Bonneville America Forums Forums General Motorcycle Forums Other Bikes Pikes Peak Rallye and our motors

A while back I posted about a racing team that is running our motor against WERA Heavyweight Twins and posted some pretty impressive results. The team is SWIGZ and Chip Yates is the rider. Well, they just announced that they will be taking that bike and modifying it to run the Pikes Peak Rally this year. Just the entry itself sets a record for the most powerful motor ever entered, with ours rated at 240HP and 365LBS-FT on the bike. The bike should actually have an advantage with regard to the motor since it's electric and won't suffer any effects due to the 14,000 foot altitude, and the fact that full torque is available from 0 RPM all the way to redline. It will be disadvantaged due to its weight, but is expected to have a fair chance of being competitive if not winnable. I'm going to try to make it down for some of the practice sessions since my mom lives nearby and it's only 2 hours south, it'll be interesting to see how they do.

Swigz and UQM take on Pikes Peak

WOW! Those are some impressive HP/Torque figures there, Greg!

So, what does the bike weigh? I want the wet weight here.

(...oh, wait a minute...I guess there really wouldn't be a difference between the "wet" or "dry" weight on an electric bike, huh?!)

Hey Dwight, they only have the specs posted for the WERA bike, which is set at 194HP/295LBS-FT, so not sure if they bought another unit from us, or modified the electronics controller with a different throttle map for more torque. I believe that they have to artificially limit the "throttle response" somewhat for track racing because the "throttle response" is pretty much instantaneous on an electric motor and with those kinds of numbers would be uncontrollable on a 5-600lb bike. They don't list the weight on the specs, but I read somewhere else that it was somewhere around 600 lbs. Don't know how accurate that is, but our motor is around 110 lbs, and the controller would be around 35 lbs max. I know that we can modify the power output by swapping a couple cards though, so maybe we just sent them the power cards and did a field upgrade to give them the improved torque for the hill climb. Here are the specs though, the bike is build on a GSXR 750 frame.

Electric Superbike Specs

Hmmmmm, yeah. The unlisted weight of this bike in that link is, as they say, conspicuous by its absence.

(...and speakin' of "conspicuous by its absence"...what's with me not seein' the handle "Bayern710" listed in my "SWTF Roll Call" thread, EH?!)

As much as I hate to say it, the odds are not stacking up in my favor for making it this year. I'm not terribly thrilled about that either since I see a LOT of people from back east are even getting out here, but so far the Rally Gods are NOT smiling in my favor!

Whaddaya talkin' about here, Greg??? I thought the whole idea of you movin' the family out to Colorado from Connecticut was so you could finally make it to the SWTF???!!!

Well, if somethin' changes as the rally nears, I hope you know you'll still be welcome to crash the party at the last minute!

Trust me, if it does pan out, I'll find a spot in the Fart Loft (believe me, I have a home brew that will clear the Fart Loft fast, it's been genetically enhanced over the generations). I also thought I'd be a lot closer, but from my corner of CO it's still a good 14 hour haul, keep forgetting how freaking big these states are versus "back East"! On the plus side, our company is putting together a "company" outing down to Pikes Peak for the race to watch and/or help as needed, and I've already thrown my name into the hat with Chip Yates and our sales group. He's coming here in May/June before the race so I will meet him then.