Your top speed (so far)

[Flightrite]

I don't think I could. So much of what happens is out of your hands. Like golf, you putt for sheep stations. At each end is the unknown where you lose the points. Get someone on final when lining up or some so and so is backtracking SLOW. I've had it done on purpose and got sent round " I elected to" because it was too close. Not ALL pilots are gentlemen. Nev

 

So true Nev! It's a game to some pilots, I've seen it first hand with the SkyGods, they take great delight in playing the man whenever they can!

[facthunter]

You can Pick them.. They get their uniform on to pick up the kids from school. (on a day off). Only some. Usually the ones that wore Bars when doing basic training at Moorabin or such places .Nev

[Bennyboy320]

Please, only posted for interest, no intention to come across as a wanker, 695kts @ 250’ & M1.6 @ FL400 in a ? nearly 30 years ago.

 

However my heart ❤️ belongs to my Foxbat.

 

Stay safe & fly often, if possible, as for me I’m

getting high in the simulator? just a grounded airline pilot.

[Jerry_Atrick]

Seeing a couple of guys have mentioned motorcycles, I will too - a long time ago, Kawasaki brought out a machine called GPZ900 - or something like that...

I worked for a motorcycle shop and my 'company vehicle' was one of these beasties

I wanted to see how it would go through the gears at redline, so I went up to the top of the Brisbane freeway, turned around and headed back down towards BrisVegas

Redlined it through the gears, in fourth it was still rock steady but getting scary fast - changed into top (6th) and glanced down at the speedo a few seconds later..

240km/h and it was still going - nearly needed an undie change after that.....

 

BP

 

I did something similar.. though worse! Bit of background - I did my L plates at Laverton with Stay Upright when I was 27. I took a bike for a test ride after that but for some reason that was the last time I rode before I did my UK CBT (learners equivalent) at the age of 41. I did this because I needed to get to work from Richmond to Watford, which has carp public transport and after bringing in the London congestion charge, pushed all the traffic out west and my daily commute went from 45 mins each way to1.5 hours.. That was the logic I used to convince SWMBO.. In the UK, you are restricted to 125CC or 13bhp as a learner. When you first get your licence on probation, you can get a bike as big as you want as long as it is limited to 33bhp and then when you have done three years or thereabouts, you can lift the restriction. Alternatively, if you are something like over 25 and have at least 5 years of a full driving licence, wihtout penalty points you can do a direct access course - min of 5 days training on a bike of at least 46bhp and a higher standard test. Then, on getting your licence this way, you are immediatley allowed any sized bike that is legal. If you think it's nuts, you're right - disproportionately high number of fatalities of 40 odd year olds returning to biking after a long layoff thinking they are kings of the roads hitting the big bike - what could go wrong? Well, along comes Jerry!

 

Anyway, I did the direct access course and passed but kept the little CG125 for a while.. However, when being passed on the motorway by a fully laden tip truck and feeling frustrated, I knew I outgrew the CG. So, I sold it and cleverly bought a VFR750F-G (1986) unseen off ebay for a bargain. It was as I expected - tyres were OK, but virtually all service items needed to be replaced as did the fuel line, which I duct taped up. However, with the direct cam V4 engine, it ran like the clappers and was really a well balanced machine. On my way to Watford - maybe a 10 mile run up the M1, I was crusing at 70 mph and a stonking merc overtook me at speed. The testosterone injectors than come in helmets kicked in and I was having non of it.. so I accelerated up to about 90mph, the bike claning a bit with the loose chain but apart from that performing flawlessly. Raking it up to 100, it lurched forward, which initially took me by surprise, but apparently they were known for doing this as that is where the top-end power apparently really kicks in. I rode past him at about 110mph; and his testosterone atomiser kicked in and off he went. At about 130mph and kept the accelerator on as I could see in the rear view mirror he was catching up (on the M1 outbound in the morning, there is very little peak hour traffic and it was about 7am). It was still accelerating when I looked at the speedo showing a touch under 145mpg... It felt awesome, but then I remembered I have a 3 month old daughter and I am taking this bike for a service after buying it to see what is really wrong with it. Left indicator on, eased off the accelerator and as I watched the merc scream off to the distance, I returned to a sedate 70mph.

 

Dropped the bike off for a service, and picked it up after work. They hadn't done a thing. Their response to me asking why was that the service items to replace was about £400, but it would cost me about £2,000 to fix it prooperly, saying that if I find the mechanic that aligned the wheels to use him instead of them - because for a frame that bent and with an extra weld, it was nigh on impossible to get the wheels travelling straight. A little more of the bucket of luck used up and bucket of expereience filled. I sold the bike on ebay, declaring everything wrong with it, and still got £50 more than I paid.. I could have paid a lot more..

[spacesailor]

B,P.

" Seeing a couple of guys have mentioned motorcycles, I will too - a long time ago, Kawasaki brought out a machine called GPZ900 - or something like that.. "

how would this go !.

48pot

spacesailor

[Jerry_Atrick]

I would be dead!

[facthunter]

Bb. Well. you don't need any tailwinds. Simulators?? I used to say to my captive (well they couldn't get out) CM2s this plane flys so well It's just like the simulator. O K. I thought it was funny. They can bid for some one else if they don't like it.

That kawasaki would probably just use a bit more fuel than their other Two strokes . They were always fuel cooled. Nev

[boleropilot]

I used to work for an Aeromedical outfit years ago, got plenty of 'customers' from the crazies on bikes! The saddest part was witnessing the parents of said crazy mourning their brain dead sons!

gee, thanks for the insult, much appreciated....

 

BP

[boleropilot]

B,P.

" Seeing a couple of guys have mentioned motorcycles, I will too - a long time ago, Kawasaki brought out a machine called GPZ900 - or something like that.. "

how would this go !.

[ATTACH type=full" alt="48PotKawasaki.jpg]53079[/ATTACH]48pot

spacesailor

interesting - my last motorcycle was the six cylinder 1,000cc Honda CBX - mein Gott you should have heard the sound that machine made at redline through aftermarket six into two exhausts - not quite as sweet as the recent V10 Formula One cars at 18,000 rpm but not far from it

 

BP

[pmccarthy]

My biggest risk was in a CB 72 Honda that used to show 90 mph but was probably 75, but the risk was because it was pre helmet laws and I didn’t use one.

[onetrack]

I've seen 240kmh for an extended distance on a remote Australian highway, on a Honda VF1200R, in the late 1980's, and I can tell you, you just don't want a single thing to go wrong at that speed.

Just hitting a rabbit at that speed would feel like you hit a kangaroo. Many of the big Jap bikes are simply missiles, just open the throttle and aim, and go along for the ride.

[KRviator]

Seeing as some of you are mentioning bikes and their engines, check out this bloke's invention. A 14 cylinder, home made, radial engine, using XV700 motorbike cylinders. I have seen it in person but without the crankshaft, but he also made a 9-cylinder version from XR600 cylinders that runs, mounted to a trailer and after talking to him at the shops one lunch, I spent a good couple hours at his place that afternoon, (when I should have been sleeping for my nightshift....) discussing how he built it, engines, planes and trains.

 

I built my plane, but I have no words to describe his achievement, other than

[facthunter]

Most radial engines will suffer from oil scavenging issues. It's a hard design to achieve successfully necessitating care to not hydraulic the bottom cylinders and causing the usual clouds of smoke when starting up. Nev

[spacesailor]

Only need a diesel type Decompresser lever, so the bottom cylinder doesn't fire until its purged of oil.

spacesailor

[facthunter]

Maybe, but some thing else to go WRONG you will see them motoring a certain number of blades depending on the gearing to the prop, before they fire them up Nev

[spacesailor]

Until that One hydraulic locked bottom cylinder stops the rotation.

spacesailor

[M61A1]

I've seen 240kmh for an extended distance on a remote Australian highway, on a Honda VF1200R, in the late 1980's, and I can tell you, you just don't want a single thing to go wrong at that speed.

Just hitting a rabbit at that speed would feel like you hit a kangaroo. Many of the big Jap bikes are simply missiles, just open the throttle and aim, and go along for the ride.

That speed on a VF would be nerve wracking....I had a VF750 for a while and I consider it the worst bike I've ever owned. The handling was atrocious. The Hayabusa is a different story. 240kph is cruising on it. It does take a little while to adjust mentally to those speeds though.

[facthunter]

The corners come up fast and the amount of lean is unreal to go around a corner that's anyway curved.. It's all V squared stuff if anything happens.. 236 is my one and only time bike wise... Nev

[spenaroo]

thought we should give the bike stuff its own thread

 

https://www.recreationalflying.com/threads/the-bike-shed.72392/

[Flightrite]

Maybe, but some thing else to go WRONG you will see them motoring a certain number of blades depending on the gearing to the prop, before they fire them up Nev

That's a common practise and hydraulic locking won't happen anyway as who in their right mind would start a radial without first hand turning the prop several times?

[facthunter]

On the starter was the standard P&W R 2000 procedure., the reduction is 2:1 so 4 blades would be sufficient. Nev

[spacesailor]

Hand turned to the LOCKED cylinder.

Then it stops. you then have to remove the plug or squeeze the oil past the rings.

Watched a DH seaplane in Lake Toupo NZ, struggle to turn over his engine "on the starter", and had to use a paddle to return to the dock.

then he tried hand turning the prop past the locked cylinder, only to have to remove bottom spark-plug, dropping a big splash of oil onto said dock, (very thick, unlike car oil ).

I wouldn't think that spark-plug would fire with it being full of oil.

spacesailor

[alf jessup]

Bike, ZZR 1100, 295 kph, My plane, 161 kts ground speed (298kph)

Commercial jet from Perth many years back was high 1200’s kph or even low1300’s, captain said it was the quickest trip he had ever done from Perth, just can’t remember the exact speed but it was very quick.

[facthunter]

A lot of them (Plugs) won't fire when full of oil, but they do have a "shower of sparks" feature used when starting. When valves open oil will go out. Some motors are oilier than others. They'd probably handle a bit over 1/2 cup of oil. The cylinder spigots extend into the case so it doesn't get straight into the end of the cylinder and there is a "sump" for the oil to drain into and be scavenged back to the tank when the engine is operating.. Nev

[M61A1]

On the original topic, I snapped a screenshot climbing out of Moree with the GPS showing 366 kts groundspeed in a Zenith 601while the GPS was catching up, I have had a genuine 150 kts grounds speed with a 48kt tailwind out near Dalby.

I did get a lap in an F111 once, but due to a translating cowl warning light we weren't allowed to exceed 450 kts.