Silver Bird

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Silver Bird

Don Vesco with Silver Bird at Bonneville Speedway
Manufacturer Don Vesco
Predecessor "Big Red" streamliner
Successor "Lightning Bolt" streamliner
Class Streamliner
Engine 2×Inline-4 two-stroke, 1,389.8 cc total displacement
Bore / stroke 64 mm×54 mm
Top speed 303.812 mph (488.938 km/h)[1]
Power 240 hp (180 kW)
Dimensions L: 21 ft (6.4 m)
H: 32 in (810 mm)
Weight 900 lb (410 kg) (wet)

Silver Bird was a motorcycle land-speed record setting streamliner motorcycle. It was powered by two motors delivering 240 horsepower (180 kW).[1] It was the first motorcycle to set a speed record over 300 miles per hour (480 km/h), when ridden by Don Vesco at the Bonneville Speedway in 1975.[2][3]

Construction

Silver Bird c. 1974 with shorter stabilizing fin than on the 1975 record setting run

The motorcycle was built by Don Vesco and sponsored by Yamaha.[4] It had two four-cylinder, 694.9 cc reed-valve two-stroke engines from the Yamaha TZ750 racebike.[1]

Specifications

References

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 Robinson 2007, p. 126.
  2. ↑ American Motorcyclist Association 1999.
  3. ↑ New York Times 2002.
  4. ↑ American Motorcyclist Association 1982.
  5. ↑ Cameron 2012.
  6. ↑ Williams 2007.
  7. ↑ Hot Rod 2003.
  8. ↑ Phinizy 1975.

Sources

Further reading


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