another thing they are forgetting is the friction coefficient differences of the sizes of tires as well actually I think a subtle time warp occurrs as the tires expand if it hotter than normal which makes the bike seem faster......if it colder than normal it feel slower.........i could be wrong on a point or two, but I dont think so..........

 

I wasn't trying to put a man on the moon. I was only after the basic answers so I knew where I had to be with my sprocket ratio on 22" tires so that it would still have the same top speed.

You should see how much a 25x13 Wolly Bugger expands at 60mph, when you only have 2-3 lbs air pressure in it. Roughly speaking, you can gain about 1-2mph for every inch the tire grows. The problem I had with trying to measure my tire growth was getting a way to measure it while it was turning 60mph. Besides the extra speed I may get from this is minimal. I feel that it is just a free-be you get, to get you an extra couple mph. I did not count it in my equation, but yes I know it exist.

As for friction coefficient, I belive this to be true also. However, how much do you really think that this will change your speed. Maybe the difference between -20 to 100 degrees would equal about a 1 or 2 mph difference. Besides, my quad always runs better the colder it gets outside.

Like I said, I know that their are alot of different factors that relate to tires and top speeds but I was only interested in the basics so that I could change my sprocket ratio to make up for the smaller tires. You could say that I was only curious to see just how many people could figure this out. My 13 year old daughter is in algebra this year. She saw me working all these different formulas and said I didn't know what I was doing. The more I tried to explain it to her, the more confused she got. She found out, parents are alot smarter than she thought. Go figure.

 

Chris,

There is an old saying that goes something like this:

When I was 18, I though my father was the dumbest guy in the world. When I turned 30, I was amazed at how much smarter he got in those twelve years.

I seriously sucked at just about any kind of math in school (D's). When I came home from the service, I was helping my sister (straight A student) with math and it was easy. I guess my parents were right about me, I really never applied myself.

 

Don't forget the increased frontal area of the tires due to "growth" at higher speeds. This will cause a greater amount of drag on the machine and will slow it down. Also, by lowering the back-end of the machine you will expose more of the undercarriage to the wind stream thereby increasing atmospheric resistance. We've only taken into account straight line velocity. The smaller sidewalls can also affect the handling and aerodynamics of the machine in a turn.

We can sit here and think of a hundred different things that would help or hurt the overall speed of the machine but wouldn't it be more fun to just ride the machine and find out?

 

The Service Manager at my Dealership is a real smart guy and he told me these secret tips when racing:

1. Always race someone on the side nearest the moon so that its gravitational pull will be slightly higher on your quad than on your opponents.

2. When starting off the line, open your mouth and suck in a deep gulp of air to help pull you and the quad forward. If the timing is right, and you have previously eaten some gas producing foods like beans or cabbage, you can also use that to your advantage. Use this one when you are being overtaken, if they get close to you give'em a "blast of gas" and it's like hitting the Nitrous button. Foul smelling gas will also cause your opponent to reconsider his position.

Like I told you, he is a real smart guy.

 

Calculators

I have found these to be pretty usefull.

 

We all know that friction creates heat. Given that....how fast would a bull frog have to go across a puddle of water to make it boil?