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I made this post sometime back in the Drag Bike Zone ... It was in answer to a new guy that wanted help with launching a zx14 ... I get PMs weekly on how to launch a zx14 , so t'm going to post it here in the zx14 zone for the zx14 guys ... Mods if you read this could you make this a sticky ?..


Drag Racing 101

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Gearing ... What works for one does not work for everyone ... You are going to have to spend some money and try a few different gear ratios to find what works for you ...At stock wheel base i use 17/40 .. At 62+ inches i use 16/41 ..

Staging RPMs .. Again what works for one doesn't work for everybody ... As for me at stock wheel base staging at 3500 works for me ... At 62+ inches staging at 5500 works for me ..You will have to do some testing to find what works for your riding style ..

For you guys that are drag racing for the first time forget about reaction times .. Reaction times have nothing to do with your ET or MPH ..Your time doesn't start till you break the staging beams .. For now just go when you see green .. As you get better you can leave on the last yellow and improve your reaction times ..But for now you have many other things to work on ..

It's your race and nobody elses ...Pay no mind to the guy in the other lane .. You have pleanty to do so don't worry about the guy in the other lane ..

Time ... You have very little of it to do all the things you need to do ...In less than 1.5 seconds you have to get the clutch out , pin the throttle and while that is going on you need to think about wheel lift ( wheely ) .. In less than 4 seconds you need to make your first shift and tuck in tight ... 4 seconds is not a lot of time , take a stopwatch and click off 4 seconds and see for yourself.. See if you can even read the 5 things you need to do in 4 seconds muchless do it ..This is why seat time is so important .. With seat time you will be able to do these things without thinking about them .. What ? You think Jimmy Hendix popped out of his mothers belly playing purple haze ?

Leaving the starting line ... To be fast two things need to happen ..One get the clutch out , two pin the throttle ..I have the clutch out before i get to the tree and before i get to the 60 foot mark i have the throttle pinned .. Impossible you say ? Yes it's hard to do but NOT impossible .. I do this at stock wheel base with 60 foot times as low as 1.49 and NO wheelys..It comes down to timing , clutch release and throttle controll ..How do you learn this ? Again the answer is seat time ..You have to crawl before you can walk.. Tricks i use are knowing where you are on the track at any given time ... I use the tree and timmig cones as markers ...I know i have to release the clutch before i pass the tree and i have to have the throttle on on or before i get to the 60 foot cone ..To start off with just ride your bike like leaving a stop light on the street ...Look for the 60 foot cone , as you go by the cone make a note > is you clutch out ? First timers will find they have not released the clutch till way after the 60 foot mark .. I have seen guys not release the clutch till a 200 to 300 feet out ..But if you ask them they will tell you they had it out before the 60 foot mark .. This is why it is so important you know where you are at on the track at any given time .. Same goes for getting to full throttle ..I watch guys that don't twist the throttle on till the 330 cone but will tell me they had it on right out of the hole ..Have a buddy watch you and give you feed back on what you are doing or not doing ..This can be a big help and improve you ETs ..If you can get them to Video your runs , have the zoom in on your throttle hand and clutch hand .. Watch the videos and you will be suprized at what you see ..

Shift points .... For your best MPH you will need to shift just before you hit the RPM limiter .. On your tach that is 11200 .. The factory tach reads higher than what is reall doing .. 11200 is really about 10600 .. For guys just starting out i would get a shift light .. Reason why is you just don't have time to look at the tach in the few two gears .. After a lot of seat time you will not need the shift light , you will be able to shift by the sound and feel of the engine .. As you get better you will have pleanty of time to see your tach and hit your shift points ...

Tuck ..Tuck is very important for two reasons .. One is to get out of the wind and get good MPH .. Two to keep your weight to the front of the bike ..This helps big time for stopping wheelys ..One inch to far back changes the hole game ..You have to work on keeping as far forward as possible and remain there in the first 2 gears ...If you slide back just an inch in first gear you will cause a unwanted wheely ..If you wheely you will chop the throttle or at least have to trim off some of the power ...If you want to go fast you can NOT do that .. Here is the problem most new guys have , if you are pulling on the bars to keep your body forward you will not twist the throttle .. If you are in a wheely you will not twist the throttle .. You have to over come that problem .. Some guys use cut seats so not to slide back and that can help some guys .. I use my legs to pinch the sides of the bike as well as my arms to stay in place .. But you have to train yourself to pull forward and trust yourself to twist the throttle at the same time ..It's not easy but it can be done with seat time ..

Shifting ...Slow shifts will kill MPH ..Bumping the rev limiter will kill MPH and ETs ..Short shifting will kill MPH and ET..Your first shift come in that short first 4 seconds while you are trying to doing 4 other things.. If you are foot shifting you have to get your feet back on the pegs in less than 4 short seconds .. This will also upset the bike if done wrong causing a wheely ..For me what works is to place my feet in front of the pegs at while staging ..That way all i have to do is lift up and set them on the pegs with one smooth move .. If you put your feet on the ground behind the pegs you have to make two moves , one to pick them up and another to move them forward while fighting the pull of the bike leaving the line .. If you use an air shifter you don't have to worry about this ..Myself I rather press a button than foot shift but that is up to you ..

So you think you are done at the finish line ? No you are not .. When you get on the return road go over the run in you head ..What did i do right ? What did i do wrong ? Make a note of it before you get you time ticket ..If you wait to think about it you will forget what you just did and chances are you will repeat what you did right or wrong and you will not no why..

Smooth is fast ...Smooth runs are allways the fastest ... Last week i watched two turbo bikes that made passes one after the other .. One was a pro and we had a small wheely and kind of a jurky run , he was fighting the bike all the way down the track ..It looked fast and everyone was jumping up to get a look .. It was a fast pass of 7.84 .. The next guy was a semi pro rider and his pass looked slow , no wheely , nice and smooth right down the center of the track .. No body jumped up to take a look ...His time ? His time was a jaw dropping 7.42 ... Smooth is fast ....My best runs where so smooth i felt they where slow untill i got a look at the ticket ..
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Someone asked about braking at the end of the track , well you do have to stop at some point ..What i do at the end of the pass ( finish line ) is first dump the throttle , then gently add a little rear brake .. This shifts weight to the front of the bike , Now i slowly add front braking ... Once the speed gets below 150 MPH i pop up from my tuck and use my body as air Brakes ... You DON"T want to pop up at speeds over 150 unless you are Super Man or have G.I. Joe kung fu Grip ..

Crashing at the finish line ..
This has happened to a few races , grabbing to much brake at the finish line can cause your front tire to wash out and send you sliding at 150 MPH down the track ..This sometimes happens to Bracket races that are trying not to break out or run under their dail in .. In any case be easly on the front brakes .. Don't jab them on !! Ease into the front brake lever ..

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also got a GPR v4 and ill end up with gearing....just gotta see if the front one is stock before i order....anyone know what kinda chain length ill need setup at 70 inches???

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also got a GPR v4 and ill end up with gearing....just gotta see if the front one is stock before i order....anyone know what kinda chain length ill need setup at 70 inches???

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68 is a good number , you will need 160 links ..

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Zx14 16/45 60ft 154 and only 113 in 1/8 im 280... Do i need more or less gear.

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