Topic: What did you buy in a moment of weakness?

[754]

My slammed and stretched 836 was always good out of the hole... And I would race anything up to 60mph on the street. I dont know how good a rider it was on the VTR. But like I said ..good holeshot.
When I ran the tired 25 yrs on the motor a few without aircleaners...agains my  buddies slightly modded monster 900... He would get about a length on me in a first gear rollon, then we were pretty even..
 My 836 was surprisingly torquey, and you could launch as hard as you wanted..

[Terry in Australia]

No mate, this bike was a crashed wreck that I had to re-Frame (even though the original Frame was undamaged) but the plastics were destroyed along with the tank, Yoshi pipes, etc etc. That headlight unit is just a cheap aftermarket item, but I liked it because the actual headlight is very similar to the VTR's.

Frank, you must have caught that VTR rider napping, are you sure it wasn't a VTR250? The 1000 has way more torque than a tired old Honda four, and will blow a lot of modern fours into the weeds. They were designed to beat Ducati's, and don't do a bad job.

THAT Honda platform (V-Twin superbike) is something else.  I absolutely loved my RC51 -- the Superhawk on steroids.  BOTH pull like a freight train, and have awesome brakes, too.  Lots of racing heritage, too -- championships with Nicky Hayden and Colin Edwards, and TT wins by Joey Dunlop.  The Superhawk was more humane than the RC in terms of ergos. 

Yeah mate, the guy I bought my spare engine from has an RC51 covered in 15 years of dust, he bought it from the original owner who fell off it and was too frightened to "get back on the horse". I traded my other VTR1000 on a car last week, but that's ok, while I love the engine, handling and those awesome 6 piston front brakes (not standard on a VTR1000, no idea where they came from) the ergo's were no good for a big fat bastard like me, hence the more relaxed "Streetfighter" build.

Frank, I know this is the internet, and on the internet whatever you say is true, but there's no way on God's earth a tired old 836 would get within a bulls roar of a VTR1000, especially if it was being ridden by anyone with a heartbeat.......... Dream on mate.

[754]

 Terry , I dont have enough life left to bother bull#$%*ting anyone..
Let me guess, you never dragraced much..right ?
I came in second in points at our local track, in my first racing season on the real strip. and I had a cast up to me knee till end august that year. I was mentored heavily by a very experienced racer.
 Somewhere along the way, I learned to get off the line quickly. A lot of folks cant run off the line at full power, if you bogged or are slow off the light... you got serious catching up to do.. Easy to lose a few tenths..
 I never stopped to talk to the guy. I assume the bike was like yours, same rads, Honda on tank, looked like yours. how many version were there?
 We were streetracers..Race against anything.. knowing full well that a good holeshot can GAIN you time.. I had a long lowered bike.. built for 1/8 mile. I would slip the clutch for as long as necessary, motor never got below 8 grand. It worked over and over and over again.. I had three things many folks dont have that probably helped the torque..a lot..
 could i beat that bike in the 1/4 never, but 1/8 mile ..different story...

[Don R]

 The rule of thumb is any time ET gain in the first 60' will be double at the other end. 100 lbs equals a tenth in a car.

 The first guy that figured out you leave on one of the yellow lights instead of the green won a boatload of races before anyone else figured it out. Our most winning jr dragster left best when the my daughter reacted to the second yellow going out. (incandescent bulbs) LED's screw that up. She could see the bulb start to glow, then come on, then start to dim.

[754]

Don did they change the lights everywhere ?  Harder to read... Bummer..
 Don , I bet you have seen the underdog win a few times..even when the other guy should have won.
 In that first year  I used to run withinn 6 hundred of a second or less over 4-5 runs, never sandbagged.. Didnt run tach or revlimiter most of the time either.
 Some of us still won quite a bit with only a revlmiter , when the others had more electronics...it used to piss them off..
 I think its more fun , but I never had the electronics..

[Terry in Australia]

It was probably a VTR250 Frank, you can only see my radiators because the factory fairing is missing, the 250 doesn't have a fairing. Cheers, Terry.

[754]

I know the fairing was off, I said just like yours... Should have said naked..
 I could see him coming in my mirror, he was coming up fast.
 Bike had out of province plates.. Dont know if the owner was riding it or test pilot ?
I try to disappear after doing things like that..today they would take your bike away..no questions asked..
 It DID NOT look lke the one in the pic..nice hiding of the rads.

[Terry in Australia]

Nah, it was probably one of these Frank, they're almost as fast as a tired old 836, and they look a bit like their big brother. The kid riding it probably didn't know what a great drag racer you are, she probably just wanted to stay behind you as you wallowed and wobbled past, to make sure you were OK?

 

[754]

Not seeing the side radiators...
 This is reminding me of the time when I told you about my R100RT having a kicker on it from the factory..and you said no way......so I did a quick check on google and found two more right off the bat.
 I took a look and I found 65 ft lbs torque for the VTR... Not that high..
 Like I said at least if not three reasons mine may have more torque than most of them 836,s.. It wasnt like the Monster 900  was running away from me....I expected it to surge ahead and maybe catch up at high revs..

[Terry in Australia]

 This is reminding me of the time when I told you about my R100RT having a kicker on it from the factory..and you said no way......so I did a quick check on google and found two more right off the bat.

Not me Frank, I had two R100RS', they didn't have kickers, but I'm pretty sure the "RT"s did? Of course, you could do what I did and use R100GS parts to put a kicker on an RS too, so not sure what that argument was about? Can you find the thread again?

The VTR1000 has over 70 foot pounds of torque compared to a CB750's 40, 110 BHP compared to 67, has a 1/4 mile time of 10 seconds compared to 13, etc etc etc. Yep, pretty sure you mistook that girl's VTR250 mate, do you wear glasses?  Cheers, Terry.

[754]

I found 65 ft lbs 101 hp , looked again just now saw 71 ft lbs 103 hp at the wheel... 110 at crank...sounds about right..
 Are you not wondering by now why I may have more torque than some other 836,s ?

Btw i should be building at least one motor this year..be Higher compression 750 or 836, rc cam Webers..this time it will get dynoed..... Then we can see how much torque.

[Old Moe Toe]

How about jousting sticks?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WK9h4gRXX9o

[Terry in Australia]

No worries Frank, my 836 when in it's prime was a beast, Mike Reik's stage III head, Megacycle 125/75 cam, RC 12.5:1 pistons, 29mm CR's, Dyna ignition and coils etc, had way more BHP than a stocker (never dyno'd it either) but duemostly to the bigger cam, noticeably less torque.

It still didn't pull like my VTR1000, it was more like my VFR750, had a nice linear acceleration, but of course, only good in a straight line, compared to modern bikes. Cheers, Terry.  

[Terry in Australia]

How about jousting sticks?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WK9h4gRXX9o

What a great movie, up there with Mad Max and Stone, I reckon.

[754]

I ran 10.5 -1 rc 315, unported head with a good valve job and springs, Webers.
 The Webers gave far better response.. Better low end.
 The head i suspect worked better low down , but suffered on top end..a tradeoff.
 When I raced it the first year, and then later on (not the whole time) i ran the turbo header..smaller primaries.. Done on turbos for a reason.
 However,  believe as a side effect, it increased torque.... Again at the expense of maybe topend power.
 Although the turbo header is unequal length, it still worked well, and allowed me to drastically lower the bike.
 That did certainly not hurt launching the bike. The motor had started feeling less power and running slower..but lowering it helped..got 2 tenths in the 1/4 mile gain. That surprised me.
  Then I started noticing that if I rolled it on a quite low RPM, it still pulled hard..
 So there it is.. I was pretty happy with it and decided not chasing ET...that having the torque was more fun and more useable..
 And I really have no one elses experience to compare to.. Only ever saw one other bike with a pipe like that, at Sturgis..never got to  meet the rider..
 But this year, I should get dyno time.m

[GV1390]

Bump...I know some of you are buying in a moment of weakness....

Had been shopping for a C5Z for while now as I miss track events so I pulled the trigger finally:








 

[Terry in Australia]

That looks magnificent mate, I don't know anything about Vette's, what year is that one? Cheers, Terry.

[RAFster122s]

Very pretty!  Is that your taildragger in the background of her parting shot? Is that a 150? 

[GV1390]

Thank you, gents! C5 Z06's were produced 2001-04, mine is an 02'. Has some mods done, she definitely scoots! Will be awesome for road racing, has 315 tires on all four corners.

That's my buddies 1946 Cessna 120. We took that to Indy for the MotoGP race actually. He's upgrading the puddle jumper next year.

[my name is nobody]

FWIW, for anyone traveling through the bowling Green Ky. area, the Corvette
factory offers a really good tour of the facility. Those guys have kept the faith
after all the years of vette production. They are very proud of the new world class
Corvettes. The Corvette museum across the highway displays vettes of many different years. You can even order your new vette on sight
if you want, and watch/participate on the day your car is built...End Hijack

[PeWe]

Thank you, gents! C5 Z06's were produced 2001-04, mine is an 02'. Has some mods done, she definitely scoots! Will be awesome for road racing, has 315 tires on all four corners.

That's my buddies 1946 Cessna 120. We took that to Indy for the MotoGP race actually. He's upgrading the puddle jumper next year.

I have seen or heard C5, C6 here with a compressor (supercharger) kit mounted.... That's the mod I'd to get installed if my garage should be larger

[kerryb]

In a moment of weakness, I bought a 1985 winnebago.  I've spent the winter putting a new interior in it.  The outcome is I finally have chevy 454 to flog, and the wife suggested we could pull a trailer with a bike on it.  Woohoo!

[kmb69]

A new ZR1 in 2012. It has over 800 miles on it now! 

[itsahonda4]

Ive lost count of the lemons and good ones Ive bought in way too many moments of weakness, but I think the absolutely worst one was in a drunken stupour I agreed with an acquaintance to buy into a Dairy Queen...well we aren't friends or acquaintances anymore. Funny that he wouldn't cover my ]osses.......
Or is it the CBX I bought last week that is just a rattling away like the clutch is gonna jump out the side of the engine any time soon..........
Or the BMW 'barn find' last year that took forever and a ton of parts to make half-decent [isnt that an oxymoron?], before I sold in on at a loss. But I convinced myself it was only a 'paper loss'......
Or the $300 T500 Suzuki Titan that on closer inspection had no bottom in the engine, damn, where did all that aluminum go??
Or the Yamaha R5 350 twin that I bid a case of beer for, and then the guy got mad when I gave him no-name pale anemic low-test crap, ungrateful bugger.....
This is fun, or is it cathartic to confront my bike buying demons.........
 

[Desert-SOHC]

Waiting for my knee surgery I couldn't ride a bike...it was the next best thing to a bike.  1785 pounds with 425hp.