Quote:
Originally Posted by sammyg2
Dunno if anyone has ever tried to ride a real short-track speedway bike, but they are pure evil with a capital E.
500cc single cylinder 4 stroke, with crazy high compression ratio, burning alcohol and direct drive (no transmission). They weigh about 170 pounds wet.
The ultimate in torque.
I tried riding a jawa once at saddleback mountain on the old TT track.
Flipped it once which was not hard to do. Incredible torque and instant throttle response and gearing from hell.
I got it going in a straight line easy enough but could not control the slide at all.
Finally learned the trick, a bike like that must be ridden in anger. You gotta be hard on the throttle to keep the tire spinning to maintain the slide.
I eventually got it to slide a little but was never smooth.
It looked kinda like this one:
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Yeah, I tried riding a buddy's speedway bike back in the early '80's when I was still stupid enough to think I could. These things reward full commitment and punish fear with an uncommon ruthlessness. There are no half measures, or carefully feeling them out, inching your way up on it. No way. The only way not to get hurt is to ride it like you stole it from the first twist of the throttle. Anything less and it will just flick you like a booger... "Next..."