Streamlining and drag of a motorcycle

[kingcharles]

Interesting blog post on the drag of a motorcycle.

Featuring the electric STORM Pulse university bike that is going to ride around the world.

http://info.simuleon.com/blog/how-to-calculate-drag-coefficient-for-motorcycle

[Shinysideup]

I always knew motorcycles were high in wind resistance and this confirms it, with a Cd of 0.464. A Prius for comparison is 0.29; and a Dodge RAM SRT10 (2004-2006) is 0.45 and it's a pickup truck!

A savings of 20% by leaning forward is interesting. When my Empulse was a naked bike (minus windshield), I couldn't really detect any change in power consumption between sitting upright and a full tuck at highway speeds, but then relying on the dash readout is probably an overly crude indicator.

[protomech]

0.464 is quite good for a motorcycle ..

The Hayabusa, famous for good drag characteristics (if not aesthetics), was tested at 0.561.

http://www.sportrider.com/tunnel-vision