Outsmart the traffic with this “sky cycle”, a flying motorcycle from Texas.

From a small aeronautics lab in Bridgeport, Texas, comes the “sky-cycle”. The top halve is like a helicopter, the bottom half, a three-wheeled motorcycle. Larry says it’s easy to fly, he can even do it without hands. The flying motorcycle goes up to 70 mph, and even converts to a motorcycle, with a range of about 300 miles. A north Texas company, Butterfly LLC, has patented the motorcycle, and will go on sale for $25,000 (assembly required), and you can fit it in your garage. The shell’s look promising – I wouldn’t want to fly one of these in the rain or cold!

View the video news clip, below:

I have talked to a lot of customers about building  their engines so I thought I would write a little bit about the theory here on the blog  about things to consider.  I will do this in stages starting with displacement, because some people need  to consider this before they have their engines built or build it themselves.

The old adage is true for our Harley as it has always been true, there is no replacement for displacement.  Knowing this is important because as you think about building an engine even for street use and are looking for easy power you should try to get as much displacement out of your engine as possible depending on your budget.  More displacement will always equal more power.

So to start if you have an 88″ Twin Cam and want more reliable power have the displacement increased by boring the cylinders from 3.750″ to 3.875″.  This increase in cylinder volume will give you a 95″ engine.  Or if you have a 96″ Twin Cam once again by boring your cylinders from 3.750″ to 3.875″  will give you a 103″.

The formula for figuring displacement is simple to use it is BoreX BoreX StrokeX(0.7854X2).    So on a stock 2006 Road Glide  the bore is 3.750″ and the stroke is 4.0″.   So 3.375X3.750X4.0X(0.7854X2)=88.3575″ displacement.  The 0.7854 is constant and needs to be used because the bore of a cylinder is round not square and the 0.7854 removes the corners in the formula and gives correct total cylinder volume in cubic inches.

An engine with bore and stroke the same is considered a square engine any thing with a bigger bore than stroke is over-square and an engine with a smaller bore than stroke is a under-square.  The reason this is important to know when building a engine is depending on the over or under-square ratio will determine where and when peak torque and horsepower take place.  Typically a over-square engine makes better horsepower and at a higher rpm.  A under-square engine makes better torque and dependant on how much more stroke then bore where that peak torque takes place.

So I guess for now if you are thinking about a performance upgrade to your Harley you should first always think bigger is better and what kind of performance you are looking for a higher revving more horsepower engine, a low end tree stump puller, or a best of both worlds good torque with a decent horsepower number type engine. – Written by Wayne Jackson

FEBRUARY 27-28………ORLANDO SPEEDWORLD………ORLANDO, FL
MARCH 27-28……….NO PROBLEM RACEWAY……….BELLE ROSE, LA
APRIL 17-18…………FIREBIRD INT’L RACEWAY…………PHOENIX, AZ
MAY 1-2……………….ATLANTA DRAGWAY……………….COMMERCE, GA
MAY 22-23……………….NUMIDIA DRAGWAY……………….NUMIDIA, PA
JUNE 5-6…….SUMMIT MOTORSPORTS PARK…….NORWALK, OH
JUNE 26-27….KANSAS CITY INT’L RACEWAY….KANSAS CITY, MO
AUGUST 7-8……………….BRISTOL DRAGWAY……………….BRISTOL, TN
AUGUST 14-15……………..STURGIS DRAGWAY……………..STURGIS, SD
AUGUST 28-29……..WOODBURN DRAGSTRIP……..WOODBURN, OR
SEPTEMBER 11-12……..SAN ANTONIO RACEWAY……..MARION, TX
OCTOBER 8-10……ROCKINGHAM DRAGWAY……ROCKINGHAM, NC
FEBRUARY 27-28………ORLANDO SPEEDWORLD………ORLANDO, FL
MARCH 27-28……….NO PROBLEM RACEWAY……….BELLE ROSE, LA
APRIL 17-18…………FIREBIRD INT’L RACEWAY…………PHOENIX, AZ
MAY 1-2……………….ATLANTA DRAGWAY……………….COMMERCE, GA
MAY 22-23……………….NUMIDIA DRAGWAY……………….NUMIDIA, PA
JUNE 5-6…….SUMMIT MOTORSPORTS PARK…….NORWALK, OH
JUNE 26-27….KANSAS CITY INT’L RACEWAY….KANSAS CITY, MO
AUGUST 7-8……………….BRISTOL DRAGWAY……………….BRISTOL, TN
AUGUST 14-15……………..STURGIS DRAGWAY……………..STURGIS, SD
AUGUST 28-29……..WOODBURN DRAGSTRIP……..WOODBURN, OR
SEPTEMBER 11-12……..SAN ANTONIO RACEWAY……..MARION, TX
OCTOBER 8-10……ROCKINGHAM DRAGWAY……ROCKINGHAM, NC

Download PDF Schedule »

www.ahdra.com