the road race track where a track day was in progress. Little change of pace. Didn't get pics of that though.
Sorry the pics are so big, gotta see about editing that somehow.

rzrej
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Re: Track Bike - Plan B

#459 Post by rzrej » Tue Jul 24, 2018 2:50 am

Shit can't forget this one. Kawi triple, only ran once but what a treat, loud and old school. Took about 6 good attempts to start it at the line, finally on a big kick it went. Big cheer from everyone. It was an amazing sound and a blast to watch. Can't imagine trying to point that thing down the track, much respect.
Image20180722_114527_resized by reg, on Flickr

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Re: Track Bike - Plan B

#460 Post by Questo vecchio rz » Wed Jul 25, 2018 11:09 pm

rzrej wrote:Shit can't forget this one. Kawi triple, only ran once but what a treat, loud and old school. Took about 6 good attempts to start it at the line, finally on a big kick it went.
Image20180722_114527_resized by reg, on Flickr
Oh great bikes! That brings back old school memories. I raced one once just like that word got around that I had the fastest 2-stroke at the street races, so word got to these dudes that ran a full drag triple 750 H2, and a challenge was set up. It was a Turner tuned triple, no idea if it was the man himself or just one of his bikes, but I do remember seeing the Turner name...mind you it was still 1987 I didn't know that name then, but they trailered their bike in to the street races, I rode my 375cc rz350 there all the way to Orange's county.
Oncw there I was kind of embarrassed and intimidated , as we were all young and green as far as serious drag racing all my friends and people that knew my friends or were regulars at the street races from all over Los Angeles we all showed up and were placing bets and, once I saw their bike I knew I was going to get my ass kicked...lol
Looking back if the motor was stock my RZ would have beat it no problem , I had beaten a few 750 and 500 triples before anyways but not what appeared to be a full drag bike, have no idea what spec it was but it could have had anywhere from 10 to 30 horsepower on me .. I was ready to lose some money and watch all my friends hate on me.
So big moment came, probably around 200 people watching, they pushed their Triple out and we we lined up money was set , splashed some water did our burn outs, staged......the flashlight went on and I took off!! Their bike hiccuped off the line and off I went and won the race! Put like $400.00 bucks in my 19 year old pockets ... We all went out had Burgers Shakes fries and a good time after that!!! And all of a sudden I was like the Local hero everybody was talking about that bike for years.
Good Times!
Banshee (Baja) race bike,+ 2 A Arms,L.E.Ds, Toomey, +4 stroker IMS tank, run flats.
96 GSXR SRAD, Future Yoshimura rep.
85 custom Tri-Z
RZ/YZR bike(project)
86 VFR750 RC24 Merkel replica (project)
Royal Enfield Bullet 500

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Off Road
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Re: Track Bike - Plan B

#461 Post by Off Road » Fri Jul 27, 2018 12:32 am

I wrote the following post 3 weeks ago, after competing in race 1 and 2, but it wasn’t finished, so I never posted it
Now, it’s a bit like yesterdays news, it’s still kinda interesting, but today’s news is better.
Still, there’s a lot of background information in the post that will give you more insight into my racing experiment.

Questo vecchio rz wrote:... I always used a steady pinned throttle style, as otherwise it just wheeliesd or pogos, if that happened it was iver.
I just pin the throttle to my laubch sweet spot, hold it there then drop the clutch.
I need to do some experimenting and find the optimum launch rpm (4k or 4.5k or 5k).
High enough that the bike doesn’t bog, but low enough to keep the front wheel lower than my helmet.
After I pre-stage the bike, I’ll set the rpm and hold the throttle steady, and then I’ll stage the bike.
(Don’t know why I didn’t think about this when I was at the track. It would have been helpful)

evan_calgary wrote:... What sort of displacement were they running in those other bikes?
In the Hot Twin class there were four 1200 cc Harleys, one 1200 cc Buell, two 1731?? cc (106 ci.) Victory’s and me
In the Street class there were the same group of Harleys, Victory’s, the Buell, an older FZR1000, a couple of stepped on Hyabusa’s, and me.






Before I get to today’s novel, I need to correct a few things that I wrote in my previous post.
I stated that I was 1st in points in the Hot Twin class and 4th in points in the Street class, because that’s what people told me at the track.
After checking out the points standings posted on the CMDRA website,
I am 2nd in the Hot Twin class and I’m 5th in the Street class.

I also said that there were 7 races in the series, but they only counted the points from your best 5 races.
It turns out that there are 9 races and they count your points from the best 7 of the 9.


After making 20 passes down a drag-strip, I realized that I love going fast, even if the pavement doesn’t have any corners.
So, I’m making plans to attend the next 7 races in the series.
I’ve used up all my luck, so I don’t think I’ll win any more races this season.
I’m in an E.T. class, so reaction time, and consistent runs, are what’s most important.
Your top speed, or elapsed time, doesn’t matter.

Still, I’m going to go out and have some fun, and if I’m lucky, I might even learn a few new skills.
I’ll work on my reaction time.
I’ll try to improve my launch procedure.
I’ll try and find a procedure that works for me and the bike, so that I can do the exact same thing on every run.
I’m kinda excited to see what the bike will do on a ¼ mile track.

In addition to my Speed Addiction, I also have a bit of a Competitive side.
If I’m going to engage in an activity where there’s a Winner and a Loser, then I want to be the winner.
(except when I’m playing chess, I don’t care if I win or lose, I just love the strategy of the game)

Like I said earlier, it’s doubtful that I’ll win any more races, however, there’re still a couple of things that I would like to accomplish.
I want the RZ to run faster in the ¼ mile than the Victory bikes, and I want it to also have a higher top speed.

Why you ask. It’s an ET class, speed and mph don’t matter
Ya I know, but …

1 – I like going fast. Faster is better. If I just wanted absolute consistency, I’d race a KLR650.

2 - I like a challenge. This is a perfect opportunity to test out my RZ tuning skills (or lack thereof).
Can the old RZ really do it? I’d like to find out

3 – And, I’m a bit of a dick. I think it would be funny if a 30+ year old 2 stroke was faster than a modern bike with 4 times the displacement.

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Re: Track Bike - Plan B

#462 Post by Off Road » Fri Jul 27, 2018 12:38 am

Race 3 of the CMDRA series was last weekend in Edmonton.
At this race we did our Qualifying on Saturday, and Elimination rounds were held on Sunday
This was the first time that I had ever raced on a full ¼ mile drag-strip.
But that was OK, because this time I had a Plan.

:smt003
Off Road wrote: I need to do some experimenting and find the optimum launch rpm (4k or 4.5k or 5k).
:smt045
Off Road wrote: After I pre-stage the bike, I’ll set the rpm and hold the throttle steady, and then I’ll stage the bike.
:smt005
Off Road wrote: (Don’t know why I didn’t think about this when I was at the track. It would have been helpful)
I soon learned that Having a plan, and successfully implementing the plan, are 2 completely different things.

I made 3 passes down the strip during the Test and Tune session.
1 – 13.60 sec at 99.76 mph
2 – 14.06 sec at 99.40 mph (I left early and got a red light)
3 – 13.86 sec at 99.65 mph
Wasn’t impressed


Qualifying - Round 1
Hot Twin – 13.12 sec at 103.50 mph
Street – 13.28 sec at 102.65 mph
Not bad. I didn’t have the best launches, and my 60’ times were still high.
I was thinking I should be able to break into the 12 second range pretty easy.


Qualifying - Round 2
Hot Twin – 13.52 sec at 97.36 mph
Street – 14.54 sec at 88.44 mph (I left early and got a red light)
Then it rained for ½ hour.
And it took another hour to prep the track.
And then they ran a few qualifying rounds for the cars that were there.
Several hours later the bikes were back on the track for the final qualifying round.


Qualifying - Round 3
Hot Twin – 13.78 sec at 96.90 mph
Street – 13.49 sec at 97.59 mph
In Round 1 and Round 2, I was paired up against the Harley’s and Victory’s.
They always left the line first because of my slow reaction time, but once I got going, I could keep right up with them.
They didn’t pull away from me on the top end of the track

In Round 3, I was paired up against a guy on a KTM 1190 Adventure bike, complete with dual sport tires and luggage racks.
In the Hot Twin class he got the jump on me and disappeared down the track.
In the Street class, I got away from the light first, kept the front wheel down and made a good launch.
Just as I was shifting into 2nd gear, the KTM blew past me and disappeared down the track.

I checked the time slips after qualifying and the KTM’s top speed on both runs was 115.53 mph
His ET’s were 11.74 and 11.83 seconds
Damn, that thing was quick.


Sunday, Test and Tune
Only made 1 run in 13.21 sec at 103.50 mph

Now, I had to pick an ET for my dial in.
Crap.
My times are all over the place. There is no way for me to accurately predict what I’ll do on any given run.

My best time in Qualifying was 13.12 seconds. My worst time was 13.78.
3 of my 6 runs were around the 13.5 second mark.

If I dial in at 13.5 and have a good run, I’ll break out and lose.
If I dial in at 13.5 and have a bad run, I’ll be 0.3 sec off my dial in, and I’ll still lose.

Sunday’s run was 13.2 seconds, so that’s what I went with. What the hell, that’s as good a number as any.
If I don’t f*ck up, I should be able to get close to that time.



Hot Twin Eliminations – Round 1
I qualified last in this class, so I’m racing the Victory which qualified first.
I left early, got a red light, and lost.
I knew I jumped the light as soon as it happened and I was pissed at myself and took it out on the bike
Oh well. No time to think about it. I had to get right back to the starting line for round 1 of the Street eliminations.

Street Eliminations – Round 1
In Street I qualified 6th, so I’m up against the 5th place qualifier. The other Victory bike.
We line up and the light goes green.
I have my worst reaction time of the day.
The revs were low and the bike bogged.
I feathered the clutch and gave it gas, and pulled a wheelie.
Finally gathered it up and just as I shifted into 2nd gear, the victory passed me and went on to an easy win.

My time was a dismal 13.85 seconds at 97.59 mph.
And that was the end of my race weekend.


Good news from the weekend.

1 – I’m starting to get a better handle on the timing lights and my reaction times down.
On most off the runs my reaction time was in the 0.2 range. My best time of the day was 0.18 sec.
I still need to bring that way down. The guy who qualified 1st in the Hot Twin and Street class, did it with reaction times of 0.035 and 0.037 seconds.

1 – I outran the Victory.
In the Hot Twin elimination round against the Victory bike, I left early and was disqualified.
I was a bit annoyed and just held the throttle pinned as I shifted gears.
At half track I could hear the Victory’s exhaust and knew he was really close, but he never passed me.
I was talking to the fellow after the race and he said that he got right up to my rear wheel, but then I started to pull away, and at the finish, I was a bike length out in front.
That made my day.
However, to be fair I should tell you that we had a really strong headwind all day, and this fellow tips the scales at 300+ pounds.
He’s a big lad, and on a cruiser style bike, he’s a big sail.
He might as well just mount a sheet of plywood on the front of his bike, it might be more aerodynamic.


3 – My good luck is holding.
After losing both my races in round 1 of eliminations, I was finished for the day.
So, I don’t get any points for moving on to round 2, round 3, or the final.

However, right after round 1 was finished, the sky opened up and the rain came, so they cancelled the rest of the racing program.
This means that nobody gets any points for going to round 3, or going to the final, or winning the final.
So the 2 guys who are ahead of me in the points standing missed out on chance to pull further ahead by another 80 or 100 points.

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Re: Track Bike - Plan B

#463 Post by hondaror » Sat Jul 28, 2018 4:22 am

Keep us posted!!!
Rory
2 1984 RZ350s
1985 RZ350
9 1986-1990 RZ350s
2000 ST2
2005 749
2005 749 with 999 engine

hondaror
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Re: Track Bike - Plan B

#464 Post by hondaror » Sat Jul 28, 2018 4:22 am

Keep us posted!!!
Rory
2 1984 RZ350s
1985 RZ350
9 1986-1990 RZ350s
2000 ST2
2005 749
2005 749 with 999 engine

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Re: Track Bike - Plan B

#465 Post by Off Road » Mon Aug 06, 2018 3:13 am

The RZ is probably not the best bike for drag racing.
It has a short wheelbase and a relatively peaky motor, which makes it a bit difficult to get off the starting line.
Not enough RPM’s and the engine bogs. Give it just a little bit more RPM, and the bike wheelies.

But, for better or worse, my RZ has been drafted into the role of dragbike,
which means it has to accelerate hard while keeping the front wheel within 1 or 2 feet of the pavement.

In order to help accomplish this goal, I made a few changes to the bike.
(I think they’re going to help, but what do I know. I guess we’ll find out at the next race.)

- I installed a set of clubman bars. This lowers my hands a good 4” and puts quite a bit more weight on the front end.

- I raised the forks up in the triple clamps by 10 mm (0.4 in.). This lowers the center of gravity by some small amount.
It also moves the front wheel back a few mm and again puts more weight on the front wheel.
I see how the bike feels at the top end of the track (maximum MPH). If it doesn’t wobble, I’ll raise the forks up another 10 mm.
If the bike is still stable, I’ll raise the forks another 10 mm, which will be a total of 30 mm (1.25”)
I don’t think I’ll go any further than this.

- I removed 16 pounds of weight from the bike by draining 10 liters of gas out of the tank.
This also has the added benefit of lowering the bikes center of gravity.

- I changed out the 17 tooth front sprocket and replaced it with a 16 tooth sprocket.
With the 17 tooth sprocket, I need a pretty high RPM off the start, in order to get the power needed to accelerate.
I’m hoping that the gear change will give me quicker launch at lower RPM, and hopefully keep the front wheel closer to the ground.

But, I don’t really know what’s going to happen when the light turns green.
I might get all excited, grab a big handful of throttle and dump the clutch.
Who knows?
But, one thing is certain. It will be exciting.

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