Test run no 2

I promised pictures so i will let them do the talking this time!

The bike performed well, apart from a severely flat battery towards the end of the run, which forced us to limp home with the bike miss firing.

The other rider in the black grey jacket and silver helmet is my ace rider Rahul, blessed with a professional riders build and years of riding experience he gets monster dog to perform(even in the break in period) like nobody else.

The short guy Ram, a nepali is my most trusted mechanic and very resourceful in a tight spot.

Christmas day test run!

The workshop is closed for christmas,so what do you do first thing christmas morning?Test your Drag bike ofcourse!!

we left the house at eight in the morning.i started of running monster easily,kept the bike under 90kmh.

This is the engine break in stage right now so it didn't push the bike too much.the bike revved quite well and i rode the bike to 125kmh in third gear for a short time.

The braking and gear shifts were very comfortable.the engine was running very cool thanks to the mixture set a tad on the rich side.

It was fun blasting past a few vehicles on the highway in the knee slider position.Sadly i dont have any pictures of the bike in motion,as the battery of my nikon died after the first few shots...silly me.

I am expecting a photographer friend of mine to pay me a visit so i should have some fresh pictures and hopefully a video to upload.

Overall a good test run with no hickups

road worthy!

Well, Almost roadworthy! I don't have any pictures as yet, but we took monster dog on the first test run today.

The bike is running well,I haven't opened up as yet but the bike seems to be pulling well and acceleration is very crisp.I really couldn't get past second gear (I was doing a slow 80kmh) as traffic around my workshop is quite heavy.


The bike is very stable and the riding position is quite comfortable.The only problem is the rear sets,the mounting clamp tends to flex a bit so I will be redesigning them in the coming week.

I will post some fresh pictures and try to upload a video as well.

What is monster dog? why royal enfield?

This post is a tad late, but i realised some of you might be wondering what this blog is really about!

This post is not for the vintage and classic motorcycle enthusiasts, the guys who understand what it's all about.

I have always loved old motorcycles.The vibration , noise, simplicity of design.The romance of that era....The machine!

Everybody loves a challenge, some people climb mountains.Mine is to build a knee slider drag bike based on a slow Royal Enfield 500cc motorcycle to go like a rocket in a straight line...and a rocket it will be!It should be another year at least before monster will be really complete!

I won't jump the gun here, but i will use every trick in the book to make this bike really bite!

My inspiration comes from the "gods of speed" and like Burt Munro said"Anybody can buy a fast bike these days, building a slow one to go fast is something else"

I have just completed gas flowing the head and rebored the cylinder.

I Had to travel all the way to Bombay to get the job done properly. I have replaced the valve guides with phospher bronze guides, the new inlet valve has a larger head than the stock and the valves are nitriled.

We have also cut the seat to unshroud the valve(three angle valve job).

Monster Dog should should be ready to fire up by the end of this week!

progress!!

Wow!Progress is good.The dummy engine and gearbox in the frame have been replaced with the 5 speed gear box and rebuilt crankcase.The rear sets and gear shift have been fabricated and i must say the gearshift is silky smooth.

I am still working on the upper end of the engine,that should be complete in a week or two.

I will start working on fabricating the fuel tank soon.

Ol'Murphy has'nt paid us a visit as yet...?

5 speed right shift

Finally!!I just picked up the gearbox and proceded to modify the gear shift to the correct right side!It took a couple of hours of welding and machining ,but it's finished now.

The chassis

Well i still havent got the gearbox! so in the mean time i worked on the all important frame.I have changed the rake angle on the front end.I have also stretched the bike by nine inches and lowered the groung clearence to 3.5 inches.

The idea on a drag bike is to increase the wheel base for better straight line stability.The fork rake angle is greater now , so high speed wobbles should be a thing of the past.

5 speed.

I am waiting for my 5 speed gear box.The last three years we used the orignal 4 speed albion gearbox that came with the bike.I should get it in a day or two.The first thing to do is change the shifter from left to right which in my opinion is the correct side!

Then starts the process of fabricating the rear sets and gear shift for the new box.
The advantage of using the 5 speed over the 4 speed even though the final ratio on both boxes are 1:1 1st through 4th is closer and slightly lower than the 4 speed.
the difference in gear ratios between the two boxes are as follows:
the 4 speed ratios: 1st = 2.78:1, 2nd = 1.84:1, 3rd = 1.36:1, 4th = 1:1.
5 Speed ratios: 1st = 3.06:1, 2nd = 2.01:1, 3rd = 1.52:1, 4th = 1.21:1, 5th = 1:1.
this coupled with the fact that the 5speed is more positive and sure while shifting should improve launch times and dreaded! missed shifts should be a thing of the past.

I will post pictures once we start the fabrication.

As it stands

The bike as it stands, well almost.After the speed run 2008 i decided to rebuild the bike ground up correcting all the flaws of the previous three years.this will be a time consuming and expensive affair.i have decided to totally rebuild the engine clutch and gearbox.I will also extend the frame by roughly 6 inches thus increasing the wheel base adding to the high speed straight line stability and also modify the front forks and rear sub frame to reduce ground clearence.