Now in case you dont know, not only am I a keen Raptor owner but I am also a Fire Officer (currently at Heathrow Airport), a geek and a hobby pilot. The clip of the afterburners from Utube was very cool. They all seemed to having great fun and it certainly did look cool in a mad Max sort of way. But the thing that I really like is here is the perfect combination of bikes, fire and aeroplane technology that I can sit at the bar and talk bollox on for hours.
Before we start who's having what to drink?
The purpose of Afterburners can be just to look mad and this is easily a reason to do it. In a jet aircraft, particularly a fighter, they are to get more thrust from the engines. The jet gives what it can but there is a limit to what it can do. The idea is British (sort of). Our noble Spitfire had a rolls royce engine and our freinds from Saxony were about to kick our arses due to our engine being a bit wheezy so more power was needed. RR decided that if they pointed the red hot exhausts in the right direction then they could use the extra thrust. Don't you just love men in sheds? Leap forward to the jet. A jet can only compress and explode gases at a certain rate. If you attempt much more the incoming air breaks the sound barrier and you get shockwaves in the compressor. This is why Concorde (and all supersoninc jets) have long intakes, so the air can bounce around and slow down before being compressed. To go any faster you need a rocket engine. Rockets have no intake they have their own fuel and oxygen and just burn it. So any afterburner on a plane injects fuel into the hot exhaust gases and ignites it. End result, kick in the pants and off we go. You basically have a jet and a rocket. If you want to go much faster you need a ramjet or pure rocket. This is the right moment to think "I feel the need, the need for speed" and go all Tom Cruisey.
Many aircraft have used rocket assist for take offs and all sorts of lovely stuff.
So, here comes a question. Can I put afterburners on my bike for any other reason than it looks great and people will sigh and gasp at the genius who did it? Easy answer, yes you can. After burners on internal combustion engines can make a difference. Different idea but it can still work. The point of putting a bigger, more open exhaust on is to increase gas flow. As one who loves the noise I do not pretend that the extra performance is the main reason. Why have a supremely strange looking bike, with all sorts of claws and stuff on then creep around being quiet? Of all the posts on here about exhausts, all of them have a bit of "love the noise" in so I am not alone.
But, at some stage, you will not be able to clear the gases any faster no matter how big the pipe. You would need to actually suck the gases out. Same as, at some point, you need a turbo charger or super charger to force the fuel in, you will need something to suck it out. Any explosion causes a rapid expansion of the gases. This leaves lower pressure behind. So if you have a small explosion at the end of the taipipe it will suck gases out behind it. Mount a gas canister somewhere, with the right kind of nozzle in the end of the tailpipe and light it. Then when you rev the gases burn hotter, more expansion and it sucks the gases out of the tailpipe.
This all sounds wonderful but here comes the bad news. I have no idea if it will make a blind bit of difference to a Raptor. I am thinking not. I am thinking this becasue we have mapped fuel injection which can only put a certain amount of fuel in and regardless of how hard you suck on the end you can't get it in as quick as you get it out. We have no turbo and no supercharger. Add to this that the end where you burn al that stuff is plastic and disaster looms. Please nobody do it. You will die in a horrible fire ball. The Harley manuals are full of warnings like this which say filling your bike with fuel is dangerous and you might die but this is a real warning. Really though, this is bonkers. DO NOT carry gas cansiters and do not set fire to your bike. .
Now I lean back and bask in the warm glow of a true bar bore. Having passed on some useless knowledge and made something mad have a stupid point (in my head). So much better than "of course you can wheelie 2 up" or "there is nitrous in squirty cream if you know how to use it".
Before you say anything I am jsut off out on my bike so I will be getting out more and I am planning to get alife at some point
.Zeb
Thats so embarrasing isn't it. 
