Jay Leno's bike
Thread Starter
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 157
Likes: 0
From:
Jay Leno's bike
Admin Emeritus & MVN
Joined: Jan 2000
Posts: 6,908
Likes: 3
From: Conyers, GA
RE: Jay Leno's bike
Ya, one sweet ride. There are a few turbos that can keep it in sight for 1/4 mile but after that forget about it. The only thing is getting fuel -- I wonder if you could use kerosene?
Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 89
Likes: 0
From:
RE: Jay Leno's bike
I saw a bunch of those engines on the test/rebuild stands while I was at McEntire AFB.
I bet he only gets about 8-12 mpg. Considering the burn rate of a turbine engine, even that size is still around 24 pounds an hour or more. Most turbine chopper engines run at a constant rpm in flight mode to keep the blades rotating at a constant speed. This is different than a turbo-fan, which changes speed to change thrust.
Chopper engines, like any other aircraft engine, has a time-limit before it has to be pulled and rebuilt. After so many hours of use, the engines are considered "end of life" and can no longer be used in an aircraft. However they still may operate just fine for thousands of hours before they are junked. That is how they built the Y2K bike.
I would think that some engine engineer student would want to build a smaller turbine engine that only put out about 200 SHP. That would be enough to make a killer sport bike. If they could figure out how to compensate for the turbine lag.
Here are some examples of miniturized engines.
http://www.weberprecision.com/
-Del
I bet he only gets about 8-12 mpg. Considering the burn rate of a turbine engine, even that size is still around 24 pounds an hour or more. Most turbine chopper engines run at a constant rpm in flight mode to keep the blades rotating at a constant speed. This is different than a turbo-fan, which changes speed to change thrust.
Chopper engines, like any other aircraft engine, has a time-limit before it has to be pulled and rebuilt. After so many hours of use, the engines are considered "end of life" and can no longer be used in an aircraft. However they still may operate just fine for thousands of hours before they are junked. That is how they built the Y2K bike.
I would think that some engine engineer student would want to build a smaller turbine engine that only put out about 200 SHP. That would be enough to make a killer sport bike. If they could figure out how to compensate for the turbine lag.
Here are some examples of miniturized engines.
http://www.weberprecision.com/
-Del
Banned
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 0
Likes: 0
RE: Jay Leno's bike
Man I don't know...
I'm not sure which video this is of that bike, but assuming we're talking about the jet-bike...
Have you seen the video of him pulling out of the gas station or whatever? Man! That looks like entirely too much work. Especially for a bike that doesn't take the twisties well.
It sounds bad as all get down, and it does have the performance once she gets going... and it WOULD be a hell of a ride on some straights and light curves...
But just entirely too much work. I wonder how much it weighs?
I'm not sure which video this is of that bike, but assuming we're talking about the jet-bike...
Have you seen the video of him pulling out of the gas station or whatever? Man! That looks like entirely too much work. Especially for a bike that doesn't take the twisties well.
It sounds bad as all get down, and it does have the performance once she gets going... and it WOULD be a hell of a ride on some straights and light curves...
But just entirely too much work. I wonder how much it weighs?
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 772
Likes: 0
From: Scottsdizzy AZ
RE: Jay Leno's bike
A story related to that bike was that leno was apparently stopped at a light and some dude in a benz or something pulled up right on his ***... the turbine exhaust was so hot it melted the front bumper of the car, true or not you decide.