# The new Dodge Motorcycle
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-dodge-motorcycle/147564
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [January 9, 2003, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-dodge-motorcycle/147564 "2003-01-09T18:44:10Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)
#### Post date: [January 9, 2003, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-dodge-motorcycle/147564/1 "2003-01-09T18:44:10Z")
Well for those that want the ultimate ride look no further then [this baby.](http://www.americanmotor.com/news.cfm?newsid=2140)
GENERAL INFORMATION
Body Style: Single-seat Viper-powered motorcycle concept vehicle
DIMENSIONS:
Overall Length: 102 inches
Overall Width: 27.7 inches
Overall Height: 36.9 inches
Wheelbase: 76 inches
Seat Height: 29 inches
Curb Weight: 1,500 lbs.
Track, Front: 8.75 inches
Track, Rear: 10 inches
Weight Dist., % F/R 49/51
Ground Clearance: 3 inches
Fuel Tank Capacity: 3.25 gallons
I don’t know how the hell you’d pick that thing up though, guess it’s best with four wheels.
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### Author:  [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)
#### Post date: [January 9, 2003, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-dodge-motorcycle/147564/2 "2003-01-09T18:47:42Z")
You forgot a couple big points:
Zero to 60 in 2.5 seconds.
Estimated top speed of 400 miles per hour. With no windscreen, yet.
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### Author:  [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)
#### Post date: [January 9, 2003, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-dodge-motorcycle/147564/3 "2003-01-09T18:51:58Z")
I didn’t want to scare anyone just yet. I can’t imagine going that fast on a bike, though the 0-60 would be pretty cool.
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### Author:  [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)
#### Post date: [January 9, 2003, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-dodge-motorcycle/147564/4 "2003-01-09T18:53:52Z")
I still prefer the Harley-powered [Merlin](http://www.corbin.com/corbinmotors/merlinroadster.shtml).
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### Author:  [@badmana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/badmana)
#### Post date: [January 9, 2003, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-dodge-motorcycle/147564/5 "2003-01-09T18:55:12Z")
Look at that weight! I’d hate to have to pick that thing up if it fell over (you’d need a tow truck!)
And 2.5 seconds is pretty bad for 500 HP.
Wouldn’t 3.25 gallons last you 20 miles with that engine? 😃
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### Author:  [@Cerowyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerowyn)
#### Post date: [January 9, 2003, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-dodge-motorcycle/147564/6 "2003-01-09T19:27:04Z")
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](http://www.projectbasketcase.com/info/airdrag.html) (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](http://www.smokemup.com/auto_math/hp_wind_resistance.php), 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. 😃
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### Author:  [@Danalan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danalan)
#### Post date: [January 9, 2003, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-dodge-motorcycle/147564/7 "2003-01-09T20:39:24Z")
I’m sure someone has a performance chip and some easily-bolted on goodies that would double the horsepower.
Then you should be able to hit 400+. Without even dropping it out of an airplane.🙂
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### Author:  [@jk1245](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jk1245)
#### Post date: [January 9, 2003, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-dodge-motorcycle/147564/8 "2003-01-09T21:21:29Z")
Wonder what your insurance premium would be on this sucker.
Male, age 23, unmarried: “Hello, I’d like to buy coverage for my new motorcycle”
Agent (chuckling):“Ummm…what type of bike is it?”
Guy:“oh, it’s that new Dodge Tomahawk. You know, the one that does 400 mph”
Agent (in stunned silence): “Could you hold please”
You need to take out a 2nd loan for your premiums 🙂
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### Author:  [@Boldface\_Type](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boldface_Type)
#### Post date: [January 9, 2003, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-dodge-motorcycle/147564/9 "2003-01-09T21:29:58Z")
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](http://217.33.73.68/private/toys4boys2.htm). 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…
BfT.
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### Author:  [@The\_Stranger\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stranger_1)
#### Post date: [January 9, 2003, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-dodge-motorcycle/147564/10 "2003-01-09T21:42:20Z")
That thing screams “COFFIN”
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.
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### Author:  [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2003, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-dodge-motorcycle/147564/11 "2003-01-10T00:13:36Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@brianjedi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianjedi)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2003, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-dodge-motorcycle/147564/12 "2003-01-10T00:57:47Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2003, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-dodge-motorcycle/147564/13 "2003-01-10T01:00:15Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by levdrakon \*
> \*\*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. \*\*
Paging Robbie Kineval!
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### Author:  [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2003, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-dodge-motorcycle/147564/14 "2003-01-10T14:38:00Z")
All been done before, and you can too, just go to the Boss Hoss website.
[http://www.motobykz.co.uk/BossHoss/BossHoss.htm](http://www.motobykz.co.uk/BossHoss/BossHoss.htm)
…and just when you thought 502BHP was not enough, well try halfway down this page,
[http://www.bosshosscountry.com/classifiedmembers.htm](http://www.bosshosscountry.com/classifiedmembers.htm)
My guesss is, maybe 1105BHP is adequate.
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### Author:  [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2003, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-dodge-motorcycle/147564/15 "2003-01-10T14:43:29Z")
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?
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### Author:  [@SlickRoenick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlickRoenick)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2003, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-dodge-motorcycle/147564/16 "2003-01-10T14:52:52Z")
Does this beast turn like a car? Or does the operator have to _lean_ like a regular bike?
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### Author:  [@Spiny\_Norman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiny_Norman)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2003, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-dodge-motorcycle/147564/17 "2003-01-10T16:18:24Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Coldfire \*
> \*\*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? \*\*
Preach it, brother!
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 ? 😛
S. Norman
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### Author:  [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2003, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-dodge-motorcycle/147564/18 "2003-01-10T16:22:12Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@Spiny\_Norman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiny_Norman)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2003, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-dodge-motorcycle/147564/19 "2003-01-10T16:33:35Z")
Good point about the transmission. 4 wheels, I’m friggin’ speechless. And 1500 pounds, to boot. That thing is a misunderstanding.
Oh, just to rub it in - a few pics from the ride we took Jan 4th: [http://www.amschwartz.net/jillandthomas/riding.html](http://www.amschwartz.net/jillandthomas/riding.html) 😃 (I’m going to hell for this.)
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### Author:  [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2003, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-dodge-motorcycle/147564/20 "2003-01-10T16:42:49Z")
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. 🙂
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