power generator and tire warmer question | GTAMotorcycle.com

power generator and tire warmer question

T

tang69

Active member
hi, im looking into possibly getting a decent power generator and a set of tire warmers this year for the track. What does a decent and reliable power generator go for? any recommended models/ brands? And regarding tire warmers, is there a significant difference between the bicker, chicken hawk or woodcraft warmers? im talking about th standard non digital ones.

any tips or info would be greatly appreciated.
 
I tried to save $ and bought a 2000Watt Hyundai generator from Walmart. It's okay. Does the job and is quiet. But it is obviously jetted poorly as it fouls plugs often, and is hard to start. It was 1/3 the price of the Honda it is copied off of.

Next time I will buy a Honda or a Yamaha. I am firm on only using inverter type generators, as they are quiet, fuel efficient, and safer to run electronics on.

I have CHicken Hawks. They work good. I got them used so again I saved $....but if I were buying new, I would buy Bickle hands down. I don't know if the product is any better, but you simply can't beat trackside service.
 
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omnivore said:
I tried to save $ and bought a 2000Watt Hyundai generator from Walmart. It's okay. Does the job and is quiet. But it is obviously jetted poorly as it fouls plugs often, and is hard to start. It was 1/3 the price of the Honda it is copied off of.


Next time I will buy a Honda or a Yamaha. I am firm on only using inverter type generators, as they are quiet, fuel efficient, and safer to run electronics on.

I have CHicken Hawks. They work good. I got them used so again I saved $....but if I were buying new, I would but Bickle. I don't know if the product is any better, but you simply can't beat trackside service.
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ic, how much was the hyundai generator? will a 1000w inverter be sufficient?? or should i get a higher one for a bit of leeway?
 
Yamaha and Honda are the top brands for quiet efficient invert generators.
The yamaha is slightly cheaper than honda but also slighty less quiet (still is very quiet).
 
tang69 said:
hi, im looking into possibly getting a decent power generator and a set of tire warmers this year for the track. What does a decent and reliable power generator go for? any recommended models/ brands? And regarding tire warmers, is there a significant difference between the bicker, chicken hawk or woodcraft warmers? im talking about th standard non digital ones.

any tips or info would be greatly appreciated.
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Okay here we go with tire warmer and generator 101,
Chicken Hawk,Woodcraft,Bakers,most Chinese crap all take a minimum of 1500 watts.
Tyr Sox and Bickle take less then a 1000.
Not sure about Sox but we run less loops and pull the heat with a glass mat to get the coverage. It requires less wattage to run and gives you better
heat coverage then the zig-zag method.The zig zag method is in therory the right way to cover the tire but very hard on the wire.
So with Bickle's you can get a smaller generator and a good one, Honda and Yamaha are the best. I have seen on more then one occasion a Honda and a Yamaha trying real hard to run two sets of my warmers and not doing a bad job,, just not optimum heat.
Digitals vs Regular. Understand,,look at my pricing. I CAN NOT MAKE A CHEAPER DIGITAL. So that being said,,,What's the point of having a cool digital display [wow bling bling] if the temnperature displayed is no where near the temnperature of the tire???????? Unless you just think bling bling is cool!
The boxes we have are programmable. I set and adjust each set to represent the tire temperature. I could certainly use a cheap $25 box and have the bling, bling look,, but it would be pointless. So that being said,,,would a $325 digital be of any value? Guaranteed I can check the temp on a cheap digital and it will be no where near what it displays. PLUS,, digitals do not last as long as regular models,,,regardless of who's. Cheap box, good box, the abuse trackside is relentless and harsh. Would you throw your clock radio around like warmers and expect it to work long?
SO as you are new to warmers,,, you need regulars,,,sure I'll take your money but. Are you setting hot tire pressures? Do you take the tire temp and pressure within 20 feet of your last hot lap? Do you adjust that pressure for better tire performance.Do you have a tire gauge that has half to quarter pound incriments. Do you have a tire probe temperature reader,,, NOT infra red. Do you have three people to help you do this. IF not,,,REGULARS... Turn them on and they are on,,unplug them and they are off.
What to look for in warmers,,,, SERVICE. Crap happens and that's life. You break them, your buddy breaks them,,,it happens with all makes. I just got a set of warmers of mine from 1997 that we are installing new cords and thermostats. I have regional racers at RACE going on 10 years with the same warmers.
So there is a difference. Chinese stuff is bad! Go with Tyr Sox,Chicken Hawk, Bakers or Bickle's.
Chinese models use less wire to save money [imagin that] so they heat up way too fast heat shock the tire ,,then they use a really cheap ,,bling,bling [again] digital display box to try to catch the temperature before it runs away. I have seen Chinese models burn up when the display is 50 C. FACT.
So tire warmers are probably the single best place you can save a nickel to spend $20 bucks.
All warmers are not even close in design,, they on average last 1.5 years. That is why I got into making warmers is because my ######### would not last more then 2 years. So save $200 and buy cheap off of e-bay,,, burn your new tires $400ish then need new warmers it won"t end.
The last year Yamaha competed at the Canadian Nationals they went through 5 sets of ##### ####### a weekend! Yes you heard me right.
So ,,, buy a good generator,,, not a cheap Wal MArt special and good warmers. You spend a lot of time and money to get a small window of enjoyment.
A good quiet Honda or Yamaha has other uses,, you can run a small heater if you camp at night and not bother people,, you can do so much more becasue they start!
I won"t turn this into an infomercial for professional reasons. but if you need any more info e-mail me.
 
thank you for the valuable information mr bickle. Would a 1000w Yamaha inverter be sufficient to power your standard warmers? it's rated at 900watts. I think i remember reading somewhere that Yamaha and hondas being underrated in watts, is it true?
 
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tang69 said:
thank you for the valuable information mr bickle. Would a 1000w Yamaha inverter be sufficient to power your standard warmers? it's rated at 900watts. I think i remember reading somewhere that Yamaha and hondas being underrated in watts, is it true?
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Make sure you chain your generator to your trailer. My Yamaha 2400 inverter walked last year at the track.
 
sircastic said:
Make sure you chain your generator to your trailer. My Yamaha 2400 inverter walked last year at the track.
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Now THAT's low man.
 
AGAVE said:
Now THAT's low man.
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Yeah, I feel sorry to the person that stole it if I ever confirm who it was. There's a lot of SOAR racers that want to lay a beating over the incident.
 
sircastic said:
Make sure you chain your generator to your trailer. My Yamaha 2400 inverter walked last year at the track.
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Wow... i always leave my stuff laying around and unlocked, just thinking that this type of sh*t would not happend in our bike community...
 
nokturnal said:
Wow... i always leave my stuff laying around and unlocked, just thinking that this type of sh*t would not happend in our bike community...
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Plenty of shady stuff going on at the track unfortunately. I'm like you....too trusting for my own good.

Great info on the warmers! Thanks!
 
Not to throw accusations around but at that event Simon was pitted down one of the access lanes and not in the 'thick' of the SOAR race crowd. The same weekend was a very large turn out of drag racers- transients (not saying that to be demeaning, there was just very few of the regular crowd that weekend) that were competing at a large event on the dragstrip. All of the racers are going on the assumption it was one of them. Eden and I both threw $5 into the kitty for you Simon- hoped it helped a little.
 
I bought a set of Bickle warmers last year with a knock off generator. The generator worked great for one morning sucking back the fuel but it was a no go in afternoon. I sold it and replaced it with a 1000W Yamaha. No more playing around with the geny and it barely uses any gas.
 
Tonto said:
Not to throw accusations around but at that event Simon was pitted down one of the access lanes and not in the 'thick' of the SOAR race crowd. The same weekend was a very large turn out of drag racers- transients (not saying that to be demeaning, there was just very few of the regular crowd that weekend) that were competing at a large event on the dragstrip. All of the racers are going on the assumption it was one of them. Eden and I both threw $5 into the kitty for you Simon- hoped it helped a little.
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You are correct, I wasnt pitted in my regular spot and the generator probably wouldn't have walked if I was. It also probably wouldn't have walked if I had locked it to the trailer chains.

As an overall culture we are very trusting at the track and don't think about theft (at least not me) and that incident left me very disheartened. It wasn't so much the loss it was more the fact that it happened in such a trusting open community.

It wasn't until a couple of days later that I found out about the collection that my mood changed, I went from that disheartened feeling to bawling like a little kid. The collection not only helped take the sting out of the loss, but more importantly, restored my faith in people and that family relationship we have at the track.

To those that contributed to collection - thanks very much. It meant more than I can express in words. The financial loss from the theft is worth it me for what I gained from the experience.

To the low life scum that stole my generator - karma's a *****.
 
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Yes that was a *****. We were all PISSEDOFF and I am of the same feeling as the others. I cant and wont believe it was one of our crew. Yes when I heard that Sarah was taking up a collection I was impressed and grateful that everyone was looking after one of ours and made a contribution (well actually Tracy already had when I found out).
BTW I agree with the rest Bics are the only way to go for warmers. Great product, great service, Canadian, a vendor that supports the sport in Canada, great prices, and probably a few more greats that I am forgetting about. Makes the choice easy :D
John has my antique warmers in right now for service (one had the cord ripped out when a bike was accidentally knocked in gear while warming up.BTW dont do that!)might even be the ones he was talking about :) Never been disappointed in them and they have never let me down. While we are talking about abusing warmers here is another. Dont take them off and lay them down while still plugged in. I burnt a hole in mine the first weekend. Even after that they still worked fine and still have the the hole. Bickle Quality :D
 
tang69 said:
thank you for the valuable information mr bickle. Would a 1000w Yamaha inverter be sufficient to power your standard warmers? it's rated at 900watts. I think i remember reading somewhere that Yamaha and hondas being underrated in watts, is it true?
Click to expand...

I tested a set of older Bickle warmers with an Amprope and they drew less than 700 watts, mine came with the bike and are probably 10 years old and still work great, it will be an easy choice if I ever have to replace them. Buy from someone that supports what you do!!!!!
 
Used Warmers 101:
for those thinking about it.
Warmers wear out.
The wire eventually looses it's flexability as the Teflon coating gets stiff. The thermostats only have so many cycles. There are many thermostats to choose from
but we buy the best we can. That gives the warmer about 100,000 cycles of on-off. In track language that is about 4 years regional racing or track days. I could but thermostats that give you about 500 cycles.
Wire in a warmer can be anywhere from 1 strand to 7 strands. Picture a strand like a hair. So one strand we find doesn"t have the durability I would like to see. Why we like the 7. MOst units out of China use 2 strand. Almost all mfger's have gotton away from 1 strand. But older units of some makes could be 1 strand.
Connectors will break. I've looked at this and changed designs but the bottom line is about 4-6 years into a warmer life the heating wire and the supply wire will corrode and break. Nothing anybody can do about that. It happens in all warmers even KLS.
So purchasing used warmers is sometimes a waste of money. But if they are well looked after, one owner and you can get them serviced you can save some money.
And if they are rolled up like a toilet paper tube,, stay away. The single hardest thing on warmers is rolling them up tight and leaving them in the trailer or cold over winter!
 
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