Best way to "launch"?

[biguglyman]

Got a little bet with a friend of my wife.  Typical arrogant HD rider thinks his "super fat road king softail glide" whatever is da bomb.  I'm going to educate him.  Never raced a big shaft drive machine like the valk.  Any hints/secrets on how to get a good launch without breaking anything?  Best rpm to shift? etc.?

[Jess Tolbirt]

well if his bike is stock just take off normal and when you get rolling simply twist the right grip and shift when you hit o lets say about 2500 rpm,,,then when you hit second shift out of that gear at lets  sat 3000 rpm,, by now he should be about an 8th mile behind you and you should now be able to back off a bit,,

[Fudd]

I like to twist it up a lot tighter than that.  I like to shift out at about 6300 to insure than my next gear is comming on somewhere in the mid 4000's.

I never try to "hit it to get it" under 4000 rpm's.

I don't like standing starts if I can avoid it.  I'd much rather a "roll on" race.

If he has a stock 69 or 71 horse HD, you should take him.  If he has a v-rod or has put a stage 4 kit in his bike, maybe not.

[Former BMW Guy]

Wear a helmet.

[Rams]

Best advice I can give it don't break the rear tire loose, shift at the peak torque, hang on and let'r fly.

I'd prefer a slow roll for the start personally but, you should take him unless he's got some money invested in that motor.

[FryeVRCCDS0067]

I prefer rolling starts too. They are safer for you, the other rider and your bikes. That's just my opinion though and it's worth about what you paid for it I imagine. 

Experiment a little with your valk before hand. Mine seems to pull harder if I shift it at 5 1/2 to 6 grand tops. And when you're running her that tight the next shift will come fast so it's easy to over rev and get out of where she pulls the best.

Drag racers will rev em tight at a standing start, then slip the clutch to control traction and keep the revs from falling. I wouldn't do that to my Valk and I don't think it would be necessary in order for you to win. Unless it's a V rod, if it is and if he can ride then be gracious about losing. I'd race a V rod to Colorado maybe but not in the 1/4.

[BIG--T]

Like most ppl said unless it's a v-rod or a built harley you won't have any trouble. Some could stay with you up to 3rd gear, then it's all over and should be a dot in your mirror. I had rather run someone at a roll on but she does launch out of the hole very easy. Since u joints and other parts are getting harder to find, not to mention expensive I don't dog mine anymore.

Good luck!   

[Michael K (Az.)]

Let us know.

[Fudd]

Another thought.  Especially if you have a stock exaust and he has some kind of teeth rattling loud pipes, keep a close eye on your tach.  If you're relying on your bike's sound to know when to shift, you may not get enough audible cues if he is near by and excessivly noisey.

The first race I ever did against a Harley, I hit the rev-limiter in second gear and dropped off on accelleration because I was not paying enough attention to the tach.  When I hit third, I flew by him like I just fired off a nitrous bottle.

[Jess from VA]

If you're doing a standing start:  

1.  Don't get caught (and it's better if there are NO witnesses either).  Drag racing in VA will get you a reckless, and they can forfeit your machine to the State.  Standing start = drag racing.

2.  Pick a good piece of empty straight road (and give him the lane with the potholes).

3.  Don't kiss bikes in the first 50 feet (or anywhere)

4.  Pick a very clear finish line (pole, tree, landmark) before you start. (No one needs to be looking at a 1/8-1/4 mi on the speedo)

5.  Wear some gear (all over).

6.  The valk's sweetest (and hottest) spot is 3k RPM in 3d gear.

7.  If you don't miss any gears, be magnanimous in victory.

8.  Don't give him the best out of three.  

[Jabba]

To quote a famous author who frequents the VRCC board...

"Ride 'em hard.  Fix them when they break."

I sort of disagree with some of the folks on here.  I wrap mine a little tighter when I am flogging it.  I'll run mine up over 6K pretty regular.  I have the rev limiter on mine set to 7K. (Dyna 3000)  I think the bike pulls very hard at 3K, but it sure doesn't fall off at 5500. 

I do pretty hard launches a lot... just for fun, and sort of like to hear my Non-Motorcycle specific tire squeak under acceleration.  I THINK I tend to get the RPM's up to about 3K, and use the clutch to control the rear wheel. Once I get the clutch fully engaged, I just powershift before redline untill I puss out. 100 MPH comes pretty quick.

Now... I do not endorse any sort of speed contest on public highways, and would recommend that you find a local drag strip which has open track night, and do it at the track.  Speed contests on public roads are dangerous, and it portrays us (MC riders) in a bad image.

Jabba

[SANDMAN5]

Like it's been said....unless it's a Vrod or it's got a lot of
money in it you should be alright. Just don't be surprised
if he hangs with you into second gear. When you hit 3rd you'll
be grinning pretty big. 

[biguglyman]

if you have a stock exaust

Got cobra 6x6.  Might be this weekend.  I'll keep ya posted.

[John Schmidt]

if you have a stock exaust

Got cobra 6x6.  Might be this weekend.  I'll keep ya posted.

Lose the saddlebags. Extra weight.

[Gryphon Rider]

well if his bike is stock just take off normal and when you get rolling simply twist the right grip and shift when you hit o lets say about 2500 rpm,,,then when you hit second shift out of that gear at lets  sat 3000 rpm,, by now he should be about an 8th mile behind you and you should now be able to back off a bit,,

I think biguglyman has a rare gasoline powered Valkyrie, rather than a diesel one, so he can afford to let the engine spin up to closer to 6500 RPM before shifting, and actually use the engine's available horsepower. 

Dyno chart (not mine) found with Google images:

[Serk]

well if his bike is stock just take off normal and when you get rolling simply twist the right grip and shift when you hit o lets say about 2500 rpm,,,then when you hit second shift out of that gear at lets  sat 3000 rpm,, by now he should be about an 8th mile behind you and you should now be able to back off a bit,,

I think biguglyman has a rare gasoline powered Valkyrie, rather than a diesel one, so he can afford to let the engine spin up to closer to 6500 RPM before shifting, and actually use the engine's available horsepower. 

Dyno chart (not mine) found with Google images:

I may be way off base, but I was getting the impression that Jess' instructions were more tongue in cheek mocking the extreme under-powered nature of the majority of the vehicles produced by The Motor Company, and thus how little someone on a more powerful vehicle would need to do to spank them in a race...

[Thulsa Doom]

True about the noise. He's going to drown you out. Watch your tach. Get ahead of him and keep accelerating until you can hear your bike again.

[czuch]

Heres how I do it. Really gets em going.
Let him take the lead off the line. Get his front tire just so you can see it out the corner of your eye.
Relax and enjoy. You can tell if hes flogging or not, and you can act accordingly. To absolutely smoke him endangers youre rideability. If you break, you'll never live it down. When you beat him, just barely, you can do it again and again. When the Russians spent billions building competitors for the world record smashing SR-71 and broke our records, we just popped one out of the hangar and broke their record. KnowwhatImsayin?????
BTW, 1/4 mile or Denver,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,BWAAHAAHAAHAAH Call first and get your Iron Butt.

[cookiedough]

Has anyone tried starting off in 2nd gear by revving the engine over 3 grand and slipping the clutch 1/4 of the way and when ready to go, let off entirely real quick off the clutch.  Reason I ask is it seems, to me anyways, first gear is way too torquey and comes up for shifting way too soon around 20 mph  vs. say when you start off in 2nd gear you can just floor the gas all the way up to near 45 mph before shifting into 3rd.  My opinion,  our strongest and longest gears that I can stay in are 2nd and 3rd on up to near 65 mph before hitting 4th gear to near 100 mph or so which you wouldn't need 5th gear at all for drag racing. 

I routinely go thru stop signs rolling say 1-2 mph in 2nd gear no problems so with the rpms up into the 3 grand range I see no reason our Valks wouldn't pull hard right off the bat in 2nd gear correct thus avoiding the slight delay from 1st to 2nd gear shifting?
The few HD's I have driven with can keep up and surpass the Valkyrie in 1st gear off the line but where the Valk shines is 2nd and 3rd gears pulling harder than most HD's and catching them when in 2nd gear, at least my experience.  Any opinions on what I suggested?

My neighbor has over 8 grand into his HD 1450cc ultra classic engine with stage 3 or 4 and upgraded this and that talking crap all the time stating he blows by 1832cc newer goldwings.  The right rider on a new 1832cc goldwing will more often than not beat our VAlks that I do know.   I asked him if he wanted to race for pinks and he kept quiet about it.  He may win in loudness, but I would be out front to not hear his obnoxious pipes.   

[FryeVRCCDS0067]

Has anyone tried starting off in 2nd gear by revving the engine over 3 grand and slipping the clutch 1/4 of the way and when ready to go, let off entirely real quick off the clutch.  Reason I ask is it seems, to me anyways, first gear is way too torquey and comes up for shifting way too soon around 20 mph  vs. say when you start off in 2nd gear you can just floor the gas all the way up to near 45 mph before shifting into 3rd.  My opinion,  our strongest and longest gears that I can stay in are 2nd and 3rd on up to near 65 mph before hitting 4th gear to near 100 mph or so which you wouldn't need 5th gear at all for drag racing.  

I routinely go thru stop signs rolling say 1-2 mph in 2nd gear no problems so with the rpms up into the 3 grand range I see no reason our Valks wouldn't pull hard right off the bat in 2nd gear correct thus avoiding the slight delay from 1st to 2nd gear shifting?
The few HD's I have driven with can keep up and surpass the Valkyrie in 1st gear off the line but where the Valk shines is 2nd and 3rd gears pulling harder than most HD's and catching them when in 2nd gear, at least my experience.  Any opinions on what I suggested?

My neighbor has over 8 grand into his HD 1450cc ultra classic engine with stage 3 or 4 and upgraded this and that talking crap all the time stating he blows by 1832cc newer goldwings.  The right rider on a new 1832cc goldwing will more often than not beat our VAlks that I do know.   I asked him if he wanted to race for pinks and he kept quiet about it.  He may win in loudness, but I would be out front to not hear his obnoxious pipes.  

The 2'nd gear thing is something I've often wondered about too. Just not enough to try it I guess. My splines are pretty worn so I try to take it a little easy on them most of the time.

[Stanley Steamer]

..........Hard!!.......... .......that must be why I've never gotten more than ~9,200 miles out of a rear Avon........

[Clark]

go git yerself a 5 gallon can of SUNOCO RACE FUEL

[shooter64]

Go from a roll. He probably will want to start from a roll also. I was playing around riding with 2 friends. One was a sportster 883. I figured he has 1/2 the power but only a little over 1/2 the weight so I should win by a small margin. Not even close, he had only maybe 50% of the power to weight ratio of the Valk. I could actually pass him and go around while he was wide open. Another friend has a Heritage classic. Didn't do much better. I could shoot past him. Harleys are like potato  potato  potato. Wide open they are potatopotatopotato. Just doesn't get it compared to Valk's screaming banshee flat 6. Like an indy car racing a John Deere. This was just riding with friends. Not an all out race. When you ride with others you just naturally have to compare power. I normally ride like grand ma.

[cookiedough]

shooter64,  those sportsters are pretty quick for what they are.  I was driving with one and he opened it up from a dead stop alongside me and in first gear from a dead stop, he pulled pretty hard and out in front of me (he got the jump but I wasn't ready or trying really or even racing him, just cruising).  His 1st gear seems to pull just as hard as our Valks if not slightly more and longer, but once I hit 2nd gear it was all over.  Like said, I really like our 2nd and 3rd gears -  can really whine those 2 gears out up to around 60ish (for me anyways) before hitting 4th. 
If you can start on a roll on as others suggested in 2nd gear, I think most HD's wouldn't have a chance.
HD loudness potatoe sound doesn't usually translate into overall speed though from what I have seen. 

[N0tac0p]

oh, C'MON!  Have fun with him.  just easily take off like you do normally (he'll think he's got you), then with hiim about 50 feet ahead, just twist and shift before the redline and then look for him in your rear view mirror.

He be the one all buggwed eyed, wonderin what happened.

[Rams]

Not long ago, I was playing with a Toyota, turned out the kid had more under his hood than expected but, the end result was still the same.  I kept his front bumper just slightly ahead of my front tire.  Then just before our finish line, I rolled the throttle hard and left him.  The look on his face was priceless. 

[BIG--T]

I was coming down I-40 and was riding my 1800 running 80 mph and got tired of all the HDs passing me. When the next bunch of baggers did blow by me I give her WOT and caught up with then (when they seem me trying to catch up they went WOT) and they were a mile ahead. As I watched a little smoke coming from their exhaust as I pulled up beside them, knowing they were doing all they could do, I'd give her WOT pull away-way ahead, let them catch up, and do it again. The first time I'd ever run 145 mph on her. If looks could kill I'd be dead!! They sure don't like you playing with them with dem dar jap crap bikes! 

I know the results would be similar with my Valkyrie. I guess if I paid $35,000 for one my feelings would be hurt too!   

[Jess Tolbirt]

well at least one person knew what i was implying,,, since i ride a harley i thought i at least could poke a little fun at it,,,

[BIG--T]

well at least one person knew what i was implying,,, since i ride a harley i thought i at least could poke a little fun at it,,,

Jess, what kind of Harley do you have? I've been looking for a Roadglide or possibly an Ultra but haven't found a "deal" yet...if there is such a thing. 

[Jabba]

well at least one person knew what i was implying,,, since i ride a harley i thought i at least could poke a little fun at it,,,

I knew you were joking... I just answered the question seriously.

Making the ASSUMPTION that a Valk will smoke a HD is a dangerous gamble.  You'll win more often than not... but there are some out there that will bite you in the ass.

Jabba

[Jess Tolbirt]

well at least one person knew what i was implying,,, since i ride a harley i thought i at least could poke a little fun at it,,,

Jess, what kind of Harley do you have? I've been looking for a Roadglide or possibly an Ultra but haven't found a "deal" yet...if there is such a thing. 

I have an electra glide classic,, FLHTC,,, it is a step down from the electra glide ultra.. If you are thinking street glide, get the electra glide classic like mine then take the trunk off and you have a street glide with a lot of chrome trim that doesnt come on the street,,,but remember, if you aint got a glide, than you aint got a ride,,,

[BIG--T]

well at least one person knew what i was implying,,, since i ride a harley i thought i at least could poke a little fun at it,,,

Jess, what kind of Harley do you have? I've been looking for a Roadglide or possibly an Ultra but haven't found a "deal" yet...if there is such a thing. 

I have an electra glide classic,, FLHTC,,, it is a step down from the electra glide ultra.. If you are thinking street glide, get the electra glide classic like mine then take the trunk off and you have a street glide with a lot of chrome trim that doesnt come on the street,,,but remember, if you aint got a glide, than you aint got a ride,,,

I like that jingle, have to remember that! Other than no chrome trim and no lowers, rear speakers, is that the only diference between yours and the FLHTUC?

[bscrive]

I always loved this video.  Don't take things for granted, it could end up making you look bad.

Rat Bike Harley vs Fireblade	powered by Aeva

[BIG--T]

I always loved this video.  Don't take things for granted, it could end up making you look bad.

Rat Bike Harley vs Fireblade

Haha, I always liked that video. You're right about not taking things for granted as the dude on the 180 mph bike had to walk the walk of shame! 

[Jess Tolbirt]

well at least one person knew what i was implying,,, since i ride a harley i thought i at least could poke a little fun at it,,,

Jess, what kind of Harley do you have? I've been looking for a Roadglide or possibly an Ultra but haven't found a "deal" yet...if there is such a thing. 

I have an electra glide classic,, FLHTC,,, it is a step down from the electra glide ultra.. If you are thinking street glide, get the electra glide classic like mine then take the trunk off and you have a street glide with a lot of chrome trim that doesnt come on the street,,,but remember, if you aint got a glide, than you aint got a ride,,,

I like that jingle, have to remember that! Other than no chrome trim and no lowers, rear speakers, is that the only diference between yours and the FLHTUC?

yep thats about the only difference but the street has i think one inch lower shocks..
now when you get one shoot me an email i will tell you how to cool it down because with the stock exhaust with a cat in it, its so hot the valk feels like the a/c is on...

[Fudd]

I always loved this video.  Don't take things for granted, it could end up making you look bad.

Rat Bike Harley vs Fireblade

Haha, I always liked that video. You're right about not taking things for granted as the dude on the 180 mph bike had to walk the walk of shame! 

This outcome doesn't suprise me in the least.  The sportbike with all of it's horsepower is being ridden out of it's mission profile participating in a drag race.  There's no good way to transmit those horses to the ground without flipping the bike.  It never was made to race off the line.  That's why the ones that play on the street have extended swingarms.   Or, if you moved the finish line out another 50 yards the sportbike would have been getting in it's operating environment.

All that said, the rat bike driver does a fine job of getting some!

 

[Jabba]

Yeah... if you notice... he grabs the lead... and sort of gets in front of the sport biker too. 

they should race 2 miles instead of 200 yards.

Jabba

[BIG--T]

Yeah... if you notice... he grabs the lead... and sort of gets in front of the sport biker too. 

they should race 2 miles instead of 200 yards.

Jabba

Now that wouldn't be fair either, the poor old harley ain't got but 62 hp vs 180 hp! Most Hds are torquey that why they will hang with the Valk in 1st and sometimes 2nd, but 3rd it's bye bye time.

[BIG--T]

well at least one person knew what i was implying,,, since i ride a harley i thought i at least could poke a little fun at it,,,

Jess, what kind of Harley do you have? I've been looking for a Roadglide or possibly an Ultra but haven't found a "deal" yet...if there is such a thing. 

I have an electra glide classic,, FLHTC,,, it is a step down from the electra glide ultra.. If you are thinking street glide, get the electra glide classic like mine then take the trunk off and you have a street glide with a lot of chrome trim that doesnt come on the street,,,but remember, if you aint got a glide, than you aint got a ride,,,

I like that jingle, have to remember that! Other than no chrome trim and no lowers, rear speakers, is that the only diference between yours and the FLHTUC?

yep thats about the only difference but the street has i think one inch lower shocks..
now when you get one shoot me an email i will tell you how to cool it down because with the stock exhaust with a cat in it, its so hot the valk feels like the a/c is on...

I read the the 2010's and up have a catalytic converter at the header collector that really throws out some heat! My son has a 09 SG and it sure is hot enough! If I get one I'll be sure to send a pic but the chances of finding a good deal this time of year would be a miracle. 

[shooter64]

shooter64,  those sportsters are pretty quick for what they are.  I was driving with one and he opened it up from a dead stop alongside me and in first gear from a dead stop, he pulled pretty hard and out in front of me (he got the jump but I wasn't ready or trying really or even racing him, just cruising).  His 1st gear seems to pull just as hard as our Valks if not slightly more and longer, but once I hit 2nd gear it was all over.  Like said, I really like our 2nd and 3rd gears -  can really whine those 2 gears out up to around 60ish (for me anyways) before hitting 4th. 
If you can start on a roll on as others suggested in 2nd gear, I think most HD's wouldn't have a chance.
HD loudness potatoe sound doesn't usually translate into overall speed though from what I have seen. 

Was that an 883 or 1200?