Larry Spiderman Mcbride Jaw Dropper... (2 Viewers)

[Nitrohaulic]

Hi everyone ! This is my first post on this site, and I have to say I like what I've seen on here. Great bunch of people !
Glad to see some Top Fuel Bike fans on the site. I love Top Fuel Bikes and am also a good friend of Larry and his brother Steve. Here is a current shot of Larry's bike in Valdosta where he ran the current ET record. He actually got out of the groove on the big end and had some tire spin which showed in the MPH on the pass. He's been as fast as 248 mph....

Here's another shot of him moving his weight around to get the bike to go where he wants....hence the nick name "Spiderman"

For those in the Atlanta, Ga. area, The Top Fuel bikes will be there in Commerce For the "Elmer Trett Nationals" April 5-6th.

Okay, it does look like he's steering as he's leaning. Is the front tire the same as PSB?

At least they're still open enough that you can tell the different aerodynamic approaches from bike to bike. They haven't banned and mandated to death yet.

 

[TJ]

Just curious? Would the front tire/wheel act like a rudder at all? Do you lean? Or, is the run just straight or not straight.

Could the helmets be better shaped for what they do? I'd like to see a top end pic to compare to the one above.

Ron, Larry shifts his upper body from side to side to help steer the bike. The foot pegs also play a role in the leverage factor of pulling it around to where he wants it to go while it's on the back tire.

With the big tire bikes like that, you don't want to lean it and get it on the outer edge of the tire. Thats bad and will steer you right into a wall. You want to stay level. If you lean the bike to the left it will want to track to the right, and vise-a-versa. It takes riders awhile to adjust when they first learn to ride the big tire bikes.

As far as the helmets go Larry is happy with what he uses. He uses the helmet with the fireproof sock built in it to keep the wind from getting under the helmet on a high speed pass.

On the top end they try to tuck behind the front fairing to get out of the wind. It's not a good thing to hang out going 230-40mph plus. There have been a few riders blown off the bikes on the top end before.

TJ

 

[Nitrohaulic]

Yeah, just looking at the pic and imagining that kind of wind, the rider's body looks like a sail waiting to happen.