There is pretty much zero chance that the bike would get anywhere near 400 MPH. The article notes that the estimate does not factor in the coefficient of drag, which any motorcylist will tell you is significant, especially on an un-fared bike like this. The current Viper has a Cd of about 0.35, IIRC. Most motorcycles are in the 0.5 to 1.0 range (although some fully fared bikes do manage to get down around 0.3), and IMO, the Tomahawk would at best be about 0.65. Assuming the rider could get down to 12 inches over the seat (probably pretty impossible), the frontal area of the bike is about 5.9 sq. ft. (the Viper’s is about 20.5 sq. ft). From this site, plugging in those numbers gives us a table of the horse power required to overcome drag at various speeds. Reading down the table, it appears that the drag limited speed of my optimistic version of the Tomahawk is about 265 MPH.
Still fast enough to get the pilot into a lot of trouble, though.
It’s an interesting lump o’ sculpture, but if it’s a motorbike, I’m a small Norwegian pine forest.
Regarding the speed estimate, as Cerowyn points out, it’ll never get near 400mph. There’s plenty of bike exotica around, turbo’d Hayabusas and the like, and AFAIK none have even cracked 250mph, despite reasonably aerodynamic styling. One example’s here. From that site, looks like c. 230mph off 400hp is a ballpark figure.
I doubt it will actually manage 2.5s to 60 either; with that much weight and power, it’ll be spinning that rear hoop before you can shout the holy incantation ‘Honda’.
Plus, I hope any riders of the Dodge confection are not planning to tackle any corners…
and I don’t think it can be technically referred to as a “Motorcycle”; as it has four wheels.
it IS cool, and if you wanted to go out in a blaze of glory, or at least in a blaze of speed…it’d be a good ride.
I watched a short piece about it on TechTV. I thought they said over 300 mph, but noone was really sure because no motorcyclist was willing to try. Yet.
I’m more than a little suspicious of the front suspension on that thing. Did you see the video clip where it hit a couple of bumps? The front of the motor almost bounced off the ground because of how the front wheel is mounted. It’ll never get built as a production model, and I’ve heard that the demo model will not turn at all.
Four wheels? That’s no motorcycle, then. It’s a badly designed car.
And 2.5 for the 0-60 dash? Big deal. I think a few of the off-the-shelve superbikes can do it about 2.5 as well. The Ninja ZX-12R or Gixxer 1100, perhaps?
The 2003 Kawasaki ZZ-R 1200 has been clocked (by the press, not the factory) at 2.4 for the 0-60. I believe you’re right about the ZX-12R at an even 2.5. Both, as you write, stock. And both of these bikes turn, something I think this brick-with-crome would have a damn hard time doing.
(Incidentally, I wonder if it has a reverse ? Imagine having to wrestle that thing backwards after an ill-planned parking.)
Ah. Think I’ll go riding this weekend. What’s the Dutch weather like ?
You feckin’ bastard. Snow, minus 6 in the day, minus 14 at night. The Divvy’s in my sister’s shed, some 120 clicks away from here. But go ahead, enjoy yourself in the canyons. See if I care.
Other than that, I think this thing probably has a reverse, yeah. I mean, no reason to replace that Dodge transmission when you’re using four wheels anyway.
You got a serious haircut, that’s the first thing I noticed.
Nice pics, and yeah, that’s still one rocking bike. The weather is undoubtedly better for riding than the stuff I see outside my window now. At least I know my limitations, unlike the guy here at work who tried to gun his 2003 Harley Soft Tail (30K euros, kids!) out of the parking garage, only to have it spin out of control on the black ice on the ramp and crash. He was fine, except for his ego. The Harley? Well insured, and it’s a good thing too - 10K euros worth of damage! I mean, that damage is twice the current value of my CAR. Unbelievable.
I’ll start the Divvy again when the sun comes out again. Call me a wimp, but there you have it.
