I'm a new rider on a kawasaki ex 500, about 600 miles of riding (total), so I'm still pretty green.

I was definetely on the slowest bike. a few allout drag bikes and several with stretched swingarms and power adders. the fastest street bike was a zx-14 with a stretched frame and a 40 shot. he was running 5.6's (1/8th mile)

as for me....I need to practice my launches.

3 hours and 4 runs later...

_reaction: 0.731
_____60': 2.114
___1/8th: 8.752
____mph: 80.39

_reaction: 0.866
_____60': 2.104
___1/8th: 8.747
____mph: 79.18

_reaction: 0.626
_____60': 2.077
___1/8th: 8.741
____mph: 79.30

_reaction: 0.850
_____60': 2.121
___1/8th: 8.762
____mph: 80.03

the times I trapped 79 mph, I was holding 3rd gear through the traps

on all of these runs, I was running 32 psi in the rear.

I did a burnout on the last one to warm up the tires, but thats clearly not the issue.

there was an hour and a half of waiting in between the 3rd and 4th run, so I lost whatever kind of improvement groove I might have been developing. I actually had to use the choke to get the bike started.

I think im just easing the clutch out too slowly to get a good solid launch

I was thinking not bad for a first timer...maybe some 60' practice in a parking lot and I could land an 8.5x

 

dragging an ex500??

 

got to start somewhere.

besides, this is a honda forum, most people on here know all about dragging underpowered vehicles.

 

your launch and reaction time seems to be your problem.
what rpm do you launch at? most street bike draggers will tell you to launch at redline or peak hp, but its better to launch at peak torque, which in this case would be around 8k for your bike.
you should work on your reaction time though, your third run wasnt to bad but you should get it within the .500's.

 

I varied launch rpm somewhere between 6-8k.

i figure reaction time will improve with a few more trips to the track.

I really think its that im letting the clutch out too softly.

after thinking about it, a 7500 rpm launch should be about right once I get used to dropping the clutch a little harder.

I didnt want to risk doing a wheelie and losing it.

I also wonder what the dyno graph for this thing looks like.

I was shifting at 12k (redline), but I think peak power hits at 9500 rpm, meaning that depending on gearing and how fast the torque falls off, I might not be generating the most torque possible at all times.

 

the dyno numbers i have for a 500r show 50.2 hp @ 9250 rpm and 30.9 tq @ 7750 rpm.

where ever theres a redline on your tach is where you should shift on a stock bike. thats why theres a redline.

also, try to think of your reaction time as a pre-action time. people that get perfect .500 launches dont actually react to the light. its humanly impossible to actually react to a light within .5 seconds, i believe it takes a human .2 seconds to recognized an object and .5 to react to it resulting in a .7 reaction time. so just learn the rhythm of the light and youll be set.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by tharptroy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">got to start somewhere.

besides, this is a honda forum, most people on here know all about dragging underpowered vehicles.</TD></TR></TABLE>

lol

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by tharptroy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">got to start somewhere.

besides, this is a honda forum, most people on here know all about dragging underpowered vehicles.</TD></TR></TABLE>

haha, that's pretty good

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by tharptroy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">besides, this is a honda forum, most people on here know all about dragging underpowered vehicles.</TD></TR></TABLE>

LOL