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Posted on 10/28/2005 2:30:30 PM PDT by martin_fierro
Mini gas turbine motorcycle
Posted Oct 28, 2005, 11:00 AM ET by Eliot Phillips
Russ W. Moore of Bad Brothers Racing has an awesome project on his hands. The motorcycle frame is from a Yamaha YSR-50. Smaller than a standard street bike and larger than a pocket bike it comes with a 50cc engine and is street legal. The gas turbine is being constructed from a Cummins ST-50 usually found in large trucks. The documentation is pretty thorough and covers the build from the beginning. It’s still in progress, the exhaust and pumps still need to be mounted, possibly a starter too. The ECU will be a Basic Stamp II. See, you don’t need to be Jay Leno or have 150K to have your own jet bike.
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This miniature turbine-powered motorcycle is an oddball solution seeking a problem! ;-)
~ Blue Jays ~
not all who wander are lost. (smiles)
OK, where is the intercooler that will keep that thing from melting the first time you whack it?
OK, where is the drive chain?? LOL
If nothing else, I'd love to hear what that little thing sounds like! Same deal with the MTT Y2K turbine motorcycle popularized by Jay Leno a few years ago.
~ Blue Jays ~
"I don' know nuffin' 'bout no intercoolers!"
"It pegs my dial!"
I'll take the sound and ride of a booming 90° V-Twin any day ~ almost as good as the sound of big booming V-8 engine. ;)
Looks like it might toast your buns rather than smoke your tires.
Where is the rest of the frame??
Right...
Actually, I did once read an interesting story about a YSR-50.
As a gift to him when he was running the Yamaha World Championship Grand Prix team, Yamaha gave Kenny Roberts a YSR-50, all decked out in the colors he won the world championship in. However, they removed the 50cc engine, and replaced it with a "works" 80cc motocross engine. As I recall from the story, it allowed this bike to have a top speed of over 110 MPH.
Kenny Roberts was probably about the only rider in the world talented enough at the time to be able to ride that little monster at speed, as anyone can attest who had seen him riding dirt track for Yamaha with a TZ-750 racer engine in his bike! The AMA outlawed that combination pretty quickly, and most riders would never have even tried to ride it. But Kenny was winning races with it!
Mark
I don't think there's any drivetrain at all. It looks like they took a turbocharger, ported fuel into it and turned it into a turbojet. If I'm not mistaken there was an episode of Junkyard Wars where they did the same thing.
I used to work for Motion-Pro and there was a big-ass picture on the wall of Kenny riding that TZ with A&A Racing sponsorship. A&A is operated by Motion Pro now.
There is a reason he is called King Kenny.
I don't think there's any drivetrain at all. It looks like they took a turbocharger, ported fuel into it and turned it into a turbojet. If I'm not mistaken there was an episode of Junkyard Wars where they did the same thing.
I was thinking that this was a joke, so I did a google search, and it appears that they're on the "up and up." Here's their web site: http://www.badbros.net
Mark
These normally have 50-80cc engines so there isn't any other part to the frame. Wheels are 10" if I remember correctly.
There is a reason he is called King Kenny.
No kidding. I remember keeping up on his last season as a racer, when he lost out to Freddie Spencer. Damn, that was one amazing season. And he turned into quite a team owner as well, given that he had Eddie and Wayne riding for him later on.
I just wish that he could get something really going with his MotoGP team. I love the idea that a guy who was quite possibly the greatest motorcycle road racer ever (certainly in the top 5) is trying to beat the factories. I'm just bummed that KTM pulled their engines from him. I really would love to see his team win some races (although I really support the Ducati MotoGP team!).
Say, did you see the Yamaha ad from the US Grand Prix, where they had Kenny and his OW-01 (I think) with his "bumble-bee" colors, flanked by Rossi and Edwards in their "bumble-bee" leathers and bikes?
Mark
Oh yeah! God I love those bumble-bee colors!
Yamaha should stick with those colors.
Spencer was amazing, but that season he won both the 250 and 500 titles I think did him in. He was never the same racer after that.
I always loved seeing Mamola ride. Always fun and exciting, but always the underdog too! I've had several opportunities to ride with him, and he is by far the fastest rider on the street that I have ever seen.
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