Ultra Rr

ULTRA RR

Riding The Real Thing

"TAKE OUR STREETBIKE AND MULTIPLY ITS PERFORmance by 10.” That’s how Kevin Erion describes his team’s 170-horsepower, 339pound, Honda CBR900RR-based racebike.

But don’t take just Erion’s word. CW tester Doug Toland, who holds a narrow, 1-point lead in AMA SuperTeams competition with Erion Racing teammate Andrew Stroud, says, “The racebike feels a lot lighter. It’s like riding a CR500 dirtbike. The rear tire hooks up so well that it will lift the front end when it’s still heeled

over. It just wants to wheelie everywhere. It’s fast. Really fast.”

Of course, there are some mechanical similarities to the Speed Merchant CBR, like the Öhlins suspension, HRC wheels and close-ratio gearbox, not to mention the aluminum twin-spar frame. “The frame is braced to ’95

specs,” says tuner Dan Kyle, “and we use a ’95 swingarm because the quick-change wheel modifications were already in place.” Fork offset depends on the track and rider preference. “CBR90ÖS tend to be a little nervous around very fast turns,” Kyle says. “Decreasing offset increases trail, making the bike more stable.” Toland concurs. “It’s a rock. It doesn’t move. Right now, the way the bike is set-up, it will push the front-end going into a corner. But you can always counter that with throttle control.”

Engine displacement ranges from 919cc to 97lcc. “The riders seem to like the smaller engine best because it’s easier to ride,” Kyle says. The compression ratio also varies, depending on the track-the faster the track, the higher the compression.

At the Road America AMA National earlier this year, the bike was clocked at 182 mph, nearly IO mph faster than the top Superbikes. “With the right gearing it would break 200,” Toland says. “The rate at which these bikes develop speed is unbelievable. Open-class bikes respond more abruptly than smaller-displacement bikes. You can’t apply the throttle in the same way. You have to be really careful, really smooth.”

The bike’s ability to shed speed is equally impressive. “You can stand the bike on its nose at any speed,” Toland says of the Brembo brakes. “Two fingers are all you need, nothing more.”

So why not just build a streetbike to racebike specs, you ask? “It would be like driving an F-l car to the supermarket,” say Erion, who netted two national Twins-class roadracing championships before becoming a team owner. “It probably wouldn’t be very fun.” Matthew Miles