Ya just can't be nice and say, "ok, Gluge, it looks like those fairings could really boost those MPG numbers" could ya? C'mon, it's Christmas for crying out loud!
Into the Dustbin?
I've been reading quite a few m/c "history" journals lately, and something has come up that I wonder if anyone around here knows more about it (he looks pointedly at MSCUDDY).
Sometime in the 40s or 50s, it appears that "Dustbin" fairings were banned from motorcycle racing. If you're not familiar with them, "dustbin" fairings were very large, very rounded fairings that usually included a long, torpedo shaped nose section and then a quite full faring back around the rider's legs. It seems like it was a very big deal at the time, and had a major impact on racing.
Why did they ban those big, and IMHO, beautiful fairings? Was it a safety issue? Were they trying to make the race bikes more like the bikes they sold? Enquiring minds want to know!
Sometime in the 40s or 50s, it appears that "Dustbin" fairings were banned from motorcycle racing. If you're not familiar with them, "dustbin" fairings were very large, very rounded fairings that usually included a long, torpedo shaped nose section and then a quite full faring back around the rider's legs. It seems like it was a very big deal at the time, and had a major impact on racing.
Why did they ban those big, and IMHO, beautiful fairings? Was it a safety issue? Were they trying to make the race bikes more like the bikes they sold? Enquiring minds want to know!
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To get a 100% increase in mileage you would need roughly a 50% drop in drag. If a dustbin will give this much advantage then you very well might get the 100% increase.Snarli, Gluge is NOT making this up! Go look at that Vetter site, those bikes were doing 400 mpg in contest trim. It hardly seems a stretch of the imagination to me that a well tuned "street" dustbin bike could do 200 mpg. Hell, I could almost double the mileage on the Conster if I tried by handling the throttle right!
Naturally the speeds you are going to travel is critical. If you are doing stop and go city driving then a big fairing like that will increase weight and any gains in aerodynamics would be offset by the extra fuel needed to accelerate the thing. Also the drag increases with the square of the speed. So your advantage will be greater at higher speeds.
A dustbin would make good sense for highway riding and would probably be a mistake in an urban setting.
Unfortunatly me and Sachi live in the real world....(not like together or anything, I mean duh......)but in the real world of varying speeds and road conditions, stop and go traffic and a hundred other things we deal with on a day to day basis a Dustbain ain't gonna' do anything but look totally retro.
No doubt under ideal conditions on a flat straight test area at a preset speed in ideal ambient temps with a 85 lb. Spanish midget as a test rider then, yes you could probably get some pretty impressive figures. Hell, you could get a Harley Ultra Classic up to 250 mph pretty easy if you dropped it out of a B-52 at 40,000 feet. Chances are that's not much use in the real world either.
No doubt under ideal conditions on a flat straight test area at a preset speed in ideal ambient temps with a 85 lb. Spanish midget as a test rider then, yes you could probably get some pretty impressive figures. Hell, you could get a Harley Ultra Classic up to 250 mph pretty easy if you dropped it out of a B-52 at 40,000 feet. Chances are that's not much use in the real world either.
What that happened like 2 years ago......
Yawn. It's my day off and I'm on my way to the pool for PT. So what's this about strapping Pedrosa to a Harley and dropping him and it from a what? Where's my coffee?
Yawn. It's my day off and I'm on my way to the pool for PT. So what's this about strapping Pedrosa to a Harley and dropping him and it from a what? Where's my coffee?
Isn't terminal velocity somehwere in the neighbornood of 125 MPH?Hell, you could get a Harley Ultra Classic up to 250 mph pretty easy if you dropped it out of a B-52 at 40,000 feet. Chances are that's not much use in the real world either.
Geeze. Here we are in a REALLY FUN ARGUMENT and you need coffee? :-oYawn. It's my day off and I'm on my way to the pool for PT. So what's this about strapping Pedrosa to a Harley and dropping him and it from a what? Where's my coffee?
Come ON, boys. We need to up our game!!
Good thing I deleted the other 3 paragraphs.......
Funny that this should become a topic of discussion now. I recommend that all read the article on page 80 of January 2008's Road Racing World. You could use this as a text for the on going discussion.
So Mr. Moore, due you subscribe?
Funny that this should become a topic of discussion now. I recommend that all read the article on page 80 of January 2008's Road Racing World. You could use this as a text for the on going discussion.
So Mr. Moore, due you subscribe?
Dropping....
Sounds like a great way to save the $#@%^&*#$%^ing day!
...Harleys with Pedrosa clones strapped to them from B-52s sounds like a sound strategic initiative. I'm sure any enemy would surrender rather than face such a horror. Especially if they also strapped Britney Spears clones to the back.Unfortunatly me and Sachi live in the real world....(not like together or anything, I mean duh......)but in the real world of varying speeds and road conditions, stop and go traffic and a hundred other things we deal with on a day to day basis a Dustbain ain't gonna' do anything but look totally retro.
No doubt under ideal conditions on a flat straight test area at a preset speed in ideal ambient temps with a 85 lb. Spanish midget as a test rider then, yes you could probably get some pretty impressive figures. Hell, you could get a Harley Ultra Classic up to 250 mph pretty easy if you dropped it out of a B-52 at 40,000 feet. Chances are that's not much use in the real world either.
Sounds like a great way to save the $#@%^&*#$%^ing day!
Mebbe not - but it might make for a good YouTube Video!Hell, you could get a Harley Ultra Classic up to 250 mph pretty easy if you dropped it out of a B-52 at 40,000 feet. Chances are that's not much use in the real world either.
Gluge's initial statement was that adding a dustbin type fairing doubled the mpg of his friends bike.To get a 100% increase in mileage you would need roughly a 50% drop in drag. If a dustbin will give this much advantage then you very well might get the 100% increase.
Naturally the speeds you are going to travel is critical. If you are doing stop and go city driving then a big fairing like that will increase weight and any gains in aerodynamics would be offset by the extra fuel needed to accelerate the thing. Also the drag increases with the square of the speed. So your advantage will be greater at higher speeds.
A dustbin would make good sense for highway riding and would probably be a mistake in an urban setting.
I could google up mulitple projects where cars got 350 mpg, and bikes got considerably more (YES, in IDEAL conditions). So saying this guy's bike got what, 90-100 mpg with a dustbin fairing seems to be a reasonable claim to me.
Crap, I wish the rain would quit. I wanna go riding and the kid won't go unless it's dry. Kids today....when I was 9 we'd ride through 5' of snow and vicious ice storms. AND WE LIKE IT THAT WAY!!!
21 - 31 of 31 Posts
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