[Are1OneWheel]

Both the R1 and ZX10 are first year bikes. The '04 R1 shares nothing with previous year models and has not had ram air before.

That's what makes this story so compelling. Another example how Yammie engineers got it right in 04'! Thanks for the info/pics juerg. Very nice contribution!

 

[BIGGY350z]

I wasn't making the claim to race anyone to show immaturity, it was to show that the difference is so small in reality, that it's purely the rider. That's why the first time I stepped on the track several years ago, I looked at a guy on a 600 Katana and smirked...I thought that since I had the supposedly better bike, that I would eat him alive, but instead he lapped me twice

And I did give credit to Yamaha for RD in my post, last year they probably did more RD than anyone else, that's why I would hope that they're in first.

I guess my post stemmed partially from past experiences. For those of us who have been to track days, there's always a few guys who show up and they have a very nice bike for the track. Up at Gratten (Michigan) where the bigger bikes have the advantage, there's always someone rolling in to the intro section on a nice big bike which they purchased based on what they read about the numbers. It's the guy who doesn't really have brand loyalty, but has HP loyalty...that's mostly who I was directing my comments at, and after that I gave full credit to Yamaha for paying attention to all the details.

Now as for this rest, I noticed that hoses fed air directly into the ducts...I'm wondering how that would be different if it was a wide open test...meaning that the winds are simulated all around the bike with no direct induction. The way I see it is that this test measured all out who has the better ram air and airbox combo...now what about the placement to see how much of the surrounding air it could pick up? That'd be interesting.

You know, making claims like that shows the immaturity in your thought processes. Not trying to belittle you, but that's just the way it is. Someone who realizes there's always a faster rider than he will not make outrageous claims like that. How about this: Clone Rossi, give him an '04 R1 and your TL, put them on a track and let em go at it. What do you think the result will be? Equal riders on those bikes = The TL won't even be a factor.


You lost the point of the whole article. It's not about who can feel what becuase, let's face it, 99% of us won't. The test shows which manufacturer did their R&D homework. Apparently, Yamaha did theirs and quite well.

Why are you shocked the ZX is in second? Just going off the looks of the ram air setup? Looks aren't everything. Reality check: Both the R1 and ZX10 are first year bikes. The '04 R1 shares nothing with previous year models and has not had ram air before.

 

[R1one]

thanks for the info

 

[Juerg]

Now as for this rest, I noticed that hoses fed air directly into the ducts...I'm wondering how that would be different if it was a wide open test...meaning that the winds are simulated all around the bike with no direct induction. The way I see it is that this test measured all out who has the better ram air and airbox combo...now what about the placement to see how much of the surrounding air it could pick up? That'd be interesting.

That wouldn't make any sense!
They measured how much air pressure is built up in the airbox at a given speed, running the bikes on the Autobahn. This is the test how much air can be picked up under real world conditions!

Then, on the test stand, they applied just this pressure vs. speed, using a computer controled fan. You need to seal the air duct in order to be able to control that air pressure and tune it to reproduce the conditions.

Having a fan with free airflow will give any random results, but nothing realistic because you cannot reproduce the airstream just using fans.
You would need a full scale wind tunnel!

Juerg

 

[Nukedog]

Wonder how the 05 Gixx1K will fair...

 

[R1one]

i don't think they use fan. look at the huge tube connected to the airram. are they that stupid?

 

[rafcon]

Great info, and very informative. It definitely is interesting to see what else an engineer is thinking about when designing a bike for performance and aesthetics.

Those testers definitely had a lot of work to do in order to get accurate results... hats off to them.

-RafCon

 

[Juerg]

i don't think they use fan. look at the huge tube connected to the airram. are they that stupid?

What do you mean exactly with "stupid"? Read my explanation of the test and don't just look at pictures. This is the first realistic test of Ram Air I have ever seen.

 

[Skeeter]

Juerg, great post. Really, I think ram air is a lot of hype when it comes
to every day riding. What good is it going to do you on your commutes
to work or school or that Sunday morning ride when you don't hit 140
to pressurize the airbox?

 

[KneeDragger77]

Juerg, great post. Really, I think ram air is a lot of hype when it comes
to every day riding. What good is it going to do you on your commutes
to work or school or that Sunday morning ride when you don't hit 140
to pressurize the airbox?

Skeeter, look at it the other way. Why did you buy a race replica motorcycle built soley for one purpose... to commute through traffic and tool around on Sunday rides?

 

[Guest]

the 20 valve head plays some part in the yamahas top end ability as well; just something to think aobut

 

[rdandy5875]

I'm not going to brag about it but if someone should say the 10r's ram air is better I'll bring up this article. Everyone thinks it's better due to being in the middle

 

[Juerg]

I'm not going to brag about it but if someone should say the 10r's ram air is better I'll bring up this article

That's exactly why I contributed this info.
It's interesting to know, interesting to see how they tested, nice to know that also here the R1 engineers did the best job.
But like Kneedragger said, this is more about enjoying the engineering rather than needing it desparately in every day traffic jam.

 

[Skeeter]

Skeeter, look at it the other way. Why did you buy a race replica motorcycle built soley for one purpose... to commute through traffic and tool around on Sunday rides?

Phil, I can see your point. I, like most or all of us love the rush of
that speed; however, in my case I rarely run my bike up to a
speed that would pressurize a ram air airbox. To be honest, I
bought my bike to have fun in the twisties. Top speeds are not
really for me, but yeah, it would be nice to have the ram air.

 

[Juerg]

I rarely run my bike up to a
speed that would pressurize a ram air airbox

This was true if you owned a ZX but not for the R1. Keep in mind that without ram air you are loosing power (ZXR 750 for reference).
At 100mph there is a gain of at least 5hp over a non ram-air bike for the R1.
I don't want to say you'd need it or miss it however, but if we are talking about high tech it's also about this kind of sub-systems.

This is not a discussion about using it or needing it, as it doesn't hurt.
Removing a cat for a 0.5hp gain would be a different story, there questioning the sense is valid!