Clip-ons banned from Pikes Peak

[N3WMAN]

Because, you know, one piece bars are safer...
http://www.roadracingworld.com/news/pikes-peak-international-hill-climb-officials-mandate-one-piece-handlebars-for-2016-in-the-name-of-safety/

 

[TwistedKestrel]

How can an event that's hosted multiple motorcycle classes for so long... not understand motorcycles

 

[RockerGuy]

How can an event that's hosted multiple motorcycle classes for so long... not understand motorcycles

Maybe the car people made rules for the bike people

 

[Blackfin]

How can an event that's hosted multiple motorcycle classes for so long... not understand motorcycles

Read the article. Their rationale is fairly clear: They want slower bikes and reduced risk. "Insurance" is also mentioned a couple of times in the article.

Reasons mentioned include the fact that the course times had plummeted after it was fully paved and bikes like CBR1000RRs and ZX10Rs began running it, not just machines like the Duc 1200 Multistrada.

To be fair, it would hardly be the first racing series in the US to see measures put into place to limit speeds and reduce risk. Look at NASCAR restrictor plate tracks, for example. Or IndyCar where reduced turbo boost levels were mandated after crashes during qualifying. They made other rule changes to increase downforce and reduce power levels.

This is the United States, lawsuit capital of the planet, not the Isle Of Man. I'm surprised they have such a race like PP there at all...

 

[boyoboy]

Say what you want - but like the isle of man, it will never be a safe place to race. Roadracers had to fight hard for track safety in the last few decades, and tracks have improved steadily. Racing bikes at venues like pikes peak doesn't make sense. Omitting bikes with clip ons isn't going to cut it. This may very well have been a move to appease the insurance industry.

 

[TwistedKestrel]

Read the article. Their rationale is fairly clear: They want slower bikes and reduced risk. "Insurance" is also mentioned a couple of times in the article.

Reasons mentioned include the fact that the course times had plummeted after it was fully paved and bikes like CBR1000RRs and ZX10Rs began running it, not just machines like the Duc 1200 Multistrada.

To be fair, it would hardly be the first racing series in the US to see measures put into place to limit speeds and reduce risk. Look at NASCAR restrictor plate tracks, for example. Or IndyCar where reduced turbo boost levels were mandated after crashes during qualifying. They made other rule changes to increase downforce and reduce power levels.

This is the United States, lawsuit capital of the planet, not the Isle Of Man. I'm surprised they have such a race like PP there at all...

I read the article, thank you. There are established, non-stupid ways of bringing speeds down in motorcycle racing, like limiting engine displacement. Not only are there many near-supersports in existence with one-piece handlebars, it would be trivial in many cases to swap in either a valvetrain, ECU and other ancillary hardware from a faster bike, or swap in a different powertrain altogether.

They didn't ban open cockpit prototypes after Paul Dallenbach's race vehicle attempted a low orbit launch off the side of the mountain

 

[Blackfin]

I read the article, thank you.

Sorry. Your initial response didn't seem indicate this was the case.

There are established, non-stupid ways of bringing speeds down in motorcycle racing, like limiting engine displacement. Not only are there many near-supersports in existence with one-piece handlebars, it would be trivial in many cases to swap in either a valvetrain, ECU and other ancillary hardware from a faster bike, or swap in a different powertrain altogether.

Yup, and if times continue to drop because bikes like, say, the S1000R or Tuono meet the rules for handlebars but are proven as fast I'm sure they'll look into other limits as well.

They didn't ban open cockpit prototypes after Paul Dallenbach's race vehicle attempted a low orbit launch off the side of the mountain

No, but they did make other safety changes as a result of that crash. It generally takes injurious and fatal crashes for safety rules to be updated and amended. Dallenbach survived that incident; had he died in a wreck live TV like has happened in other series (e.g. Dale Earnhardt in NASCAR, Ayrton Senna in F1 etc) it's quite possible safety rule changes would have followed.

They likely will after the next wreck, and the one after that etc.

 

[doozerdave]

Maybe I misread something, but they said the course record was done on a Multistrada which has a handlebar, so banning clip-ons doesn't sound like it's about speed.

 

[mmmnaked]

Maybe I misread something, but they said the course record was done on a Multistrada which has a handlebar, so banning clip-ons doesn't sound like it's about speed.

That was when the course still had a long dirt section. Now its 100% paved and a Multistrada most certainly doesn't hold the record.


edit. maybe it DOES still hold the record lol.. nevermind. Next closest was a ZX10R this year just a few seconds slower. The 1200 Strada set 9:52 in 2012, the first year of full pavement IIRC

 

[Scuba Steve]

That was when the course still had a long dirt section. Now its 100% paved.

The article says the record was set by a multi after the course was paved.
(on a fully-paved course, Dunne rode a Ducati Multistrada 1200 to a new record of 9:52.819, a record that stands today)

 

[N3WMAN]

It's a dangerous race. You go off the road, you are either going off a cliff, or into a forest, or both. I don't see how the handlebars make any difference. Sure it effectively bans superbikes, but as mentioned there are plenty of ridiculous full bar bikes out there like S1000R, Tuono, Speed Triple, Multistrada, Hypermotard, GSXS-1000, Z1000, etc. Not to mention the two most recent deaths weren't even on 1000+ cc bikes.

It's like wrapping the telephone poles at the isle of man in padding. Somebody probably feels warm and fuzzy inside but you are still going to die if you hit one.

 

[Supernam]

They want the Multistrada Pikes Peak edition to dominate the race to improve sales?

 

[crankcall]

So a guy with a clipon bike finds a stylish welder and some brackets and now its legal again. Iike 'clubman' bars.

 

[doozerdave]

No, it has to be originally produced with a handlebar.

 

[inreb]

Small comfort but as it stands all my bikes are Pikes Peak legal in the handlebar dept.

 

[doozerdave]

My orange one is. haha

 

[Bermuda]

This is completely and entirely a knee-jerk reaction by some folks in suits, sitting at a desk and trying to determine the least difficult way to make it appear like they are interested in the safety of the participants. It's a wonderful example of "safety theatre".

Look at the death of Bobby Goodin in 2014. Bobby was riding a Triumph 675 with modified bars. Not clip-ons.

His crash and death were as a result of losing control on the unpaved dirt section just beyond the finish line.

Sounds like they would have been better off just paving the last damn 20 metres after the course, and letting the riders do their thing.

Something about good intentions?

 

[N3WMAN]

Yeah I never quite figured out why they didn't run the paver a liiiiiiittle longer. Everyone is going to be tapped crossing the line going for a good time and then immediately transfer to dirt with not a lot of runoff.