Todd (Narider) went 154 mph on a rigid sportster at Maxton in "06 ... He can tell how it went and the surface wasn't as good as it is now ... JD
Joe,
Although I rode that bike quite a few times I've only been in the upper 130's on it. It's Dad Land's bike and he went 154 on it in 2002 actually (and on fire in the traps at that -
). The bike handled fine, ran straight and stuck to the track fairly well. Also take into consideration that Franey's bike at the same nominal speed was not so comforting for him.
Nefareous,
As Scott said, Leo's bike is said to have stuck to the track fine but is also said to have gave him some serious white knuckles making "the turn" (it was more of a turn and extremely narrow back then). Surely this was due to his square tire and heavy rake of the bike, not his rigid frame.
So the setup of the frame, just how "rigid" it is (some flex is necessary of course), and certainly tire pressures will be the deciding factor of how it handles on acceleration portion of the track. I doubt square drag tires will ever be alllowed back to Maxton (remember, Leo is a very seasoned rider and as Scott mentioned, he has not returned after his multiple runs that year). We have bikes at the track that run in the 240mph-260mph range at almost every meet... use legal and proven rubber, there's no sense in redesigning the tire.
By the way(FYI), there has not been a Harley go 200mph at Maxton since that time, and there are MANY metric bikes (Hayabusas, ZX-12's and ZX14's included), that have not reached the speed that Harley did over a decade ago.
Todd
