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]

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)

Construction

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

• Displacement: 1,389.8 cc total
• Engine bore and stroke: 64mm×54mm[5][6]
• Dimensions: 21 feet long, 32 inches high[7]
• Weight: c. 900 pounds (410 kg)[8]

References

Notes

Sources

• Motorcycle Hall of Fame: Don Vesco, American Motorcyclist Association, 1999
• Cameron, Kevin (March 30, 2012), "Ask Kevin: Hard riding beasts – Yamaha TZ750", Cycle World
• Williams, Evan (c. 2007), Yamaha's TZ750: Where Legends Began ..., Superbike Planet, archived from the original on 2010-12-21
• Robinson, Rocky (2007), Flat Out: The Race for the Motorcycle Land Speed Record, Motorbooks, ISBN 9781610609296
• "Don Vesco, 63, Record-Setting Motorcyclist", The New York Times, December 20, 2002
• "Don Vesco Turbinator Streamliner Land-Speed Racer—Vesco's 300-MPH Bike", Hot Rod, July 2003
• Woodruff, Dorde (April 1982). "Record runs a family affair with Don and Rick Vesco". American Motorcyclist. American Motorcyclist Association: 86. Retrieved May 29, 2021 – via Google Books.
• Phinizy, Coles (November 1975), "Flat out on the flats", Sports Illustrated, 43 (19): 38

Further reading

• "Motorcycles - The Silver Bird - Don Vesco's 300-mph Yamaha streamliner", Hot Rod, December 1975

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Silver Bird (streamliner).

• Don Vesco & The Silver Bird 1975 on YouTube

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