Gurney Alligator/Honda NC 700 Overlay
This neat overlay of Dan Gurney's 70bhp single cylinder Alligator over Honda's NC 700 47bhp twin, shows just how much lower the All American Racers machine is!
(The Alligator uses a highly tuned version of the air-cooled Honda engine from the XR650L/Dominator which only puts out a claimed 44bhp at the crank as standard, which is more like 35bhp at the rear wheel.)
Thanks to Michael Moore for producing it. It appears in Michael's article about 'FFing' a Honda CTX 700, here: http://www.eurospares.com/HondaCTX700.htm
Lots more on Dan Gurney's AAR Alligators here:
http://bikeweb.com/image/tid/127
PNB
On the other hand, the Honda
On the other hand, the Honda lets the rider sit 6-8 inches farther forward than is possible on the Gurney, though the fuel tank will need to go behind the rider. Still, the fore/aft weight distribution should be much closer to 50/50 than the Gurney which should be more tail heavy (especially since it is lighter so the rider is a larger proportion of the overall mass). FWIW, both bikes have 60" wheel bases.
I think there's a need for a powertrain designed for FF use. I'm beginning to wonder if electric motors/batteries might be easier to package in an FF than the available IC engines are. If only batteries had double the energy density . . .