It has been a while since I've posted here so I thought I'd post some info on true dream machines. This first post is about a half-million $ bike built around a motor designed for the Dodge Viper. Yep we are talking a 500 HP V-10. I'm not a huge fan of the looks on this bike, but I saw it driven on a cable show and it seemed like a truely unique idea.

The bike actually has 4 wheels, but they are side by side. When manuevering the wheels "float" independently, meaning they can slide verticaly past each other. This allows all 4 wheels to remain on the ground when leaning for turns. The suspension seems to stiff with the over all length for this to be much mroe than a drag bike, but you have to admit, if you could have a bike built around a V-10 even if you couldn't ride it ... oh yeah!

Well, without further ado, here is a picture and some stats.



500 bhp (372 kW) @ 5600 rpm (60.4 bhp/liter); 525 lb.-ft. (712 Nm) @ 4200 rpm

10-cylinder 90-degree V-type, liquid-cooled, 505 cubic inches (8277 cc)

356-T6 aluminum alloy block with cast-iron liners, aluminum alloy cylinder heads

Bore x Stroke: 4.03 inches x 3.96 inches (102.4 x 100.6)

Two pushrod-actuated overhead valves per cylinder with roller-type hydraulic lifters

Sequential, multi-port electronic fuel injection with individual runners

Compression Ratio: 9.6:1

Max Engine Speed: 6000 rpm

Fuel Requirement: Unleaded premium, 93 octane (R+M/2)

Oil System: Dry Sump; takes 8 quarts Mobil1 10W30 Synthetic

Cooling System: Twin aluminum radiators mounted atop engine intake manifolds, force-fed from front-mounted, belt-driven turbine fan. Takes 11 quarts of antifreeze.

Exhaust System: Equal-length tubular stainless steel headers with dual collectors and central rear outlets

******Important information*******

0-60 mph: 2.5 seconds (est.)
(Some estimate 1.9)
Top Speed: 300+ mph (est.)

You may wipe the drool from your chin now.

My next post will be about the Y2K turbine powered motorcycle.

Some people might be curious about the name Ghostrider for my blog url. As a kid I liked to read comics. I never really got into the Ghostrider comics, but he showed up in several of the Spiderman comics that I did enjoy.

If you don't know Ghostrider is a comic book hero that rides a bike with flaming wheels which can go anywhere. They are apparently making this into a movie, which will have Nicolas Cage playing Ghostrider. Seems like a bad casting call, but I'm not in charge. The production crew has released a few photos of the movie including some publicity shots of the bike.



This is a graphically altered image that likely accurately represents the appearance of the bike for the movie. You can see that the forks are made to resemble heavy chains and there is no apparent shocks. I imagine this is not the bike you want to cruise the country on. It sure would look wicked in your driveway though.


This view is a non-altered seat and rear view on this bike. I particularly like the pipes. They really blend with the bike. Could you imagine a get off situation where you fall over the rear fender?!?! I think taking a header over the handle bars would be more comfortable, but those studs certainly look fierce.

Anyways, this is the initial idea that lead me to choosing my site name. I like to incorporate fire into all of my screen names and web-sites. If you don't realize it "PuriChristos" is modified Greek meaning, "on fire for Christ." The hidden meaning behind "Ghostrider" is not just the fire, but my pentecostal heritage. The Holy Ghost.

I just thought this might be interesting to some people.

Well, I am sure I mentioned that when my wife let me buy a bike she thought that I would stop staring at every other bike on the road. Naive.

Today I saw about 50 bikes while I was rolling along in a truck wishing I didn't have to deal with a tree that same down in my yard. Today would have been a great day to get out and ride my bike.

One of the bikes I saw was a recent model GSXR 650. This is the descendant of my bike. It is so much hotter though. Realistically this is the most powerful street bike that I should ever consider getting. I am certain that anything more powerful will kill me ... well make it easier for me to accidentally kill myself. This doesn't mean I can't dream.

This brings me to another dream bike. I will never buy this bike even if I have the money and have bought every other dream bike. I know myself well enough to know that I could never own this bike without finding out what 200+mph feels like. This would result in finding out that too much speed is much too addicting, which ultimately leads to the revelation that driving that fast anywhere but a track will eventually kill you. ... unless you live in a place with, oh, say, an autobahn.

The Hayabusa.

This sleek looking bike is the fastest production bike period. It has a 1299 cc engine and weighs 478 lbs dry. It gives up over 155 horsepower and nearly 100 ft/lbs torque. Several other bikes have larger engines and more power, but not at this weight. The HP to weight ratio out matches everything in its class and beyond. There is a governor that limits this bike to 189 mph, but that is a quick fix which results in over 200 mph ... assuming you can hold on in 200+mph winds.

I can think of a few nicer ways to die, but this does make my top 10 list of ways I wouldn't mind dieing. Still, I know it is much to dangerous for a guy like me to own a bike like this ... then again I can't imagine anyone wanting a bike like this unless that were like me. Anyone that would buy this bike and never open it up should have the bike taken away from them. It would be like buying a leer jet and then taxiing it up and down the runway.

If you haven't seen the commercials this is one nice bike. It has so many factory options that it is practically custom.

There is a pastor I know that rides one of these. He is part of a biker ministry so he rides around to various events and sets up to witness to anyone who will stop and check out his bike.

The VTX is a nice bike to start with, and he has some nice options, but he went the next step and got some custom work done. He has a nice custom paint job that includes a very nice cross graphic on the tank just below the gas cap, and blue light effects on the engine. Everything about this bike is designed to catch your eye so you will come over and talk. I gotta say that this is a good investment if you want to talk to lots of people.

It seems that bikes have entered a different part of culture. Once upon a time the people you saw riding bikes were rough around the edges. Now it seems everyone rides. Well, maybe not everyon but every group of society has dedicated riders. When you go for a ride everyone wants to talk to you about your bike. Even if its an old beater like mine. The nicer the bike the more people will come right up to you and start asking questions.

Maybe it is the gas crunch, but it looks like we will become a 2 wheel society and that is fine by me.

Like I said before, my bike still needs a fair bit of work. I don't think I am going to try and restore it to factory original because the cost would be prohibitive and the bike wouldn't be worth as much that way. Plus there are a lot of new accessories that I would rather have. Some of the projects that I will be undertaking soon include: replacing my rectifier and regulator, replacing my ignition, and replacing my coils. My regulator isn't working right. I tested it and I am only getting 13 volts where I should be getting 14-16. The rectifier is putting out 16 volts which means my stator and rectifier are both working right. The replacement for my bike is a rectifier/regulator combination. I can get it from Suzuki for $150, but I looked into it and it turns out that the factory part isn't up to snuff. A company in England started making a replacement because they found that the parts from the factory would go bad do to a design flaw in the ground shunt. This causes the stator to go bad also. This company sells in America now and all the research I have done indicates their product to be the best for my bike. The good news is I can get the part from Bike Bandit for just over $100. If you have a Suzuki GS series then you might look into this replacement if you ever need to replace your stator, regulator, or rectifier. You can get it from Bike Bandit. The part for my bike is here. Of course you will need to get the right one for your Suzuki. They also make the replacement Stators. I'll share more on the other projects I have planned later.