3.89

According to the GPS 0-60 timer on my bike.

I'd love to take a few verified laps on the local drag strip, but whats the best way to keep the front end down and get maximum acceleration?

I wish I knew. I put my fat-butt body over the handlebars but still can't keep the wheel down.

Mine is 0-60 mph in 2.8 with the panniers mounted and 100 comes up about 2s later. The software keeps the wheelie at 6" or so the whole way with me so far over the bars my chin is past the windscreen. If I turn that off I imagine I can't possibly modulate as well as a CPU so I'm either dramatically slower or sliding on my arse.

My favorite stupid thing to do with this bike is exit a slow corner hard and drift the rear with the front off the ground while there is a little lean left. Since the traction will only allow so much spin and lift I can look like a MotoGP god without doing any of the real work. I should be ashamed of myself but it's so much goddamn fun that I might have to admit I'm ok with not learning this particular thing the hard way.

Only one comment:

The dragstrip tells you sixty feet, not 0-60.

OK, a few more comments: From watching people with fast bikes at the local dragstrip as a kid, people don't know how to launch one, and it can be very silly to watch them do it wrong. I watch one dude end up flat on his back when his bike rode out from beneath him.

tuna55 wrote: people don't know how to launch one

This is what I'm trying to learn.

It's 530lbs. 125hp/85ftlbs at the wheel. All analog.

I know I saw a school that taught and focused on launching a bike. Maybe look into to what's local to you?

In reply to Grtechguy:

Steal a page from motorcycle stunt school and get some training wheels?

I wish my TC was as smart as Huckleberry's. Mine will come up until the front wheel slows a little, slam back down then pop the wheel up again and repeat. It's pretty funny.

In reply to Nick (Bo) Comstock:

It's the new Bosch system that BMW, KTM and a few others are using for lean angle ABS and traction control. It's apparently quite good.

Motorcycle drag racing 101 (for a street bike, no wheelie bar):

1. Lower the bike. They make lowering links for the rear for a lot of bikes, and you can raise the forks in the front and/or use a strap. Even just lowering the front will help an otherwise stock bike. If you use a strap, be sure to leave yourself some suspension travel.

2. Get your weight low and over the front when launching. A stepped seat helps a lot with control... just like car race seats, you don't have to expend effort keeping yourself in place.

3. Don't bother with big burnouts on street tires.

4. When launching, get the throttle open (a lot!) and the clutch is your throttle and wheelie control. Grab the throttle from 'above' so when you're in your normal wrist position, it's all the way open. This is a learned skill, and gets ugly when you get it wrong. Fortunately, most bike clutches are reasonably stout. RPM depends a lot on the bike. ZX-12 - 5500, 'Busa - 4500, ZX-6 - 10k

Big wheelies are slow. What you want looks like this:

That bike was lowered, but stock length on a drag tire. Throttle is wide open in pic... it's all clutch.

ZX-6 at stock height:

Same basic technique, but trickier because no torques (launched at 10k). Note wheelspin and front tire just off the deck. This bike was hard to get right...

Further out, past the 60ft lights... just before getting 2nd gear.

I have no desire to leave hard from a stop on my bike even with the magic Italian pixies watching over me.

Roll-on acceleration is where it's at.