Quote:
Originally Posted by E1
Any comments from competitors as to changing some of the criteria or having lower leagues for these events to increase their audience?
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Yeah I've been conversing with Alan a little. He came in with a semi-streamlined bike this year, a second Nina 250 that he has, instead of his normal, silver full streamliner; the latter has achieved over 181 mpg; he accomplished that feat in 2014 when I was there last; beating Fred Hayes's diesel by a mere 3 mpg and winning the event that year. Alan tried to ride from CA as he usually does with the silver machine, but he had sprocket troubles; had to have one Fedex'd to him; it was a 41 (bigger than he wanted). Somehow, I actually bested him by around 2 mpg. I contacted him to find out why this might have happened. This semi streamliner has a large tail; and a streamlined nose; just no streamlining in the rider area, aka doors. He had more modified gearing than mine; mine is bone stock gearing with the original 43 rear sprocket. His was a 41 instead of the stock 46 or something like that.
Anyway, neither of us are happy with having super long stops for electric charging. And even more than that, the short ride of around 95 miles that we had this year leaves too much room for error with gas bikes with the top off accuracy, since we have no accurate metering system. Filling up with more gas would minimize errors, but this year was maximized. Vic didn't like it at all. He was a little bothered by his high score of 236 mpg. His refill amount was just over .4, so even though I can't contact him afterward, I know that he wasn't happy with the short ride and the possibility that his number wasn't accurate, because he can't understand how he can go from 187 to 236 with almost no changes, and everyone else was down. The ride was pretty fast. Some of it at 75 mph. The first 5 miles on the interstate anyway.
As for the stops, I mean... I didn't time it, but it had to be nearly an hour for a coffee shop break; and then another long break for lunch. It still took us to near 2:00, and we had to be there of the morning at 7. It's sort of conflicting, because I want the electrics to have a chance to compete and go the distance, but on the other hand, I want to go more than 100 miles, and my bike does well if it's very warm, but yet I don't want it to be much longer than seven hours for the event, because many of us ride in or drive in from a long distance the day before. Kraig has suggested that the bikes ride another 50-100 miles after we're all done, but like I said, I'd rather not have that long of a day. Alan said he'll push for the gas bikes to go on after the first break next year.
Kraig's heart is in the right place. The short route was due to the fact that it was a much better route; not to favor electrics. Much prettier; much less traffic than years past, and some really good stopping points. They actually found that out doing a route recon. the day before so this was not a power play. We just need to work it out.
I also sent Ben an email but no reply. I am very interested in his bike and why it's not near the top. He has very high gearing; as high as he can go without major mods; he's got a full streamlined body that he built; he's got a very fuel economical power plant in a Honda CBR250R, but yet he came in behind Vic, the three electrics, and Scott Endler; the latter of which has only a very well-built and designed tail. Ben blames it on his riding style. I didn't catch that much on what he had to say, but when I was behind him, he was doing much better than some other competitors I followed and had to pass due to the slinky effect they were causing riding behind them. He was tucked in tight. Did not budge, and very consistent speed. I'm not convinced he was riding too aggressively. I did some passing. I did not lug though I did shift short more than I would back home. I also tucked a lot, and I think that gave me about 6-8 more mpg, because, like I say, the ride was pretty fast, and most regular riders, including the electrics were down a little from 2014.
Scott Endler continues to amaze me with that tail-only CBR250R. Ben was fully streamlined and achieved 124. Paul Wright achieved 79 on a stock version of that same bike. I beat him by 9 mpg, but Paul is a much bigger man than me physically speaking. Last year, Scott did his best ever at 144 I think. This year, he hit 128. Comparatively speaking, except for Vic who blew it out, Scott did just as well I think!
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