Why so many motorcycle whips all of a sudden?

alexk

alexk

Weekend Rider
For years, I never saw "Get Back Whips" anywhere. In the past couple months, all of a sudden they're everywhere out here.

Leather bullwhips hanging from handlebars or worse yet the levers on the handlebars. Culminating last night with a squid on a Ninja with whips that were longer than the bike. (and of course, the bike was misfiring badly, but that's a different story)

What gives, guys?

I've got horrible images rolling through my head, but has anyone ever heard of one of these getting caught in a wheel or chain?

 
b-eock

b-eock

New member
Well he is showing his stunting skills. Riding the rev limiter to show the clutch is fully disengaged. Sport bikes are made for it. That's why its a rev LIMITER. Its not the end of the world. Will it cause damage in the long run? Possibly. But not. The smoke you saw was oil burning in the exhaust. Its fine.

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alexk

alexk

Weekend Rider
There are a few problems there with the stunting, but aside from that...

Running the rev limiter causes all sorts of issues for any engine. Increased wear and tear from simply turning faster, then there are lubrication issues. The oil pressure usually vascillates wildly when bumping off a limiter (at least on automotive engines), which can cause all manner of oil distribution issues. Add to that the issues caused by either cutting the ignition (running so rich as to scour the chambers of oil) or cutting the fuel (running incredibly lean or fuel-less), and you have a recipe for lubrication disaster. And some engines (Suzuki... looking at you...) have difficulty oiling when the engine is tipped back. I don't know enough about his or our bikes to determine if that's an issue for us or him.

Then there are heat issues. The radiators are designed for airflow from nose to tail. Tip the bike that much, and you get little to no airflow through the radiator, be it oil or water cooled.

There are also stress and strain issues through the whole drivetrain by bouncing off the rev limiter. You go from full power to full engine braking several times a second. This stresses everything from suspension to chain to sprockets to transmission to bearings...

Rev limiters are designed to keep you from progressing accidentally into engine-self-destruction. They aren't designed to be run for more than a moment, and they certainly can't protect you from mistakes like shifting down instead of up.

That said, as long as he takes responsibility for the wear and tear, then he's having fun on his own pocketbook. The only people he's endangering here are himself and the buddies riding too close behind him.

The motorcycle whips? I'm still trying to get my head around the dangers.
 
b-eock

b-eock

New member
Stunt companies create special (idk what to call them) suckers for the oil pan to be able to circulate the oil properly when stunters do long wheelies or have the bike not level... I'm not saying that riding the rev limiter not bad for the engine. It is. But it won't destroy it instantly or even for the time he did it. It will wear it down. And I don't think if the power is being delivered to the drive train then it won't hurt it. The clutch was fully disengaged, he was floating on balance point and loosing speed slowly. Hence the name Coaster wheelie. I'm no genius, nor am I a mechanic by any means, but I get the generalization of things. So if I am wrong, let me know.

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DanS

DanS

Commuter
I've been seeing the whips around here lately too but only on Harley's. I asked one of the guys about it and his reply was " to smack the shit out of cars when they come too close". Sounds like a good way to get shot to me.
 
J

jared p

New member
don't worry about the guys with the bright n shiny leather hangin off the side of their bikes, it means they never use it anyway. people must be bored in texas, i don't see many of them up in washington, but then again, there's not much of anybody up here anyway
 
N

n00b

Avid Rider
DanS said:
I've been seeing the whips around here lately too but only on Harley's. I asked one of the guys about it and his reply was " to smack the shit out of cars when they come too close". Sounds like a good way to get shot to me.
Click to expand...

Yup
 
cambo

cambo

Avid Rider
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA

I have never even heard of this let alone seen it...LMFAO! Now I'm going to be on the lookout
 
RyanSterling

RyanSterling

Suspension Mod Evangelist
Saw one for the first time on Memorial day. Dude on a harley in a t-shirt and Brett Michaels bandana. (shocker) All I could think of was, that I dont want to be behind him when that thing gets tangled up on something. Plus his was on the throttle side. Seems to me that if it was for high speed car whippin it would be better to have it on the clutch side. I sincerely doubt that much thought went into it.
 
cambo

cambo

Avid Rider
maybe it's in case they broad side a car...go airborne...they grab the whip and whip it around a tree a la indiana jones, and swing to safety.

that's how I'd use it.
 
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