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Making the bike lighter and safer
Hi All,
We all know how critical Power to Weight ratio is for bikes.... specially those which we intent to rip hard. Also, it's a fact that most of the Indian speedsters have very lousy numbers in this aspect, resulting in the bikes not being able to perform to their full potentials.
Say for example my bike - 2007 Bajaj Pulsar 200 ->
With a Peak Power of 18 PS and a kerb Weight of 145 Kilos, the bike is expending a considerable amount of that 18 PS pulling itself. And when I'm riding it, it's a straight 145 + 80 = 225 kilo..... but the Peak Power reamined the same at 18 PS. Again we also need to consider the fact that this Peak Power of 18 PS, comes somewhere arround the 8500 rpm mark, and genereally we are not ripping that hard all the time, so that means, I mean putting 225 kilo on the bike when it's milling out less than 18 PS.
One way to decrease this dicrepency is to amply increase the Power Output of the Engine. But with the current SOHC, Single Cylinder and twine valve architecture of the engine, we can't make a significant impact on the engine power, and also I do not advocate heafty engine mods. So, the other way round is to make the bike lighter...... as lighter as possible. But the approach should be sensitive and well thought off, else instead of zippy bike, we would be riding a time bomb, ticking and waiting to fall apart.
Second most important thing is the safety features. I mean take any Indian bikes and it's sans any safety features. It's a fact that the bike is as safe as the rider rides safely, but still our Indian bikes lack any safety technology built in. I Gurgaon roads, I've seen fatal accidents with rider riding a 100cc bike and crashing!!
So, fellow Bikers .... Bike Lover let's discuss how we can make our mean machines more zippy, lighter and above all safer..... so that when the fun is on.... we live it to the fullest!!
We all know how critical Power to Weight ratio is for bikes.... specially those which we intent to rip hard. Also, it's a fact that most of the Indian speedsters have very lousy numbers in this aspect, resulting in the bikes not being able to perform to their full potentials.
Say for example my bike - 2007 Bajaj Pulsar 200 ->
With a Peak Power of 18 PS and a kerb Weight of 145 Kilos, the bike is expending a considerable amount of that 18 PS pulling itself. And when I'm riding it, it's a straight 145 + 80 = 225 kilo..... but the Peak Power reamined the same at 18 PS. Again we also need to consider the fact that this Peak Power of 18 PS, comes somewhere arround the 8500 rpm mark, and genereally we are not ripping that hard all the time, so that means, I mean putting 225 kilo on the bike when it's milling out less than 18 PS.
One way to decrease this dicrepency is to amply increase the Power Output of the Engine. But with the current SOHC, Single Cylinder and twine valve architecture of the engine, we can't make a significant impact on the engine power, and also I do not advocate heafty engine mods. So, the other way round is to make the bike lighter...... as lighter as possible. But the approach should be sensitive and well thought off, else instead of zippy bike, we would be riding a time bomb, ticking and waiting to fall apart.
Second most important thing is the safety features. I mean take any Indian bikes and it's sans any safety features. It's a fact that the bike is as safe as the rider rides safely, but still our Indian bikes lack any safety technology built in. I Gurgaon roads, I've seen fatal accidents with rider riding a 100cc bike and crashing!!
So, fellow Bikers .... Bike Lover let's discuss how we can make our mean machines more zippy, lighter and above all safer..... so that when the fun is on.... we live it to the fullest!!
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