Wave Fronts

Introducing Queen Ann

This is my street bike "Queen Ann." Ann is a mostly stock 2006 Yamaha 50th anniversary YZFR6. The two significant mods (fitted by the extremely capable ladies and gents at the Triangle Cycles Durham shop) consist of a full set of sliders and an extra engine management computer. The sliders are the "protrusions" out the ends of the handlebars, out the sides where the engine is, and out the ends of the rear axle. They prevent the plastic and other expensive bits of the bike from hitting the pavement in case the bike falls over. I don't recall how expensive the sliders were, but they paid for themselves in the first few weeks, as I literally fumbled the bike onto its right side in my driveway and later had a more exciting situation that ended with the bike falling on its left side. The extra computer (tucked near the battery under the main seat) is a Dynojet Research Power Commander. As I understand it, this little box provides additional, user-programmable control over the fuel injection, allowing fine tuning tailored to the stock engine or in combination with other mods like a full race exhaust system. There is a second unit for making the ignition timing tunable, but that (and an alternative exhaust system) will have to wait for the point in time that I consider replacing my track R6 EverEvoRevolution (just "Ever" here) with Ann.

Here's how I imagine Queen Ann*. You see, this queen is powerful, yet gentle when not aroused. She purrs like a big cat and is quite happy to take me down my street at 25mph in top gear (something my Metralla of the 60s was not at all happy to do). She starts up easily, even on a cold morning. Yet when I twist this cat's wrist with mine, she changes magically from a gentle cat to barely tamed beast. The most impressive moment I've had so far, conducted on a completely empty piece of expressway when I was sure I couldn't hurt anybody if something went wrong, was dropping Ann down to 2nd gear at "expressway speed" then rolling the throttle up to full. This combination of speed and gears had Ann's engine turning in the rpm band where maximum power is generated (somewhere around 110hp). Ann and rider came to about 550 pounds for a power to weight ratio of 1:5. The latest Porsche Turbo (that I could look up cruising Wikipedia) has a 480hp engine and weights around 3500 pounds for a power to weight ratio of 1:7.2. In summary, the resulting acceleration when I twisted my wrist was astonishing, and it was time to shift into 3rd gear approximately one eyeblink later. This gave me a hint of the fun waiting for me at VIR, Barber, and CMP when I can take Ever for visits in my truck. I'm making some minor repairs to Ever and getting it prepared with it's new "colors" now and I'll share snapshots of at the point I've made real progress.

* This is a sculpture outside the museum at Barber Motorsports Park east of Birmingham, Alabama. If you have an interest in motorcycles, a visit to this museum should be on your list.

Posted at 08:12AM Oct 26, 2006 by microwaves in Motorcycle Road Racing  |  Comments[0]