Boardtrack racers ?

Now consider this:

The original boardtrack racers ran engines that were easily between 500 and 1000cc......in a bicycle frame.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNCMT5R-VUk
 
That kind of torque was required to reach a high speed with a fixed gear... People these days dont have the ka-honies to do such a thing. Too concerned about hand sanitizers and shit to build and jump on something like that. P.C. safety is #1







I was born in the wrong decade I believe... I even think women look great when barefoot and pregnant! haha
 
You have to remember that the 500cc and 750cc bikes used on these tracks didn't get much hp. A 1920 Henderson Model K for example, at 1300cc, got only 18 hp.
 
Exactly.....a Lifan 150cc with cam, porting and an overbore piston (roughly 172cc) have made around 15hp 'fairly' reliably.....and weighs about the same as one of those old cast iron pistons! hahaha
 
As seen at the Barber Museum:
On a lower floor, a Board-Track Harley Davidson from the '20s, 1000cc, top speed 120mph.
A few floors above, A Beull Road-Race bike from the 20_ _s, 1200cc, top speed 120mph.
Granted the Beull accelerates, stops, and turns better by factors of ten.
But 120mph is ONE HUNDRED TWENTY FREAKING MILES PER HOUR, and to do it with no brakes, in a flimsy-assed frame, on shit tires, took BIG BRASS BALLS.

.....why am I yelling?
Because that 1919 Excelsior has me all flitterpaited. ;)
 
Hp is over rated... Those motors still had gobs of TORQUE... Thats where the saying " there's no replacement for displacement" comes from. This day and age is a prime example. How many horse is a cbr600? like 90 somthin... how many ft lbs. of torque does it produce? like 40... With out proper gearing that hp would never come into play. It would just stall......

Give me 20hp and 60-70 + ft lbs of torque any day of the week...
 
Swapmeet Louie said:
Hp is over rated... Those motors still had gobs of TORQUE... Thats where the saying " there's no replacement for displacement" comes from. This day and age is a prime example. How many horse is a cbr600? like 90 somthin... how many ft lbs. of torque does it produce? like 40... With out proper gearing that hp would never come into play. It would just stall......

Give me 20hp and 60-70 + ft lbs of torque any day of the week...
Click to expand...

Carroll Shelby, "Horsepower sells cars, but torque wins races."
Truth is truth, regardless of decade.
 
4eyes said:
Carroll Shelby, "Horsepower sells cars, but torque wins races."
Truth is truth, regardless of decade.
Click to expand...
\

Thats right...

Look at modern HD's a 1200 is under 40 hp. But will still kick the crap out of a 55 hp rated xs650. Why? repeat after me..... T-o-r-q-u-e.... haha
 
A fine point....

Though I do wonder about the sporty vs XS650 with both being equally fresh and in tune.
 
That's cool and all, but I'm still not getting on a schwinn with a panhead strapped into the frame. there's a reason that boardtrack racing died out.

Here's a video of Paul Brodie's excelsior replica that he made. Do yourself a favor and fast forward to 5:45

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEZUB0QEKK8

and his website detailing the build: http://flashbackfab.com/pages/excel00.html

amazing stuff.
 
I wanna play! And I mean that... not just participate in the thread but get ideas that have been bouncing around in my head for a while.
You see I am an older member, about 30 years ago, my GRANDAD told me stories of the boardtrackers and showed me an old sepia toned brown and white picture of his own teens (191_) HD that he modeled after them when he was a young lad in knickers and a apple cap on backwards. I had not seen a picture of the actual motordromes until about 5 years ago when I realized what he was telling me about.
Another member here had a build thread on a replica 'tracker a while back and I don't remember if he ever finished his red replica.
 
I think a small 4 stroke would be the way to go.... Like a Kohler or something?

Went browsing on the web... Looks like a perfect engine for one.

KOHLER-COMMAND-CH740-27HP-ENGINE-BLOCK-V-TWIN-PRO-27JPG.jpg


PICT0511.jpg


images.jpg


Theres your low Hp torque monster just like the real deal !!!
 
Another member here, GSPete, has stumbled across a Ducatti 50cc single engine off a Ducati Cucciolo. I threw him an idea of boardtracker on that a while back on the GS forum. ;)

IMG_3463.jpg


Here is something like it was originally on...

Ducati_Vilar_Cucciolo_1950.jpg
 
Ha thanks for the mention Hoosier! Yeah my dad gave me the Duc puppy... apparently it's a second generation from the late 1940's or so.


I have yet to dig into it, my scrambler's gotta get done first so I can get riding, then I can think about the Duc ;)


IMG_3462.jpg



IMG_3463.jpg



IMG_3458.jpg



Must have the smallest Weber I've ever seen:


IMG_3464.jpg



Anyway, no promises on a board tracker, not sure what I'm doing with it just yet... but a board tracker would definitely be very cool...
 
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