Drag Bikes

[KG4]

Anyone else love nhra pro stock bike racing?I love the Buells and the V-Rods,They rock!!

[Ted Stryker]

The slanted rules allow them to rock..

[BUSHWACKER]

u funni, u da man, Hyabusa's ROLL... & RULE cept for Jay Strain's duel engine TRIUMPH drag bike www.readingmc.com 1/8 mile drags season should be just startin up there, top eliminator is just that, don't be bringin no knife to the gun fight

[mike bryan]

while i do appreciate the effort of the harley and buell's it is seldom noted on tv that they are something like 2800cc against the suzuki and kaw 1500cc, almost twice as big. i think the buel is a two valve pushrod motor but the v rod is a 4 valve dohc fuel injected motor. while i'm sure the suzuki is a pure hot rod motor by now (been racing em' since 1978) the v-rod engine by vance and hines is a complete machine shop special. it shares nothing with the production bikes not cases, bore spacing.head design or anything. i see harley is now the official sponsor of nhra so i'm sure the rule makers will keep them in the hunt. not bashing the twins just stating what it took to get them in the hunt. but i do enjoy seeing them run and i was getting tired of seeing a suzuki only show.

[GP-1]

The huge advantage that twin have will change in time... It's the same thing that happened with Superbikes. In 1983, when Superbike went to 750cc, twins could be 1000cc. The Ducatis that entered at that time were 851cc -- they weren't even close to competitive.. By the late 80's Doug Polen had won a couple world championships on the 888.. By the time that bike morphed from 851-888-916-955-996-998-999... the 750cc fours were no longer competitive.. They had to modify the rules to allow 1000cc fours (with less modifications) back into superbike. Giving the "Harley" a large displacement advantage was a smart thing for the NHRA to do. It got a large manufacturer involved in drag racing.. They're (the NHRA) already starting to add weight to the twins to slow them down. It'll all even out..

[Ted Stryker]

The last time that I read up, Not only do they get a discustingly insulting c.i. break, but also get a substantial weight ( 13%..? ) break and the usage of a more exotic fuel mix... The " Power's that be " wanted the V-Twins to win, so that's what happens... I can remember as a Child how some of the Parents would try to sweet talk others players and coaches into "kindly" sabotaging things so their Oreo inhaling fat Kid could win, I'm having DeJa Vu... BUSHWACKER, Hyabusa's do certainly abuse the speedometer... Have you read any tests on the new ZX-14, goes low 9's showroom and well down into the 8's with oh so little mods.. I curious to see the Gorilla that Suzuki will fire back with... This is getting insane, I like it...

[heath brinkley]

They're (the NHRA) already starting to add weight to the twins to slow them down. It'll all even out..

The weight they added to the Harleys last year was half of the weight break they got initially. So they're still lighter than Zook's.

[heath brinkley]

The last time that I read up, Not only do they get a discustingly insulting c.i. break, but also get a substantial weight ( 13%..? ) break and the usage of a more exotic fuel mix... .

As well as fuel injection, while zook's have to run carbs. I think they've givin' Suzuki a choice of running a small motor with FI or a big motor with carbs. Even the big motor is smaller than the Harleys and Buells though. Make the rules cripple them until they can't win is NHRA's view right now on Suzuki's. They're gonna force Suzuki to develope a v-twin to stay on even ground, like Yamaha started to do in Superbike before the rules changed to take away all Ducati's big breaks. I would LOVE to see Harley clean Suzuki's clock, but it's unfullfilling to see it when it's not on even ground. It just takes all the glory out of a victory, when you know you had to have drastic rule changes to allow it to happen.

[heath brinkley]

I curious to see the Gorilla that Suzuki will fire back with... This is getting insane, I like it...

I'm guessing a 1400. You know the Eddie Lawson replica, I think it's a ZX12RR (???) or something like that. The 80's looking Superbike. Anyway Suzuki makes a Wes Cooley replica to compete with it, although they may not sell them in the US, or they just don't do well in the US. At any rate, I saw a couple months ago that Suzuki had upper theirs from 1200 to 1400, when Kawi upped theirs from 1100 to 1200. Then Kawi comes out with their ZX14 sportbike. So I'm guessing that 1400 they built for their Wes Cooley bike had an alterior motive.

[triple dude]

The pro Harley NHRA rules are about what the AMA has done for Harley over the years in flat track racing. That was pretty much of a tilt for Harley or flat out bans against the competition.

[heath brinkley]

I love watching flat trackers, but never followed them closely. I always wondered in the back of my head if they had help, or if they had it figg'rd out.

Kind of like watching various forms of circle racing from Sat. night late models (which my Uncle raced) to ASA to NASCAR. You always wonder how the only guy in a Ford is winning half the races, only to find out that in every form of circle racing Ford's were getting some form of c.i. or weight break.

Kind of dissapointing to find out Harley's were getting help in the flat track scene. I always thought they just whipped ass. shoulda known better.

Remember the Harley superbike. I thought they looked cool. Even wanted one, you know support America. "Till I looked at the price Lessee, a 1000 cc Harley for 20K or a 750 Asian bike that'll rip its ass for 7K, Hmmmmmm, couldgya make it a li'l tougher to decide.
They had some hardcore talent on those babies too, Miguel DuHamel, Scott Russell, Pascalle Picotte, Doug Chandler, Mike Hale, Chris Carr all gave it a go on the Harley Superbike, but to no avail. All the talent , 250 cc, and 25 lbs. Too bad they couldn't cut it, it would have been fun to see a Harley out there fightin' with the rest of 'em.

[triple dude]

Flat trackers were always pretty cool. There's still an antique club that runs around the midwest and maybe beyond?? Triumphs, BSA's, old XR 750's etc. Occasionally, one pops up on ebay. I always liked the "mile" best. Roaring down the straights and then literally "throwing" into the turns. Back in the 70's and 80's, they ran a couple national events on horsetracks here in the Chicago area. Back to the thread, I hooked up with a gal on a singles site that lives just north of me that first said she raced prostock bikes and then said she was on Dave Shultz's pitcrew. Maybe she was just a groupie??

[Hydrovector]

Sorry guys,
I love seeing the big twins win.
Yea it's not a stock V-Rod but what in NHRA is any thing close to what you can by at a dealer. The Suzuki are still a force in the races I think that they are pretty well matched. Angelle Sampey has won both races this year on a Suzuki. It's going to be an interesting year. I can't wait till they come to Brainerd!!!

Mike

[heath brinkley]

I love seeing the v twins too, just wish they were in even ground. I hate seeing heads up racing where one side has a handicap. Like Pro Stock cars, while it's nothing close to what you can buy at a dealership, it is even ground. Weight, cubic inch,fuel, induction, ect., it's all the same for the big three. Which is why it remains the big two, fords haven't a chance on equal ground. Glad to see NHRA change rules to get Harley's involved, but now that they're involved, and winning, they need to work towards a level playing field. Like I said, I'd LOVE to see Harleys hand it to Suzuki, but it's only worth enjoying or bragging about if it's on a level field.

[GP-1]

The last time that I read up, Not only do they get a discustingly insulting c.i. break, but also get a substantial weight ( 13%..? ) break and the usage of a more exotic fuel mix... The " Power's that be " wanted the V-Twins to win, so that's what happens... I can remember as a Child how some of the Parents would try to sweet talk others players and coaches into "kindly" sabotaging things so their Oreo inhaling fat Kid could win, I'm having DeJa Vu... BUSHWACKER, Hyabusa's do certainly abuse the speedometer... Have you read any tests on the new ZX-14, goes low 9's showroom and well down into the 8's with oh so little mods.. I curious to see the Gorilla that Suzuki will fire back with... This is getting insane, I like it...

I've read up on the ZX-14.. I'm waiting to see a head-to-head comparison before I make a decision here. Rickey Gadson and Ryan Schnitz are running 9.40's with "stock" ones. I saw a 9.20 with a pipe/power commander on a slammed bike. Yea, that's pretty fast, but not much faster than a ZX-10 or GSXR 1000 would be if you gave them the same mods and 2" of wheelbase (which the 14 has stock).. The ZX14 is just like a Hayabusa... Very, very few will ever run 9's without any mods -- it's extremely difficult. The average/decent rider is gonna see mid 10's at the dragstrip.. and Ryan Schnitz would hand you your head if he was riding a bone stock ZX-6... Sad, but true.