Bikes with two engines?

Bikes with two engines are a waste of an engine. If you need two engines to win a competition, find yourself a different competition. I look at those photos of the Hogslayer and wonder why some dick would want to do that. If I had one of those motors, I'd build a second bike. Beating a Harley cannot be that important. - All you need to do is get them onto a small road-race circuit and any Commando will make them look stupid.

Perhaps you’re not familiar with the concept of drag racing Alan?

The first point of clarification is to state that it has nothing to do with men in women’s clothes racing. I’m sure there are such disciplines thriving in various places, but that’s outside of our scope here and really should have a separate thread to be discussed further.

The second point is that it has even less to do with “small road race cuircuits”.

As a general rule, drag races are quite short affairs, the general aim being to make them as short as possible, or at least shorter than the other chap.

It might challenge your own notion of racing a little, but drag races tend to be somewhat devoid of hairpins, sweepers and chicanes... or indeed, any bends of any kind really.

Ditto the need for repeated hard braking. They brake once, after the race has finished.

If you type “drag racing” into you tube, I think you’ll see enough to get the general idea...
 
I have done motorcycle drag racing - BORING ! - Waste of two good motors. Might as well put a rocket motor under the seat - that might even prove something. We used to put them on gimbals with a load cell in front. Putting one on a bike would be much more interesting. I've tested a few missiles which would scare the shit out of the rider.
 
I had to laugh. One of my bikie gang friends built a motorcycle sand-racer with a turbo-charged 5 Litre V8 in it. He and his mates all tried riding it around a short stony track on his property. Every one of them got injured in some way or another. I saw it before any of them did their stupidity and I could not believe anyone would try to ride it. It was wrong in every possible way.
 
........with a close ratio transmission, right?

You have obviously never ridden a bike with a CR box ? - It makes a big difference to a Commando. The standard box is useless. If you are going to road-race any bike, you need two things - the good front brake and the good gear box. That is what makes Period 3 historic racing prohibitively expensive in Australia.
 
If you are going to road-race any bike, you need two things - the good front brake and the good gear box.
And.....If you are going to drag-race a bike, you need also need two things - big horsepower and even bigger balls.
 
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If two are good, three are better.


Bikes with two engines?

Bikes with two engines?
 
What does that prove ? I can't see the point of it. A straight blast down a quarter mile straight does nothing for me. All you do is twist the handle and point the bike where you want to go. The only danger is the bike might fall on you or blow itself to bits. Do they use dual-engined bikes on the salt ?
 
What does that prove ? I can't see the point of it. A straight blast down a quarter mile straight does nothing for me.
In my opinion that statement says more about you than it does about Drag Racing. As a motorcycle competitor I find your level of narrow mindedness to be almost unbelievable.
 
.... A straight blast down a quarter mile straight does nothing for me.
I think that you have made that point very clearly a few times already.

What I don't understand is why it seems to bother you so much what other people choose to do with their motorcycles.

(And F.W.I.W....... Yes, there are multi engine bikes that run on the salt.)
 
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I think that you have made that point very clearly a few times already.

What I don't understand is why it seems to bother you so much what other people choose to do with their motorcycles.

(And F.W.I.W....... Yes, there are multi engine bikes that run on the salt.)

Because its not road racing on a short circuit, remember Alan only has a one set mind road race circuit riding, hes to scrad to ride on the road and maybe hes was bored with drag racing because he wasn't good at it or didn't have a bike that was good enough or the balls for it.
Maybe Alan you need to learn to stop knocking others for what they like doing, we all have our own opinions but sometimes your opinions seem to be a bit silly, I have a love of all motorcycles as well what people build.

Ashley
 
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Whatever is it that attracts me to vehicles that have to be physically balanced to stay upright is present in all those vehicles. It's not necessarily that I want to ride those crazy bombs, but that I relate to the riders' feelings of elation at the speed and freedom. It's much closer to flying than any small, slow airplane can come.

Look at the pic of Russ Collins on the triple Honda. All he needs is a cape.
 
You are quite correct. I have knocked somebody else's go. And I should never do that. But I would point out that the adrenalin rush is the motorcyclists' enemy. If you take a beta-blocker, motorcycling becomes much safer. When you have a moment on a motorcycle, the adrenalin rush makes doing the right thing to overcome it much more difficult. When I was a kid, I used to be an adrenalin junkie and I would have ridden a bike with two motors and enjoyed it. But when I was 65, it was found that I was full of cholesterol as a result of adrenalin affecting my liver.
 
I get a adrenalin rush everytime I get on my bikes, its a great feeling opening that throttle and going through the gears, pushing it through the tight twisties even better when overtaking a Harley that is struggling to get it through the tight twisties and even better now having troubles keeping the front wheel down on the road with the new Thruxton 1200 and it handle pretty good in the twisties and my mates wonder why I never brought a Harley.

Ashley
 
I have often referred to my motorcycles as "adrenalin machines".
The more I twist the throttle, the more I can get my heart pumping.

I have probably become a bit more cautious as I've gotten older, ........but not much.
 
I always thought the rush of adrenaline you get when things are about to go south was what caused time to slow down and gave you a chance to react and take mitigating action.
 
I also believed that time dilation effect was due to adrenalin until I started taking beta blockers which stop the adrenalin rush. These days. if I have a moment, I simply cope with it in the cold hard light of day and I still have the time dilation effect. The adrenalin rush does not help anything, it is probably a primordial response to danger which prepares you for flight or fight. But it is un-necessary. Before I took beta-blockers, I used to suppress the adrenalin response and that is probably the worst thing you can do. If you were living in the wild, you fight the tiger and burn off the cholesterol which is formed as a result of the adrenalin rush. This is one of the things about workplace stress - you cannot bash your boss when he gets right up you over some triviality. During my life I had both the stressful job and the adrenalin rush from racing motorcycles. At age 65, I could not walk 15 feet without having an angina attack, I also had three strokes. However I am brand new now - after two major operations.
 
About drag-racing - if you road-race the next corner is always more important than the last straight. How do you turn a bike which has two motors ? In any case, a very light powerful bike is not all bad, the second motor adds a lot of weight. If you drag race, one of the things you have to overcome is inertia. I think you will find that bike with the two Commando engines runs in a class which suits it. Does it race against 750cc two strokes in an open class ?
 
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