Raced a BossHoss today

[drlucian]

I rode the Boss Hoss. Awesome. At least that's what the t-shirt says. It wasn't very awesome. Demo rides (free) at AZ bike week event. Sluggish leisurely acceleration,big flat car tire in in the back. An interesting motorcycle oddity but I don't know why anyone would want to ride one regularly. More for one-example-of-everything JayLeno type mcy collectors.

 

[The Big Red One]

Traction is for sure a real big problem. Especially the bigblock. The only thing that's working half good is the Nitto street/strip tire. It's a 15" car tire with a really soft compound. The bigblock can still toast it.

GM's claims (and subsequently, Boss Hoss) about hp are a bit optimistic. The ZZ502 claims the same hp as displacement but Sallee Chevrolet and a couple of other noteable sources don't see 502 crank hp out of it. It is however, capable of a bunch of serious horse. The GM Performance heads and the rather mild cam in the crate 502 can be replaced for some real big hp. My '01 bigblock with some header, ignition and carb modifications showed an avg of 323 RWHP on a DynoJet dyno. That's a long way from the claimed 502 and my bike was modified.

The ZZ4 on the otherhand, is pretty mild to begin with. Chevy is again making claims of 355 crank hp on the crate ZZ4 (350 smallblock) which quite frankly is anything but exciting on the Boss. There is a significant loss of hp through the drivetrain and the tranny depending on converter used and it just isn't able to transfer the amount of hp you may expect. Without a nitrous shot (at least 125 hp), they're just uninspiring and as I've mentioned, I've done better times on the mellow Yamaha FJR1300 than a stock 350 Boss.

That's the story. The diehard Boss guys would like to shoot me or $hit on me for blowing the reality whistle but I'm not into the BS that some of those guys believe about their bikes. Ironic that a number of the guys who think they have the fastest bikes on the planet haven't done much more than profiled at the bike get-togethers and bars. I love V8 bikes and have had them since early '01 and continue to enjoy them today but...I love seeing something with half the jugs and a quarter the price kick their a$$ every now and then.

Elliot

Elliot thanks for the honest responses. I guess it kinda just backs up the old "nothing works better for a job than something designed for that job". I imagine all the years of high-tech motorcycle developement's got to mean something eh? And when I mod the motor in my Firebird I won't be sticking a Busa mill in there lol....everything's got its purpose

I would still love to own a Boss tho......



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