The sportbike route scares me for a few reasons:

1) I live in south florida. You are in danger of being hit by a car even in your bedroom.
2) I would probably be wanting to race it on a track within a year of owning it

But I catch myself gandering at sportbikes now and then. Its amazing- seems like $10k gets you a pretty awesome bike. I dunno, can I safely take one to a track?

It's just a risk assessment you must feel comfortable with. You might be able to safely track a sport bike, then again, you might not. You probably won't die if you wear all the good gear. maybe you get hurt though. maybe nothing, ever. do you feel lucky?

i have never felt so mortal as i recently did on a CBR 600RR. 15k rpm made me smile, but i am not comfortable riding a bike on a regular basis. perhaps i am getting old, because i am sort of a risk-taker that now gives the same schpeel you always hear from people: the more time one spends on a motorcycle, the more one increases the chances of getting f**ked up. is that % on your side?

LOL unfortunately that wiki quote I posted is not 100% correct.
Like this part:
Anyone spot the error in that? SmileWavy

No.

Track days are full of idiots, with more testosterone than talent. Nobody I know who races will go near one. Even in santioned racing series, where everybody on the track has vastly greater skill and better equipment than the average track day junkie, people die. A rider was killed this weekend at the AMA nationals at VIR.

My suggestion is that you steer clear of bikes if they scare you.

JR

After listening to the video, I'd agree with Nostatic. Some of today's motorcycles make that "swarm of bees" noise.

Well, what he really means by "transverse" is the horizontal component of the shaking force. Also, these cranks do have counterweights to deal with the primary rotating forces. Also, I don't see that crank as the limiting factor in engine speed....etc.

Wikipedia entries are written by anybody willing to do so, qualified or not.

JR

PS. The vibrations aren't that bad, so you can throw out the need for the balance shafts, too.

4cyl sport bikes never sound as exotic as a tune v12

An MV Agusta F4 isn't bad...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-Rnaa5HZ0Q

JR

Not enough cylinders to sound as cool as the lambo

The author stated that the single-plane crankshaft doesn't need counterweights so it's lighter and spins up faster, but he also says that it needs counter-balance shafts which tend to be heavy by design and their inertia will slow down the rate of speed change.
Contradicted himself.

True, but the simpler thing is that both a 90 degree crank and a 180 degree crank need counterweights for the same reason, to deal with the primary rotating forces, so there is no difference between them in that respect.

I've never seen a 180 degree V8 crank without counterweights. I've also never seen a V8 using a 180 degree crank that has a counterbalance shaft. So, you can pretty much throw out that whole paragraph.

JR

Yep. the only thing that complicates the whole picture is when we start talking about the Porsche 917 180 degree flat V12. I don't believe it had counterweights ;)

Comparing Japanese 2-wheeled sewing machines to Italian sports cars? Far fetched.

Sure it did. So did the 16 cylinder version. Here's a pic of a crank installed in a case half.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1219101676.jpg


JR

Twat, probably. But, 8 grand with a 12 sounds like 12 grand with an 8. (If you can get the 180 degree exhaust thing worked out.) Think IRL car.

the countach vid has been one of my favs for a while. the ferrari commercial has also

this is another, one of the better in-car vids on youtube. love this sound ..lambo miura

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/m5s0nBCjSFM&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/m5s0nBCjSFM&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

and this is excellento

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/L0SbGAghMZw&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/L0SbGAghMZw&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

Greatest movie soundtrack of all time!!!!!
<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/-eU8j4MeJ4I&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/-eU8j4MeJ4I&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

I approve of your multiplication but an IRL car has one of the worst sounds ever.

There is more to sound quality than meets the eye (ear?) Take an early example of the Ferrari V8, which sounds a little dull and low in pitch. The newer ones sound great and have a much higher pitch, like a 12. They are nothing alike.

Of course, it doesn't hurt that Ferrari now spends quite a bit of time working on the sound of their exhausts, which is something they didn't do in the old days.

One of the most wicked sounds on the planet comes from a Carrera GT.

JR

not for those with ADD, you have to sit back and relax to listen to this: 1953 BRM Supercharged 1.5L V16

EDIT: and turn your sound all the way up.

That from Nick Mason's CD?

JR