Any launching tips?

[Bill Kratzenberg]

I've been trying to work on my launch lately.
But it seems like all i'm doing is making pretty black marks on the pavement with lot's of smoke involved and not going anywhere fast.

I used to race dirt bikes a little, and when i was at the gate i used to feather the clutch a little to stop from spinning and get some traction. that worked good there but i just put a new clutch in the max & i don't think i want to do that all the time.

Do i just need to play with the throttle till i find the right rpm's? or is there any tricks to this?

 

[mikemax04]

That's a hard question to answer Bill since there are so many variables. About 5K usually gives a good launch but the tire, pavement, rider's weight and many other considerations come into play. It's usually a trial and error thing until you find what works for you. There are some guys on here that run at the strip that could give you some pointers but the strip and the street isn't the same. Practice, practice, practice.

 

[shawn kloker]

6500 rpm seems to be my sweet spot.No bog,no spin.My max is far from stock though.This also is with struts for shocks and the front strpped down all the way.You also warm up the tire in the water and the track is sprayed with VHT glue and lots of rubber under that.I will need to experiment again now that my motor is making more power.Radials bite alot more than bias tires too.

Bill you are more than welcome to run down at Pittsburgh Raceway Park some time with me,I hope Paul comes !

 

[shawn kloker]

The Vmax also has a distictive bounce when launching.It squats down,then bounces way up in the rear.Torque of the shaft?Struts on the back instead of shocks cure this problem.Look at the pic of mine in the garage in front of my trailer.This is at the track,ready to race.Front strapped down all the way.My bike is so low this way that my cut sidestand is too high.The bike needs a block under the front tire just to stand on its own.

 

[Bill Kratzenberg]

Hey Shawn keep me posted when your gonna hit the track again.
I'll keep practicing on the street and maybe i won't embarass myself too bad.
Hey speaking of paul , why isn't he on this forum?

 

[one2dmax]

street and track launching are way different techniques but the general rule is much lower rpm's on the street. My best 60' time at the track is 1.66 which is pretty decent. You need to change to a radial tire on the rear which will help considerably too. I've got a road race rain slick tire that looks like a street tire but hooks like nobodies business. Its then just figuring out how much rpm vs clutch slip to keep it from going over.

Sean Morley

 

[Waylander]

Launching at 5-6.5k? Shit when I try launching at those revs the front just lifts right up.

3-4k does it for me. First gear launch.

 

[shawn kloker]

Hey Shawn keep me posted when your gonna hit the track again.
I'll keep practicing on the street and maybe i won't embarass myself too bad.
Hey speaking of paul , why isn't he on this forum?

He like some of the older vmoa guys do not like change.

 

[Rusty McNeil]

There's a writeup somewhere out there by Dale Walker that describes launching the Max that has an extremely good description of how he does it. I believe it's linked in a lot of places but if you go to the Holeshot website for Dale somewhere on there he's got it.

I think he says about 4000-5000 rpm but the clutch technique is not just dropping it and not feathering it either. When you smoothly and rapidly start letting out the clutch as soon as you start to hear the rpms drop you don't drop the clutch but much more rapidly release it as you roll hard into the throttle. He calls it the loft technique. Not enough rpm and too fast of a clutch and it'll bog. Too much rpm and too fast of a clutch and it'll wheelie. I try to use it but not sure how successfully. I do launch mine at around 4500 and probably feather it too much but it works for me although my 60' times are usually in the high 1.70's but I don't strap it or use struts either. I've got 28000 on the bike and probabaly 100 passes down the strip on it and no roasted clutch yet..... so far anyway....

The main thing REALLY is practice a whole lot...

 

[shawn kloker]

I have been getting high 1.6's to low 1.7's also.I dump the clutch like a trigger.I tried slipping it a little and it just slowed me down.I have a good coach now so hopefully all my times will improve.

 

[clintard]

http://vmaxoutlaw.com/tech/launching.htm


This is the article by dale walker that was talked about above

 

[Buster Hymen]

There's a writeup somewhere out there by Dale Walker that describes launching the Max that has an extremely good description of how he does it. I believe it's linked in a lot of places but if you go to the Holeshot website for Dale somewhere on there he's got it.

I think he says about 4000-5000 rpm but the clutch technique is not just dropping it and not feathering it either. When you smoothly and rapidly start letting out the clutch as soon as you start to hear the rpms drop you don't drop the clutch but much more rapidly release it as you roll hard into the throttle. He calls it the loft technique. Not enough rpm and too fast of a clutch and it'll bog. Too much rpm and too fast of a clutch and it'll wheelie. I try to use it but not sure how successfully. I do launch mine at around 4500 and probably feather it too much but it works for me although my 60' times are usually in the high 1.70's but I don't strap it or use struts either. I've got 28000 on the bike and probabaly 100 passes down the strip on it and no roasted clutch yet..... so far anyway....

The main thing REALLY is practice a whole lot...

Here's the articles you were talking about.

 

[Buster Hymen]

http://vmaxoutlaw.com/tech/launching.htm


This is the article by dale walker that was talked about above

Whoops, guess I should read all the posts before I post! LOL.