The New UFO Sulky Website

[Sea Biscuit]

http://ufowins.com/Home_Page.html

Get the full details about the design, price and if you click on the winners circle link you'll know who has been using it.:jump::jump:

[Sinner369]

Sea:

The bike cost $6,500...........very expensive!

[LottaKash]

http://ufowins.com/Home_Page.html

Get the full details about the design, price and if you click on the winners circle link you'll know who has been using it.:jump::jump:

So Biscuit, is it the "Drivers" who are buying and using this bike (ala Andy Miller,who carts his bike around wherever he goes) or is it more that the "Barns" are buying and using it....You probably don't know the answer, because all I could see were the "drivers" getting the accolades about using the new bike, and no mention of any of the barns that were using it...Just wondering...

best,

[Hanover1]

So Biscuit, is it the "Drivers" who are buying and using this bike (ala Andy Miller,who carts his bike around wherever he goes) or is it more that the "Barns" are buying and using it....You probably don't know the answer, because all I could see were the "drivers" getting the accolades about using the new bike, and no mention of any of the barns that were using it...Just wondering...

best,

I can help here, if its not to much.... Right now its the drivers that are toting these things around. A few barns ship them around for them to use on select stock, but right now (sadly) its risky business letting an expensive sulky like that laying around. Most big stables have 15-20 sulkies laying around the barn at any given time, in various set-ups/configurations i.e. width, wheel size.shaft lenght, ect...each can vary, so a UFO would be a prized item, as it is fully adjustable real quickly vs the others. We used to have a 3 number configuration stencilled on each arch indicating wheel size, width, lenght, so we could just grab one real quick and not have to adjust or guess. The only thing one would have to change on the UFO would be wheels, from, say, 30" to 28" (smaller horse or 1/2 mile racing...)

[Not4Love]

I must be from another planet. So the new bike has no
effect on "performance"??The betting public should not be alerted??????

[Sea Biscuit]

Its good to know about these bikes and who is using them specially for the first time on a horse, but really in the end it boils down to whats between the two shafts.

Jody Jamieson is very high on a bike that he has imported all the way from Finland. Here is the pic.

http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g387/secretariat3/WarraweeNeedy.jpg

[Sea Biscuit]

So the new bike has no
effect on "performance"??

Corey Callahan would disagree with you.

Here is a small clip of Corey with the bike on face book and if you have a facebook account you might be able to see it.

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=116751711732993

[Sea Biscuit]

Its good to know about these bikes and who is using them specially for the first time on a horse, but really in the end it boils down to whats between the two shafts.

Jody Jamieson is very high on a bike that he has imported all the way from Finland. Here is the pic.

http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g387/secretariat3/WarraweeNeedy.jpg

Here are some comments made by Jamieson on his Finnish bike

http://peicanada.com/atlantic_post_calls/publication/jody_jamieson_wins_national_driving_championship

[Hanover1]

I must be from another planet. So the new bike has no
effect on "performance"??The betting public should not be alerted??????

Perhaps requesting a DRF type listing of all equipment is in order. As far as new bikes are concerned, some feel there is an advantage, some don't. The evolution of the sulky always has its detractors. Many horses get beaten as well when hitched to one. Are we asking for a "1st time UFO" listing? Not that its a bad thing, but from a handicaping standpoint it may be more important to consider what IS between the shafts.
A smart capper would learn to spot this bike during warm-ups/post parades, and use it to his advantage, if they feel there is one. Sharing the wealth would kill your odds?

[pandy]

I wrote a column for Harness Eye on the UFO and I interviewed Curt Watson, who developed the bike. When Tom Harmer came out with his bike, which I believe was 2001, it cut final times by as much as two seconds and also made the sport more speed favoring. The Harmer bike was well received by drivers but in my opinion was very bad for the sport (bad flow, too speed favoring).

The UFO seems to help some horses go a bit faster but is not a dramatic change in racing the way the Harmer was. The Harmer was 6 inches off centered, the UFO is 10 inches off centered.

The UFO seems to track well around the turns and some horses may improve because of that.

Overall from what I've seen, the UFO isn't hurting the sport as compared to the Harmer and other modern sulkies, although I agree that the sulky that each horse is going to use should be listed in the past performances.

Someone wrote on here, it's between the shafts that counts. Well, keep in mind, if a sulky is a half-length faster than another sulky, that is a huge difference in a horse race. So the sulkies do matter. When the modified sulky first came out in 1977, it was a huge advantage, and when the Harmer came out, it was a huge advantage. Overall, it's unfortunate, but the steel sulkies and off centered sulkies should have never been allowed. Bottom line, harness racing has a bad outside flow and is too speed favoring, has too many winning favorites and the main reason for this is the sulkies. If you ran these races in the old wooden sulkies the racing would be much more exciting and more competitive with 4 in and 4 out at the half the way it was when the sport was much more successful.