Electric 'race' bikes Isle of Man...eek!

[palace15]

[buebo]

Nothing to eek about, at least the future goes frickin' fast!

[palace15]

Hardly any sound from them that makes it very difficult for marshals dealing with an on course incident, marshals, only supplied with a few pairs of rubber gloves and a few bottles of water between them! 1 lap only, the organisers were hell bent on having them on the TT course, why not multi lap on the Billown course that held meetings pre and after the TT?. £10.000 offered by the organisers for an electric bike to do a 100mph lap, when Klaus Klaffenbock only got £10.000 for leading and winning the 3 lap sidecar race. 'Proper' race bikes were doing a 100mph lap back in 1957.

[edteamslr]

Originally Posted by dave ede

Hardly any sound from them ....1 lap only, the organisers were hell bent on having them on the TT course, why not multi lap on the Billown course that held meetings pre and after the TT?. £10.000 offered by the organisers for an electric bike to do a 100mph lap, when Klaus Klaffenbock only got £10.000 for leading and winning the 3 lap sidecar race. 'Proper' race bikes were doing a 100mph lap back in 1957.

Electric bikes - you either love the idea or hate it. Of course they wanted to have the race run on the TT course, the exposure is top notch and just what these 'come of age' devices need. People go on about 'only 100mph' but we should be grateful as it will buy us some time on our noisy/smelly bikes before they sweep the combustion engine before them

Sidecars are great. I've done a couple of laps of Cadwell Park on an F1 sidecar and maximum respect to them. They're probably not the future of anything though, sadly.

Remember when Amazon was an expensive failure and being told that IBM said there would only be a market for a couple of computers at most? All future vehicles will be 'silent', electric or hydrogen etcc, so what are you saying - you're going to miss changing oil and doing valve clearances in the damn things?

[onlyMark]

To deal with the lack of noise issue, can't you stick and old fag packet into the spokes like we used to on our push bikes?

[Dodger]

There may be a time when an electric bike TT will be justifiable ,but it's not now .
There are several bike classes that could have been included instead of the electric bike class and quite honestly the logic of having just a one lap race [ 37 3/4 miles ] escapes me .
However the "powers that be" are known to be eccentric and have thought up some daft classes over the years .
I imagine that for most TT spectators the electric bikes were a big yawn .
The whine of an electric motor will hardly make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up now will it ?

[edteamslr]

Originally Posted by Dodger

There may be a time when an electric bike TT will be justifiable ,but it's not now .
There are several bike classes that could have been included instead of the electric bike class and quite honestly the logic of having just a one lap race [ 37 3/4 miles ] escapes me .
However the "powers that be" are known to be eccentric and have thought up some daft classes over the years .
I imagine that for most TT spectators the electric bikes were a big yawn .
The whine of an electric motor will hardly make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up now will it ?

To say that something so relevant is not 'justifiable' is just daft. These are relatively small manufacturers that are improving year on year. The 1 lap race is about demonstrating the technology - not replacing the existing events. Perhaps a slot in battery pack for pitstops could give these bikes are boost to their racing potential. Just because you can't see life without a horse in front of the vehicle shouldn't hold back progress for the rest of us.

Fuel cell / electric hybrid bikes are a future that I can't wait for. Ease of use, programability, flexible fueling, fantastic acceleration and SILENCE for everyone else is just what I like about the whole thing. Bring it on.

[Dodger]

Ah so ,I'm daft am I ?
Your apparent willingness to rid the world of the internal combustion engine seems to contradict your love of sidecar racing [ which are still powered by piston engines ,I believe] .So perhaps you are daft as well .
I think you are confusing technology with the spectacle of racing .
For most people this means the sound ,smell and adrenaline rush of very powerful internal combustion engines at close quarters ridden by extremely skilled riders .
I suppose there will come a day when a racing spectator will complain about the "noise" of an MV , Manx Norton , Britten etc at full chat ,but I think it's a long way off .If SILENCE is your cup of tea , that's fine ,but I doubt that the majority of race fans would agree .

Electric bike racing will happen ,but I agree with Dave that the TT with it's present safety standards and marshall training is not the place to do it at the moment .

My comments were about racing in the TT ,not about electric technology , go back and read what I ACTUALLY wrote .
You don't know me or what my views about electric technology are , so try to stay on topic and keep your glib ,ignorant comments to yourself .

[edteamslr]

Originally Posted by Dodger

Ah so ,I'm daft am I ?
Apologies, I forget this is a multi-lingual website.

Your apparent willingness to rid the world of the internal combustion engine seems to contradict your love of sidecar racing [which are still powered by piston engines ,I believe] .So perhaps you are daft as well.
It is slightly irrational because I love piston engines aswell. I have probably mentioned this before but I think motorcycling is seen as old fashioned and a little bit anti-social these days. I'd hate to see my hobby locked away in the past because it doesn't keep up with the times.

I think you are confusing technology with the spectacle of racing .
For most people this means the sound ,smell and adrenaline rush of very powerful internal combustion engines at close quarters ridden by extremely skilled riders .
I love the TT, my good mate races there and I spent 5yrs doing shortcircuit racing in the UK so I know enough to know that noise and smell is a poor substitute for close racing, skill and speed. Its lucky the TT has those three things in bucket loads.

I suppose there will come a day when a racing spectator will complain about the "noise" of an MV , Manx Norton , Britten etc at full chat ,but I think it's a long way off .If SILENCE is your cup of tea , that's fine ,but I doubt that the majority of race fans would agree .
It's not a long way off at all. Look around you, it's happening everywhere. Noise regs are hear to stay and the old classics will become a fascinating but irrelevant distraction. That's just the way it goes.

Electric bike racing will happen ,but I agree with Dave that the TT with it's present safety standards and marshall training is not the place to do it at the moment .
How will they ever do that if they don't experiment? It's coming and they can see that they need to adapt.

My comments were about racing in the TT ,not about electric technology , go back and read what I ACTUALLY wrote .
You don't know me or what my views about electric technology are , so try
to stay on topic and keep your glib ,ignorant comments to yourself.
I have - you're critisiting the 'powers that be' when they're the ones who have saved the TT (which as we all know was pretty close to not ever happening again after the Foot&Mouth saga). The TT and Manx are only a couple of weeks a year but even those are a privilege, not a right and if we don't take steps towards the social agenda of our time - noise or pollution etc. - it may one day cease to exist.

You're right, we only know each other from what we choose to publish on a public forum. We agree on one thing, long live the TT

Comments above

[palace15]

Originally Posted by Dodger

There may be a time when an electric bike TT will be justifiable ,but it's not now .
There are several bike classes that could have been included instead of the electric bike class and quite honestly the logic of having just a one lap race [ 37 3/4 miles ] escapes me .
However the "powers that be" are known to be eccentric and have thought up some daft classes over the years .
I imagine that for most TT spectators the electric bikes were a big yawn .
The whine of an electric motor will hardly make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up now will it ?

How come it takes someone living in Canada to see and publish a sensible reply?
I think that some people are mistaking 'real road racing' with something that should be kept to experimental test tracks.

[Hustler]

Originally Posted by dave ede

......... £10.000 offered by the organisers for an electric bike to do a 100mph lap ..........

And just out of interest what was the fastest lap by an electric bike ?

[edteamslr]

Originally Posted by Hustler

And just out of interest what was the fastest lap by an electric bike ?

Quote
94.664mph unofficially.
131.1 at Sulby speed trap

[palace15]

Originally Posted by Hustler

And just out of interest what was the fastest lap by an electric bike ?

Pos No. Rider Machine/Entrant Time Speed Replica

1 3 Mark Miller MotoCzysz E1PC / MotoCzysz 23 22.89 96.820 Silver
2 1 Robert Barber Agni / AGNI Racing 25 21.19 89.290 Bronze
3 4 James McBride Man TTX / Man TTX Racing 25 32.13 88.653 Bronze
4 2 Jennifer Tinmouth Agni / AGNI Racing 25 39.50 88.228 Bronze
5 9 George Spence Peter Williams / Kingston University 34 59.19 64.705

Fastest Lap -

3 Mark Miller 23 mins 22.89 secs 96.820 mph

Total No. of Completed Laps -

5

Total Mileage -

188.65

The Answer to your question is96.820 mph, note that there were only 5 in the 'race' and the 5th bikes lap speed was 64.705 mph. If the big thing about these bikes is Zero emissions, and the 'race' was billed as the TT Zero, then why was they so obsessed with speed and not economy? and was the production of a complete 'race' bike carbon friendly?
These scientists, universities, and green party nutters are welcome to produce what they like, but keep thier inventions to the appropriate place, and the majority of TT race fans would give a BIG no thank you to having these at the TT.

[Hustler]

Thanks very much Ed and Dave.
Sounds rather quick to me.

[Dodger]

Originally Posted by edteamslr

Comments above

Apologies accepted .
Let's hope the TT is still going strong in another 100 years ,I'm sure the bikers of the future will have as much fun as we do .