On Track to be On Track

It looks like we're on a 2 week update schedule, which is not so good. In fact, a lot has been happening. TreMoto LLC is a semifinalist in the Gilespie Business Plan competition, and will be presenting a 5 minute pitch Friday morning. Our lawyer is filing a petition for the LLC early this week. We will also be machining some aluminum this week. Right now, I'll explain the past two.
The Pro/E model is coming along. Ignore the abysmal colors, we're edging toward aesthetic completion, at least as far as parts count. I've been dragging my feet on hubs and front brakes, but that should be merely an afternoon's work. The Gilespie script is 95% after today's work so I can get back on the engineering side tomorrow. We've also got a laundry list of nut-and-bolt type stuff to order from Yamaha and a couple more bits arriving from eBay. The big news, for one, was Friday's teardown.
"You seek a great fortune, you three who are now in chains. You will find a fortune, though it will not be the one you seek. But first... first you must travel a long and difficult road, a road fraught with peril. Mm-hmm. You shall see thangs, wonderful to tell. You shall see a... a cow... on the roof of a cotton house, ha. And, oh, so many startlements. I cannot tell you how long this road shall be, but fear not the obstacles in your path, for fate has vouchsafed your reward. Though the road may wind, yea, your hearts grow weary, still shall ye follow them, even unto your salvation."
Also we waterjetted the bulkheads and all of our gussets from 4130 at Valley Rack in Elliott, MS. The a-arm spacers I made in shop class are not shown, nor is all the steel and Heims we got from Aircraft Spruce. Still waiting on our spring and a slot at the fab shop, but if the next four weeks go as well as last week we'll have a chance to ride this baby to our senior design presentation.

Update

Long time, no update. Mechanical engineering school will do that to you. At any rate, we've had some good luck obtaining parts. Pictured below are one of the Aprilia wheels (with tire), the Laeger ProTrax suspension, one of the Kayaba rotary dampers and a Honda hub that our custom hub may pick up some design cues from.

It may not look like a lot, but these componesnts are essential. Next week we'll be shopping for fabricators and chromoly. Bulkhead designs and material will be send to the waterjet in Grenada, A-arms will go to Ronnie's Custom Auto for lower mods (clearance for rotarydamper and mounts) top arms will be design locked and contracted for and we'll be design finalizing the spring/damper rocker based on a YZ250 axle and wheel bearings. This part will need time on a lathe and a CNC machine. If we can figure all this out this week and get some material to our fabricators, we'll be on schedule.

Flex-a-Form will get the final spring order on Monday morning so we should have that bit in a couple weeks, at which point we can build the link arms. Spring links will be short CNC'd aluminum yokes with a bearing setup to be determined. Damper linkage will come from a pair of rod (Heim) ends and and adjustable shaft.

Steering stem is going top be tricky, as the lower flag will have to be located and secured to the top shaft via a nut on a tapered shaft. We'll have upper and lower bearings, the whole thing will go together like a triple tree. It's going to be complex to build, but it should be elegant once assembled.

Hubs, however, might look bulky and I haven't had any inspiring designs so far. We'll work on that as well.

That's all for today, folks.

Goodies

One day there will be powerslides...

The first Aprillia wheel arrived yesterday, and it looks awesome. The model has been updated accordingly and includes some iteration 1 wheel hubs. We've also connected the tie rods for a working steering system. So far so good, with no interference and hopefully no binding. I've learned a lot about the steering geometry today, and we'll need to make a wheelbase change. If slow and steady wins the race, we're on track to finalize our design in the next few weeks and begin construction in earnest.

The Waiting Game

For all the progress we've made, all we have to show for it is one little rotary damper. We're desperately trying to make headway with the next parts.

One thing that has been holding us back are these little buggers:

Ducati Valve Shim Measurement Tool

These guys cost $30 and have been holding us back for a while. Back in November, Eddie and I attempted the 18,000 mile service of my Ducati. We got the valve clearance measurements, took the shims to Atlanta to get measured during Thanksgiving (as we have no Ducati Valve Shim Measurement Tool), bought new shims, and then went to try and put the valves back together. One of the valves is still a little tight with the new shims, so I decided to order the Measurement Tool from NPR Ducati in Athens, GA in January, so I could avoid having to take the shim to a Ducati dealer to get measured. Sadly, the parts have been on back order for some time now, and I'm still waiting patiently. Though, I may have found a solution in www.DucatiToolRental.com or www.Guzzino.com, it remains to be seen whether they actually have any of the tools in stock. Either way, I'm probably going to be heading to Atlanta soon to pick up a dog, and will make a stop by NPR Ducati to test drive their new Monsters and Hypermotard (Monstrosity Version 2.0?). Hopefully, I'll be bringing back a Measurement Tool as well as a labrador retriever. We need to have a running engine, as a leaning suspension is pretty boring sitting still.

The Laeger Pro-Trax front end seems to have stalled at the powdercoaters for sand-blasting. Our man tells us it will be in the mail on Friday (Fingers Crossed).

Meanwhile, our beautiful Aprilia RS 125 wheel is already in the USA! Track the shipment anxiously with us here. Funny how a part ordered from Wales last week ships faster than a part ordered from California in January.

Meanwhile, we are going to call UK Bikes LTD tomorrow morning about obtaining another Aprilia RS 125 wheel.

Also, we sent in an order to www.Flex-A-Form.com for a price estimate regarding the composite leaf spring, so we'll be calling them tomorrow too. We need to follow up with them since our spring will be a little different than their normal product line.

Plus, there is the second rotary damper to purchase sometime soon as well.

Finally, we talked to the guys down at www.TerraMostro.com last week. They are doing some pretty cool things turning a 600 Monster into a dual-purpose bike. Either way, the point is they advised us not to neglect the swingarm pivot, which is in the engine case. They had a few break from the side loading that happens when you slide the rear end of a bike on the dirt. So that is something we need to keep in mind, especially if we try any fire-road drifting on the first prototype :-P. Thankfully, the Terra Mostro (Dirty Monster in italian, hehe) people have a solution to the broken swingarm pivots:

Terra Mostro Rear-Sets (Reinforces Swingarm Pivot)

The Terra Mostro guy was really helpful, and I would love to maybe put our heads together on an Off-Road Monstrosity 620 in the future.

Photo Goodness

We got a lot done this weekend and today. Here's a bit of what the mechanical bits will look like.
Front end details. Compact, low and non interference. Damper linkage not shown, but we'll have it sorted in a few days.
At left lean with right wheel removed. Tie rods not pictured yet either.
Bottom plan view.

Another teaser

More piddling with the model. I promise, it's going to look hott.

Spy Shot

Here's one more piece of eye candy for the day, I just have to show it off a little.

Iterate and Wait

Progress remains slow and steady. The above photo depicts the latest/greatest front end design, one that is significantly more compact than any previous version. In fact, it's the first that I'm confident leaves ample room for the steering components and top a-arms. Credit Rob for drawing this up on the white board first.

That should allow for plenty of lean angle. Now only if we had those a-arms... Still waiting on the whole Pro-Trax front end. There is not telling, at this point, how extensively the arms will have to be modified, not how many of our dimensional guesstimates will come correct. Once we have the arms and know our leverage ration, we can order our spring from Flex-A-Form.

The good news is, we successfuly ordered a front wheel from Wales via Skype. Shipping is roughly 3x the purchase price, but so long as we're rolling.

"I wish the country had fewer lawyers and more engineers" Barack Obama, Audacity of Hope

Preliminary Specifications

Engine

618cc Ducati Desmo Due L-Twin
60HP @ 9500RPM, 39.3 ft. lbs. torque @ 6750RPM

Frame
Front Subframe: 4130 Steel Trellis with 4-bulkhead suspension cradle
Rolling
Front Tires: 2 x Metzler Sporttec M3 120/60-17
Rear Tire: Metzler Sporttec M3 160/60-17
Front Wheels: Aprillia RS125 AF1 Sentesi rear 3x17”
Front Suspension
Parallelogram Double-Wishbone with Floating Rocker Composite Leaf Spring
Wheel Travel: 5” vertical, 29.7” articulating
Wishbones: Laeger Pro-Trax +3+1 (Modified)
Spindles: Laeger Pro-Trax
Hubs: 3 x 144mm pattern
Dampers: Kayaba Oil-Damped Rotary from Suzuki TL1000R
Roll Damper: Scott’s Performance Rotary Steering Damper with HI/LOW speed adjust
Steering Damper: GPR Rotary Steering Damper
Rear Suspension
Top link monoshock swingarm
Wheel Travel: 5.8”
Brakes
Front Brakes: Twin Hydraulic Disk
Rear Brake: Single 245mm Hydraulic Disk
Dimensions
Length: 82.7”
Width: 46”
Wheelbase: 56.7”
Seat Height: 30.3”
Dry Weight: 450 lbs.
Weight Distribution: 60% Front, 40% Rear

Procurement

Wherefore art thou?

Now that the blog is kind of up to the present...

Current project include Pro/E modeling of the rotary damper (a Kayaba piece sourced from a Suzuki TL1000R), making phone calls to California in a desperate attempt to receive a Laeger Pro-Trax front end (we'll be using the spindles, lower arms, tie rods/ends and perhaps bits of the steering stem and upper arms).


Ebay.co.uk promises us Aprillia AF1 rear wheels, which are reportedly just a bit narrow for 140 profile tires. We'll be using 120/XX/17 Metzler Sporttec M3s. They'll match up nicely with the 160 section rear tire, giving us 400mm of rubber on the road, distributed 60/40 front rear (no coincedentally our weight distribution target). They also look sick. The three-bolt wheels will mate up to the Laeger spindles and as-yet-unspec's brakes through custom designed aluminum hubs. We'll Pro/E them up and send them to the machine shop's CNC mill.