by Paul Crowe - "The Kneeslider" on 10/28/2009
in Engines
Plastic engine block
Losing weight isn't just a perennial goal of human beings, it's the holy grail of motorcycle design, at least in terms of performance. If you want a motorcycle to accelerate quicker, stop faster, get better mileage or perform better in almost any area, just reduce the weight. Plastics have long been used for many reasons in vehicle design and weight reduction is certainly among them, so think about it, after removing the rider, where is the majority of the remaining weight in a motorcycle? It's the engine.
An interesting article in the New York Times talks about plastic auto engines, and they visit with Matti Holtzberg, an engineer and president of Polimotor (short for polymer motor) Research, who designed, built and even raced, plastic engines in the 1980s. He transformed a stock engine from a Ford Pinto, 88 hp and 415 pounds into a 300 hp, 152 pound engine.
... [he] used plastic for the block, piston skirts, connecting rods, oil pan and most of the cylinder head. Bore surfaces, piston crowns and combustion-chamber liners were iron or aluminum. The crankshaft and camshaft were standard metal components.
He raced a Lola in the IMSA Camel Lights series and had only one failure, a connecting rod from an outside supplier. Even with the success, interest from automakers was low, standard production and manufacturing techniques were working fine, why change?
Fast forward to 2009 and some companies are showing interest. Although iron engines in those days were heavy to start, plastic engines could even reduce the weight of today's aluminum engines by 30 percent. Technology has definitely advanced in the last 25 years so it seems natural to at least give it a try. Think about that sort of weight reduction on a motorcycle. In a car, the engine is a much smaller part of overall weight, on a motorcycle, it's the single heaviest piece.
Though other Polimotor engines were designed, no motorcycle applications were tried, from what I could find.
Polimotor attracted a lot of interest back in the 1980s, with articles in many publications but faded from the limelight. Now that there is a glimmer of interest, it's unlikely a motorcycle company would be in the position to take a chance on the technology just for its own use, but it might be the perfect place to test the technology for durability before using it in large scale application in the auto world. If it happened to work out, wouldn't it be neat if we got the benefit of some really lightweight powerplants in the process?
Link: New York Times
Kickboxer - Subaru WRX powered concept motorcycle
Suppose you had an engine from a Subaru WRX and suppose further, you wanted to build a motorcycle, what would it look like? Ian McElroy was thinking about just that and started putting his ideas into Solidworks to see what he could do. One minor problem, though, Ian didn't know how to use Solidworks, so he set about the task of learning the software as he went, taking his ideas and putting them into the computer. What you see here is the result and he thought we might like to take a look.
Kickboxer - Subaru WRX powered concept motorcycle
It's radical, to be sure, but no more so than, say, building a motorcycle around a radial engine or any of the other motorcycle and engine combinations we've seen here. But, beyond the concept itself, I really like the fact that Ian decided to jump in and learn the software so he could show everyone what was on his mind and clarify his ideas to see if they would work. It's so easy to say, "I don't know how" and leave it at that, Ian decided to learn it and forge ahead. Nice work!
More images below: [click to continue…]
Vento 400 Cafe GT triple from PTS Motors
There's a strong contingent of riders always asking the same questions, "Why build every new motorcycle with a big engine? Why not build something smaller, affordable and light that still looks cool? We want a real motorcycle, not a scooter." OK, check out the Vento 400 Cafe GT from PTS Motors. If you think a light (348 pounds), nimble commuter with a 34 horsepower 400cc 3 cylinder engine and 5 speed transmission might be just the ticket, look no further, here it is.
You may recognize that engine. It was designed by Ian Drysdale of Australia back in 2004 for PTS Motors to be used in an upcoming Vento Reptile ATV which entered production in 2007, but to some, the engine really looked like it should be on 2 wheels. [click to continue…]
SXR Street Tracker from Phil Little Racing
Street trackers are a regular feature here at The Kneeslider and for good reason, they give your street bike the appearance of a dirt track racer and quite a few folks like that look. Phil Little has introduced the SXR Street Tracker conversion kit and it's pretty slick, but beyond the good looks and straight forward bolt on conversion process, the best part is the pricing. If you're used to seeing some of the other street tracker conversions out there, you already know the price might keep you from going all out with alloy tanks, upside down forks and everything else. Phil decided to make a great looking kit you can afford.
SXR Street Tracker Sportster conversion by Phil Little Racing
Phil sent me some background on the whole kit and how it came about.
Here's Phil to explain: [click to continue…]
Both, Buell riders and a potential investment group are asking Harley Davidson to at least sell the brand rather than shut it down completely. Walworth County officials are trying to get a group of buyers together, contacting a group in Chicago and another in Minneapolis. They have received no reply from Erik Buell to their offer to arrange such a deal, so he may not even be interested, but it's an option.
Buell riders are also circulating letters urging Harley to reconsider the shutdown and likewise, are asking them to sell the company if they have no interest in continuing the brand themselves.
Bob Klein, Harley's director of corporate communications, reiterated that Harley is "discontinuing the Buell product line rather than selling the business because of how deeply integrated Buell is into our business systems and distribution network."
The statement by Klein is unfortunate, Harley Davidson seems to indicate they could not run Buell in a profitable manner and no one else should be given the opportunity to try. The "deeply integrated" argument sounds hollow because the new owners can worry about getting it running, setting up their own suppliers and distribution, Harley just needs to let go.
The business case from Harley Davidson is pretty clear, Buell is losing money so shut it down. What is hard to understand is their refusal to sell it to another group that may be more passionate about the brand and willing to do what it takes to make it a success. There is no indication that the decision was made in anything other than a sincere effort to save Harley from further losses, but to bury the brand rather than sell it seems short sighted at best.
UPDATE: This just in:
Erik Buell and his band The Thunderbolts will be playing this Saturday:
The Thunderbolts
10/24/2009 9:00 PM at Dry Dock Saloon & Shipwreck
27045 W Grass Lake Rd, Antioch, Illinois 60002
Link: JS Online
Link: JS Onlline
Related: Buell to be Discontinued
Ilmor Engineering, the firm made famous for its work with Indy Cars and Formula One, as well as Triumph Motorcycles and Harley Davidson plus GM, Honda and Mercedes have built an engine that will make you think for a bit, it's a 700cc, 3 cylinder, 130 horsepower turbocharged 5 stroke. Did they say 5 stroke?
The 2 outboard cylinders are the high pressure (HP) fired cylinders while the center low pressure (LP) cylinder makes extra use of the exhaust gases. The point of this design is to enable the expansion and compression strokes to be decoupled. The effective expansion ratio is 14.5:1, almost diesel territory, converting the maximum thermal energy into work. The compression ratio can be reduced, delaying knock, without a decrease in performance. The extra expansion stroke of the LP cylinder is, effectively, the 5th stroke.
Fuel consumption and emissions levels are similar to that of current diesel engines, without the serious problem of particulate and NOx emissions which plague diesels.
Fuel consumption is decreased by 10% over conventional 4 stroke operation. The entire engine is built using conventional technology, no new manufacturing technology or processes are needed.
This is more than a computer model, the running prototype is being dyno tested with a second development engine planned for in-vehicle testing.
Just when you think the internal combustion engine has pretty well emptied the bag of tricks, a little creative thinking comes along and gets higher fuel efficiency and lower weight than equivalent engines by adding another stroke to the process. So now we have 2, 4, 5 and even 6 strokes. Very impressive engineering, I like it.
Link: Ilmor Engineering
More images below: [click to continue…]
Motorcycle night vision
Motorcycle manufacturers have introduced ABS and traction control, dual clutches, variable valve timing and lots of other interesting technology, but one thing we haven't seen yet is night vision. If you're a rider like Darren Haley and you work for FLIR, a company that makes a lot of thermal imaging equipment for the military, police and other folks that need to see in the night, that's not a problem, you just head over to the parts bin and start looking around.
Darren set up his BMW 1150GS for night operation by replacing one of the driving lights with an infrared camera. A GPS unit with a video input, takes the camera's signal and displays it where the rider can easily see it. After 9000 miles on the prototype, he likes it a lot and so do the others who have tested it. He's trying to keep the unit under $2000, which isn't cheap but there may be a few early adopters ready to add something like this to their BMW or Gold Wing or other higher end machine.
On nights where he would be blinded by oncoming lights, he says you can actually just look at the screen until the oncoming traffic has passed. Although this may not look as cool as the night vision gear you see worn by helicopter pilots, it certainly seems to do the job. I like this a lot and I'd love to see it in action.
Link: Wired magazine
Link: FLIR
Infrared camera and GPS screen
Lightning Motors electric motorcycle at Bonneville
In the constantly changing world of electric motorcycle speed records and attempts, Lightning Motors ran their pre-production prototype to 166.388 mph at Bonnevillle on October 10th, 2009. Notice, it says "pre-production" so they are aiming to take the record for fastest production electric motorcycle away from Mission Motors and the absolute electric record as well, according to Richard Hatfield of Lightning Motors. This appears to be a one way run so it's not an official record but it does show what this bike can do. A dustbin fairing they planned to run was considered illegal by the inspectors so they mounted a Ducati 1098R fairing instead. The fairing actually caused some stability issues and the bike ran over 164 mph without it.
Kent Riches currently holds the electric record at 176 mph, Mission Motors is number 2 at 150, though Lightning Motors would take the number 2 spot if they had a 2 way run at 166.
We wrote about Lightning Motors' early efforts a couple of years ago. It looks like they're coming along in the development process and might be joining the ever expanding number of electric motorcycles on the market. They weren't quite ready and were unable to participate in the TTXGP but they're continuing to work on their bike and this Bonneville effort shows it has a lot of promise. Lightning Motors does not have a website yet but Hatfield can be contacted through Alliance Renewable Energy.
Lightning Motors press release:
This week, at the historic SCTA World Finals at the Bonneville Salt Flats, a new player in the rapidly developing electric motorcycle industry emerged. Lightning Motors, running one of its pre-production prototypes was able to achieve a top speed of 166.388 mph. This exercise places the Lightning Motorcycle as the fastest production electric motorcycle in the world. Lightning Motorcycles is the brainchild of Richard Hatfield and a small group of dedicated associates in the Silicon Valley of Northern California. Along side the Lightning Electric Super Bike, Lightning Electric Motorcycle Company has prototypes of a smaller less powerful motorcycle, a motor scooter, an ATV/UTV and other sport and utility vehicles in its pre production development program.
Link: Alliance Renewable Energy
A diary from Bonneville is on the Motorcyclist Magazine blog
Kickboxer Subaru WRX Powered Motorcycle Concept
