Drag Bike Project Thread
Drag Bike Project Thread
Hi guys, a few people have mentioned to me about putting up a build thread of my 8 second drag bike over the last 18 months
obviously i know this is a car forum so i thought id check with Admin etc first before starting to copy and paste stuff over as theres alot of stuff there lol
let me know what you think
post away - I can't see a problem, there are a few bikers on here anyway!!
oki doki............. b prepared for about 10 pages of dribble lol
Rite guys, as some will know if you have ready my previous threads. I tryed to keep my bike road legal for as long as possible. This has come at a price on track tho, as altho during 2011, i managed to put in some very quick times, but with needing to go quicker still for the 8.50 bike class, i decided, no more road bike, this needs to be track focused.
Shes done me proud tho, running a 9.21 @ 144mph aspirated and a 8.82 @ 155mph on nitrous, helped me to secure my first trophy but winning the Santa Pod 2011 Castrol RWYB Street Challenge, something i have been competing for over the last 4 years.
Its now time to up my game again and if im to stay competative in what will be my first year in competition drag racing, i need to overhaul the bike, tweek the chassis, get it alot lower, and refresh the motor. What im trying to do, is find the extra time needed, without pumping more power into it, the less nitrous i use to get the times, the more reliable hopefully it will be on the motor. What im doing, mite sound excessive to just find 3 tenths of a second, but consistantcy is the key, so i need to keep it up.
Now just to recap, at the beginning of the year, the bike wore its stock bodywork, then towards the end i fitted some temporary race bodywork so i could sell the stock stuff, and order some proper drag bodywork from the states.
Well here is the new bodywork, from Catalyst Racing Compisites, very good company to deal with if u want this sort of thing, the quality is the highest ive seen on any fibreglass bodywork, they using multi layer fibreglass weave matting to produce bodywork that is light, but very very strong. Seat unit is 8" extended Pro Street unit and the tank has a lowered profile to help the rider get tucked in
loosely fitted up
I got alot of work ahead, i know the bike has the potential to run the numbers needed in 8.50 bike, its just up to me to find a way, this bike has alot more to come yet
just a few other parts ive accumulated for the project, some of these ive started to fit already but i will get some good pics up at the weekend.
Translogic MD2 dash, this replaces the GPT dash i bought a few months back, has a few more features and overall the quality is alot better
16" x 4" Marchesini Magnesium front wheel, this is like new and got it for a bargain price!!! Came from an Ex-Ducati Corse 999r World Superbike
Carrilo Rods, to hopefully contain the power of the beast lol
Had a good afternoon in the shed, got the new Maxxis 130/70/16 tyre fitted to the front wheel. The front wheel weigh's in at 2.1kgs with bearings, which is a massive 2.6kg weight loss over the slingshot wheel. Popped the bearings out and replaced with busa bearings, shaved 2mm off the threaded top hat, and she went straight in. Front now sits an inch lower, plus another inch i gained by dropping the forks through the yokes some more, so thats a total of 2" extra ive managed to lower it.
new tyre looks PHAT! i mean seriously, it give the optical illusion that its twince the width of a normal tyre, certainly give it presence. along with the extra 2" lowered at the front, i lowered the rear 5" which now gives me 2" ground clearance to the sump plug, once i get the short sump fitted, i mite go a little lower
Bodywork and Translogic dash fitted up, looking good
getting tucked in, feels alot more comfortable over the old stock tank
Been having a good think over the last week or so, and have decided to sell the Spondon arm, to accomodate more adjustability. So the arm has already been sold, and will be sent after xmas. So in Jan, the bike will be going back over to Warpspeed Racing to not only have the new exhaust made, but also to have a new Chromoly swingarm made. This will allow me to have the nitrous bottle, battery, air tank and possibly a oil breather tank in the swingarm to get the weight lower in the chassis.
The other reason for the change aswell, is because the bike is so much lower front and rear, i measured the wheelbase again, and it came back at 64", so i extended the swingarm back to its max nd can only get 66" wheelbase max, so im 2" below class regulation, so im going to have the new arm made longer, so i can run a 64-68" wheelbase. Also due to the arm being made of chromoly steel, its lighter and stronger thn aluminium, but obviously i cant polish it cuz it will rust lol so im gonna have the frame and swingarm done n Satin Black aswell.
Got the rear wheel back from the painters on friday, and on saturday, some spacers and a crush tube arrived from a lad on another forum, so i have enough to have the wheel put together, and measure up for the final spacers to centralise the wheel, all went together realy well, so all i need now is 2 more spacers and the rear sprocket from Talon and id b ready to ride ;D and the great thing is, the rear wheel is 1.9kgs lighter than a busa wheel, and the sprocket carrier is another 1.9kgs lighter than the busa sprocket carrier!!!! a massive 3.8kgs weight saving happy with that
Not been up to much recently, due to christmas comming up, extra hours at work, and waiting for parts. however, one thing i managed to do was get a brake disk ordered, chop and lower the front mudguard, and make some temp rearsets.
I settled on one of these realy nice Armstrong disks, they feel pretty good quality, and are 260grams lighter than a Galfer disk, and are £60 cheaper aswell, result!
Altho one issue i had was i needed some special brake disk bolts as none of the ones i could get would fit properly. So a call to ProBolt, and i had 5 new shiney disk bolts on route, but me, thinking clever, when i looked at my current bolts, decided they wouldnt cut it (its now a never ending cycle), so i ordered 4 new bolts for the fork leg pinch bolts and 2 caliper hanger bolts to match the titainium ones i already have in the caliper. Expensive yeh, but they do look ****** tasty!!!
Next job on the list was to lower the front mudguard to suit the 16" wheel. first of all i needed to chop the rear of the mudguard off for exhaust clearances, one rough hacksaw job later and its done, ill clean it up later. then made 2 simple plates either side of the forks, some rivnuts later and the muddy was sitting lovely!
last on the list, was some make shift rearsets, made these from 6mm 6082 grade alloy plate, but after making these basic ones, when i make the new ones, ill have to make them from at least 10mm plate (possibly 12mm) as these flex a little when u put ur weight on em, so they just need to b a bit stronger. riding position feels alot more comfortable now tho!
next on the list, make another new fuel tank
Been a bit busy over christmas with family etc, but i managed to get in the shed a few hours a day. Didnt manage to start on the fuel tank, but i am needing a thumb brake for the dragbike but defo wasnt paying £250+ for one. Out with the ally plate, the bandsaw and the pillar drill and got to work.
So this is my attempt, tryed to make it small as possible, im pretty chuffed with how its come out, i just need to shape, trim and clean it up now, gonna hopefully sort a brake line this week and have it working by the end of the week