Flywheel Lightening

[FoxRacingAdam]

Im thinking about getting my flywheel lightened, but i heard there might be some problems with it if you have a built motor?? is that true?? anyone out there have a lightened flywheel?

i race flat track and am looking to rev quicker, is this the way to go?

[GPracer2500]

I'm curious about this too.

[sixer3]

i've heard its easier to stall(sp?)

[cals400ex]

i had a lightened flywheel on my 426. everyone has their own opinion on this subject. however, my bike was simply slower. i know people will argue with me all day long on this subject but mine was slower!! i had Laz at gt thunder do the work so i know the work wasn't crappy. maybe i should have sent it off to trailtech to get it balanced if they could do a better job, if they couldn't i would have just lost out on shipping. it may stall a little easier as well. i didn't really see that issue with mine though. i have a buddy and we drag race all the time. we would get on a private road by my house and race a lot. the only possible way i would lose to him was when i had my lightened flywheel back in. his bike was built by the way. i tried shifting early, shifting later, shifting while not letting off the gas, etc. nothing helped. i would lose every time. i put the stock flywheel back in and i never lost again. it is more noticably slower in the upper gears with the lightened flywheel. on average i would say i lost around one bike length per gear with the light flywheel. it was a little less in the lower gears and a little more in the upper gears but it balances out to around 1 bike length per gear. i contacted Laz about this issue and he said yes for dragging you will be a little slower. he then said i will only run stock flywheels in my bikes but if a customer sends the money and wants it done he will at their request.

so all in all, i would look elsewhere for power. a cam and a piston will make a drastic difference even with the stock head on. a good full pipe does all help, especially with that cam in piston in place.

[GPracer2500]

Thanks for that firsthand experience. I wonder why a lighter flywheel would be slower for dragracing? That seems counterintuitive to me so there must be some dynamic I'm not aware of [shrug]....

[2004exrider]

Maybe it doesn't have enogh momentum for it to run right. Example: It'd be like taking the back tire off a bicycle and turning the crank as fast as you could by hand, it'd turn over real fast at first but you wouldnt get it to go any faster. But put the back tire on again and turn it over by hand, it will speed up a lot quicker and have a steady acceleration to it. Kinda a dumb example but cant think of another way to explain it lol.

Jimmy

[ohsobad_chevy]

Originally posted by GPracer2500
That seems counterintuitive to me so there must be some dynamic I'm not aware of [shrug]....

Nice wordage bro.

[flauge]

What i think makes it slower for dragracing is that there is less momentum held in the lighter flywheel. yea itll turn up quicker, but you lose revs quicker, making it harder to launch..
I also read somewhere that you can lose torque too from the loss of momentum.

[1fst400]

I had a lightened flywheel on my 416 motor, was a little quicker reving. I went back to the stock, then decided the lighened flywheel was better for me. Its a pita tho, wont idle for crap, stalls alot. But for flat track I would concider it. For trails its a big no no.

[cals400ex]

i forgot to mention that the bike would not rev quite as high either with the lightened one one. i didn't get enough of mine shaved off for it to have idling or stalling issues though.