In 1994 Chris Weismann
entered the Drag Bike racing market with the ZX3. A ground up
new 3 speed design specifically for Steve Rice's new ZX1100 Funny
Bike. Terry Kizer bought the other 2 for his new bike. 9 years
and 3 Championships later, this transmission is still the best
and the strongest Funny Bike transmission in existance!
In 1995 Chris designed
our best seller, the KZ3. A new 3 speed for the KZ1000 Funny Bikes,
custom made to utilize the totally different transmission cases,
and at the same time give the ability to roll out of the throttle
in any gear. Bryan Bennett won his first Funnybike Championship
using a KZ3. Since then Robert Giard and Gene Langley have each
one one.
In 1996 Chris designed
an all new concept 4 speed to mate up with Rick Crouch's custom,
rigid bottom end. Forget about looking in junkyards for old, used
engine cases that are going to break sooner than later! Made for
Suzuki or Kawasaki power heads and combined with a new concept
in drag bike design, this is our vision of the future of Drag
Racing. We call it the Alpha Legend.
In 1999 Chris designed
another all new concept 4 speed, the ZX4. Steve Rice, Terry Kizer,
Tom Jackson, and Jack Bell all have moved to the modern ZX1100
powered drag bikes. Steve won the AMA/Prostar Western Series opener
at Bakersfield in it's very first event! Tom Jackson was 3rd in
ProMod on his debut in ProMod. Tom said "It shifts great!
I can't even hear it go in. I'm glad I made the choice to go with
your tranny! Don't make them for anyone else!"
In 2000, Chris designed
the KZ4. John Larson and Larry Laye made it happen and Bob Coldiron,
Charlie Kahley, Steve Reiger, Rick Ball, Neil Diggens, and Rick
Lang stepped up for theirs.
For 2001, Chris has two
new transmissions in the works! One is the first protoype "QuickShift"
6 speed for George Bryce's Suzuki Pro Stock Bike! The second is
the first protoype ZX124 for Rob Muzzy's Kawasaki ZX1200 Pro Mod!
For 2003, Chris has finally
introduced the GS3! Same bullet proof design, just more compact
for the narrow Suzuki cases.
...
and there's more to come!
The ZX4 and KZ4 are an
all new design from the handle bars to the sprocket. This single
push-button 4 speed utilizes the latest technology learned from
some of the most powerful bikes and best riders in Funny Bike
history!
These transmissions are
the first 4 speeds to be shifted without forks or a barrel!
As a result Chris had
to invent a radical new shift system for them.
First, Chris had his
electronic-genius friend Steve
Morse design and manufacture the NEW "Transwitch" controller designed specifically
for our 3 and 4 speed transmissions . There is now a electronic push button shifter that mounts on the handlebar,
with a big red button to
upshift, a small yellow button to select neutral, and a bright,
integrated digital light display
to tell which gear
you are in, day or night.
The shift control is handled by a little
black box that contains the air valves,
air manifold, and a circuit
board.
Then, to shift the the
4 speed transmissions, Chris has invented a NEW, compact, blue air shifter that mounts the motor plate on
the sprocket side.
There are no rocker air-switches
on the handlebar, so the air hoses do not have to run up to the
handlebars and back down to the shifter which result in a delayed
shift, and requires more air and air-pressure. The air hoses,
1/4 in diameter for quicker and more powerful airflow, run from
the air supply to the black
box, then to the shifter. The black
box is mounted as
close to the air-supply and shifter
as possible to minimize
hose length and increase shift time!
Also, to eliminate the
1-3 shifts experienced by Steve Rice's high revving ZX1100 motor,
Chris has invented a NEW, over-ride ramp for the gears and dog
rings. The dogrings have been further reduced in weight without
sacrificing strength!
Burnouts can be done
in any gear! The rider can shift up the gears during the burnout
to save wear and tear on the clutches.
Unfortunately, Kawasaki
and Suzuki don't consult each other when they design their engines.
As a result, the cases are not the same, especially in the transmission
area. The cases vary in width and center distance. Both Kawasaki
and Suzuki have even modified their cases from year to year. What
this means to you is that a ZX4 is only good for ZX1100 engine
case, KZ3 for KZ1000, etc... All our designs are familiar, but
not interchangeable.
All of our designs
have many advantages built in to allow for high impact loads and
better load Distribution:
No forks, no bushings, no barrel, no bolted gears, no thrust washers,
no shims, no foot shifter, and no Jacking around!
The ability to roll in
and out of the throttle in all gears at anytime.
Aircraft alloys for the
strongest parts.
State of the art gear
tooth design.
Trouble-free air-shifted
systems by Kelmor and BHP.
Spare 2nd gear dogring
on the 3 speed models.
All moving gears are
on caged needle roller bearings.
Transmissions drop into
case without machining with the KZ3.
To strengthen the ZX4
cases in the transmission area, we have installed 2 thin steel
girdles for the main case bearings. 2 bosses need to be hand ground
for clearance around 2nd gear and 4th pinion. Machining of the
cases is required.
Output bearing is a roller
bearing instead of a ball bearing on KZ models only.
For the KZ4 and KZ3,
we have a NEW Custom Output Shaft has multiple
tooth involute splines and the largest diameter possible. We modify
your sprocket to fit the new shaft spline.
Quick assembly and disassembly.
Large diameter shafts to resist bending loads.
Stock input shaft spline
to adapt current baskets.
Low maintenance, simple
inspection.
44 years of experience
designing and manufacturing high performance racing transmissions.
Quality, Performance,
Reliability.
Since Steve Rice first came to us for his ZX3,
we have supplied him with a KZ3, a ZX4. We have supplied transmissions
to Terry Kizer, Steve Humphrey and John Morgan, Richard and Roland
Klotz, Tim Cullinan, Bill Hahn Sr., Josh Nelson, Peter Steuri,
Mark Wagoner and Tommy Bolton, Kenny Shurtz, John Terranova, Bob
Bodven, Scott Mueller, Jerry and Jewel Graves, Greg Scheiber,
Rick and Mikko "the dog" Crouch, David Abraham, Jack
Bell, John Larson, Charlie Kahley, Steve Suter and Arnie "King
Pin" Heller, Tom "When can I have it?" Jackson
and Pat Watson, Neil Diggens, Bob Coldiron, Bryan Bennett,
Steve Rieger, David Brown (Austrailia), Rick Ball, Jay Hall, David
Shnitz, Keith Lynn, Ricky Lang, Bill Hahn Sr. and Rob Giard, Tom Housteau, John and Travis Davis (KZ3 and GS3), Ted Kennedy,
Neil Midgley (England), Rhys Endicott-Davies (Australia), Skip Cambell, Rob Muzzy,
John Morgan (Top Funny) James Mobley, Michel Deslandes (Canada), Steve Dawson
(Canada), Vasilious Maroulous (Greece), James Fresh, Tony Parker, Tim Blakemore
(England ZX12 Funnybike), ...
If you run our transmissions
and you want to have your picture on our site, please email us
a jpeg at gearboxes@hotmail.com or send us a good picture and
we'll scan it in!
Bryan
Bennett has purchased our KZ3 for his awesome Funny Bike. On his
first pass, Bennett laid down his quickest ever ET at 6.745 s
! His next pass was even quicker at 6.685 s. For the whole weekend,
7 passes, he averaged quicker than he had ever run at 6.72 s !
If
only he had put it in gear, he would have won the final !
He
made up for it in the next 2 races by winning both of them !
Bryan
Bennett won the 1999 Eastern AMA / Prostar Championship just by
qualifying for the Gainsville National in November !
He
came back in 2000 to add the IDBA Funny Bike Title to his credit!
Steve Rice has for the 2nd
year in a row, secured
the Western AMA/Prostar Funny bike Championship!
This ZX3 is from
the original batch of 3 from 1994!
Steve Rice 1998 AMA/Prostar Western Series Funny bike Champion
Steve
Suter and Arnie Heller stunned the Funny bike world with 9 World Records in their first year
in Funny bike!
Ken
Shurtz bought our 2nd KZ3.
Tom
Jackson bought our first ZX4 for his clean Pro Mod bike.
It
took 4 years, but in 1998, Jerry Graves was the first rider to
break a KZ3 part! He pushed stock technology to it's limit and
it's finally time for a change. Chris has redesigned the output
shaft and sprocket to handle the high horsepower and torque being
put to the asphalt now!
All
of the transmissions supplied from now on will have stock Weismann
technology on the output shafts.
Steve
Humphrey was our second customer! He bought our first KZ3, and
4 years later, he still is running that KZ3! . He teamed up with
John Morgan, who also owns a KZ3 and made this awesome turbo alcohol
Funny bike. Their bike won Best Engineered Bike at the 1997 AMA/Prostar
World Finals in Gainesville!
John
Terranova bought our 3rd KZ3. He hasn't ordered any spare parts
yet!
Terry
Kizer has bought our ZX3 for his Funny bike and a ZX4 for his
Pro Mod bike. Ricky Gadston stunned the Funny bike and Pro Mod
world by beating all of them with the quick time of the meet.
A 6.86 s 1/4 mile on a Pro Mod
bike!
Jay Hall is our
most recent new customer. Jay bought a KZ3 with our new push-button
shifter.
Recently we received
this email from one of our customers in Australia.
"My name
is Jacinta Elliott, I race in Australia. Our bike is a 1394 cc
Kawasaki that uses Mr Turbo Components. We have run a best of
8.2@160mph with lots left in it yet. It uses a Rajay Turbo, Traction Products gearbox and a Falicon crank. Attached
are some photos. We have been using one of your gearboxes for
a few years now and it has performed faultlessly. A great product.
J.E.""
David Abraham
narrowly missed winning the British Funnybike Championship last
year by one qualifying heat!
Thanks to late Marty
Kane at www.dragbike.com for some of the pictures.
