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sheepdog 44 · 03-21-2013, 08:29 PM

Sport Rider-Testing Suzuki Hayabusa and Kawasaki ZX-12R aerodynamics in the wind tunnel

They did 6 different motorcycles in a wind tunnel to get both the CD, and Frontal area. They also used a the pixel counting technique of a picture to tease out the frontal area of the bikes. A method that has been used for cars.

I've been trying find a baseline for motorcycles, to estimate what mpg is possible by lowering the CD using the aerodynamics calculator.

Heres one of the better examples:
"Again using a Photoshop image, we measured the frontal area of the '96 RS125, which proved to be 3.40 ft2 (0.316 m2 ), leading to a CD of 0.644" or 2.2sq/ft CDA.

.644 cd is absolutely terrible! But shows how much of an improvement can be made if a 125-250cc stock bike is already getting in the high 80's mpg.

Messing with the CD verifies that some streamliners indeed are capable of 300-500mpg as shown from previous Vetter challenges.

03-21-2013, 08:29 PM	#1 (permalink)
sheepdog 44 . Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Salt Lake valley Utah Posts: 923 Thanks: 114 Thanked 397 Times in 224 Posts	Aerodynamic baseline: Motorcycles. Sport Rider-Testing Suzuki Hayabusa and Kawasaki ZX-12R aerodynamics in the wind tunnel They did 6 different motorcycles in a wind tunnel to get both the CD, and Frontal area. They also used a the pixel counting technique of a picture to tease out the frontal area of the bikes. A method that has been used for cars. I've been trying find a baseline for motorcycles, to estimate what mpg is possible by lowering the CD using the aerodynamics calculator. Heres one of the better examples: "Again using a Photoshop image, we measured the frontal area of the '96 RS125, which proved to be 3.40 ft2 (0.316 m2 ), leading to a CD of 0.644" or 2.2sq/ft CDA. .644 cd is absolutely terrible! But shows how much of an improvement can be made if a 125-250cc stock bike is already getting in the high 80's mpg. Messing with the CD verifies that some streamliners indeed are capable of 300-500mpg as shown from previous Vetter challenges. __________________ I try to be helpful. I'm not an expert.