Re: dry weight oilheads-digest V1 #75

[Bruno Valeri <bvaleri@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

- ----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bill Kaszer" <kaszer@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: <oilheads@xxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, January 23, 2004 11:40 AM
Subject: Re: oilheads-digest V1 #75


> BUT I find it funny that so many of you bother to compare DRY
weights.
> snip
> Good magazines will test bikes with a full tank of gas, ready
to ride,
> on a calibrated scale. This is THE valid way to compare the
weight of
> bikes. Don't you all want to know the weight ready to ride?
> snip
>Those are  great numbers to compare if you don't want to
penalize a bike for
> having a larger tank.

This is part of it. I look at dry weight as a reference point.
It's a useful reference point for certain types of bikes ie sport
bikes, adventure touring bikes etc. I wouldn't be concerned with
dry weights for full touring bikes.

Because you don't know certain variables for a bike (ie size of
gas tank etc)  wet weight doesn't tell you much for a sportbike.
Some want to know how much -the bike- weighs.

Those that run at a track often put in only enough gas to run a
session. If one bike has a 4 gallon tank and one a 3 gallon tank,
the wet weight will reflect that. But you won't know if it's
because of the amount of fuel capacity not. Those riders want to
know what the bike weighs ie what the starting point is.

Because sport bike weight is such an important part of handling
and performance, you would have manufacturers coming out with
sport bikes that have very small tanks. Focusing on dry weights
lets you compare what the bike weighs and doesn't put pressure on
manufacturers to decrease fuel tank size.

The RC-51 is a good example. It weighs quite a bit more than the
929 but has a much smaller fuel tank. Comparing dry weights (as I
did when I chose the 929 over the RC51) clearly shows the weight
difference. Wet weight would mask this (because the RC-51 carries
less fuel).

Knowing that the 929 weighs 375 lbs dry tells me what I want to
know. I also know that it won't weigh this wet. I would
appreciate if the bike had a larger fuel tank for some longer
distance touring, but I control that weight variable.

Another example is a bike with a huge gas tank. I may choose to
run such a bike with full tanks when I want to extend distance
between gas stops or have greater range. But I also may choose to
typically ride and fill the gas tank to no more than 50%
capacity. Knowing the dry weight of the bike tells me something,
it's a starting point.   Again, the actual fuel I put in is a
variable that I can control.


Bruno
Montreal, Canada
CBR 929
http://pages.infinit.net/mcrides

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