Triumphrat

rustbucket · 11-01-2007

Congrats man! Thanks for posting about the project all the way through - it's been great to watch it come together!

Have fun on the strip - drag racing rules! I'll have to get my Speedy onto the 1520 at some point next season.

BombFactory · 11-03-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by Agkistrodon

good luck with your races. do you run 1/8 or 1/4? what kinda times? I took my daytona out to the 1/8th drag strip and had a blast. ran low 7 seconds.

Thanks Agkistrodon and Rustbucket. Sears Point is a 1/4 mile track. From the sounds of your 7 second run, I'm guessing it is an 1/8 mile track--or you have a really fast bike!

I did indeed go to the races and I had a blast. There are very few things in this world that feel as awesome as lining up and taking a run down the strip. There were only three bikes at the drags: a '07 GSXR750, a '01 Triumph Bonneville (go figure!), and myself. The two riders are regulars, and were very helpful and excited about me being there. There are usually more bikes, but just not that week. Track conditions were perfect, with nice cool air, no head wind, and a good temperature on the track.

The night before the race I decided to load another ECU map, but didn't get time to take the bike for a spin. At idle and lower rpm's it seemed fine. However, this was not the case on my first run. I stage, take off, and the bike surges at and above 6K rpm! I ran the whole 1/4 at about 25 mph, and ended up running a 34.0 second E.T.! I rode back to the pits and knew it was the muffler. I put two more discs onto the three already present. I made my next run and ran a 14.6 E.T., but the engine lagged and wouldn't rev over 10K. I added another two discs and made my fastest run of the day at 12.6 seconds @ 105mph. It looked like we would get three more practice runs before eliminations started, but a car blew up on the track and it took the track workers 1 hour to clean up the oil. So I had to dial in a time. I dialed in at 13.0 seconds. Right before we began eliminations another bike, a GSXR600, showed up; so I was paired up with the GSXR750 who dialed in at 10.5 seconds. My reaction times all night had been off and slow, as I was really using the night more as a test and tune than actual racing. In this race, my reaction time was .77, when a 0.000 is perfect--not good. I ended up running a 13.05, but lost due to my reaction time--although I might have broken out if I had a better RT. The GSXR ran an 11.02 E.T. with a RT of .11. That sent me packing.

I still think the muffler needs 3 more discs added, so I'm looking forward to the last race of the season next Wednesday. Although I'm not satisfied with the E.T.s and reaction times, it was a lot of fun and practice makes semi-perfect.

dynagroove · 11-03-2007

i've really enjoyed reading about this whole project and it's nice to see you complete your goal of running the drag strip with this mini-monster

. sounds like more practice is the key. most of all, sounds like you are having a blast!
jeff h

BombFactory · 11-07-2007

Thanks Jeff; it was/is good to get your feedback. I'm all loaded up and ready for the race tomorrow, which will be the last one of the '07 season

. Oh well, plenty of time to work out the kinks and start tackling the methanol conversion I suppose. I'll post how the race goes.

BBDGriptonia · 11-08-2007

I must say all in all Bomb, fantastic project! bike not only looks clean as a whistle, but the fact that it is a Triumph draggster makes it so completely unique. how was the weather up at Sears? was looking pretty foggy down here, so with a little luck it was a bright sunny day for you.

BombFactory · 11-08-2007

Thanks Grip,

The weather was actually nice at first. No clouds or fog, no wind, but very cold. That was really good while the sun was out to heat the track, as cold air is denser and wanted in drag racing. But once the sun went down (happens early now due to the time change) the temp dropped to bitter cold and the track really cooled off quickly. A strong head wind came in that slowed all of our times by .2, which also makes the ride a little hairy when going through the traps at 100+ mph.

My best run of the night was an 11.902 E.T @ 113.67 mph. My reaction times are still slow, but are consistent between .50 and .60. I'm at least happy that they are consistent. I have the muffler tuned in well, and the engine rips going down the track. By the time eliminations came, we were all having trouble getting good traction down the track. One of the better riders on the GSXR750 broke the rear tire loose at 120 mph and had to get out of the throttle; thus, being eliminated by his opponent. I ended up dialing in a 12.00 up against a Kawasaki 1200 (I think that's the cc/model) who dialed in a 10.5. I ran a 12.101 against his 10.87, but was eliminated. The reason why I was eliminated was due to my Reaction Time. I hit a RT of .56 against his .22, so he sent me packing. It was the luck of the draw that I was matched up to race him, as he went on to eliminate a few more. My last run I pulled the front wheel about 6 inches off the ground after shifting into second, and just rode it out until shifting to third. It was a lot of fun and I'm sad that the season is over for 5 months.

BBDGriptonia · 11-09-2007

thats just more time to build a dyno drag machine and practice practice practice

ill even go halfsies on that

redl1nerpm · 11-11-2007

how do you safely launch a bike?

I always feel like if I try to launch my bike, Ill either pop a wheelie and go flying, or fry the clutch. Do you ease on at all, or just slip the clutch enough?

BombFactory · 11-11-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by redl1nerpm

how do you safely launch a bike?

I always feel like if I try to launch my bike, Ill either pop a wheelie and go flying, or fry the clutch. Do you ease on at all, or just slip the clutch enough?

It depends on the bike setup. If the front is strapped it changes the geometry and puts more force down on the bike to keep the front end down. Also, if you have an extended swingarm or wheelie bars it is different.

As for me, I hold the rpms at 5k when staged and once the ambers light I begin to slip the clutch out. Once I'm rolling I then begin to smoothly full-throttle it. So slipping the clutch is pretty common for bikes with stock swingarms.

If you have an extended swingarm or wheelie bars you can get away with keeping the rpm's higher while staged and then drop the clutch, or let it out quickly. Although the best launches will be had by having wheelie bars and dropping the clutch, this can be dangerous. Something that happens on both cars and bikes with wheelie bars is that the launch is so hard that the bike/car and rear tire(s) lift off the ground and are resting on the wheelie bar wheels. Once the bike/car comes back down and the rear tire(s) hooks up again, the bike/car will shoot to the side and into the wall. So I'm good with slipping the clutch... for now

MadDogMcQ · 11-27-2007

What a great read! Having only just visited this thread, I had the advantage of not having to wait for long intervals for progress reports

Well done Bomb - and thanks for sharing it with us.

Tom.
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