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New One for Greg and Ashton: Bienville Legacy
What would you make if you had the freedom and backing to do anything you wanted?

J.T. Nesbitt was given that opportunity.

http://www.odd-bike....n-super-bike.html

http://www.bienvillelegacy.com/

(Via a story on the radio a couple of days ago - http://www.marketpla...ign-history-books )

Cheers,
Scott.
New I'd probably...
Make a small, light sleek fast 4 door economy car. Very Low displacement flat/straight 6 diesel rear/mid engine, 8-10 speed manual with assisted auto shift or replace with a generator and electrically driven wheels.

Why small and light? Less weight, less cost to move, less rolling resistance

Why 4 door? Because you know, things like the Subie Impreza are fun, yet practical

Why sleek? Wind drag coefficient as many cars today look the part, but are basically rounded bricks and don't slip through the air. Remember the F/A-4?

Why a very low displacement straight 6 diesel? First off torque. Small, compact enough to be able to build to fit into places. Second small displacement means less rotating mass, less vibration, less fuel consumption, higher rpm limits more easily. If going electric generator, motor needs torque from the get go.

Why an auto-shifted manual? Efficiency. Smoothness, short power band for the motor needed... perfect for High Efficiency...

Why possible electrically driven wheels? Bio-diesel with generator and electric motors... what could possibly be bad from this in an age where petroleum from the ground is effectively going away. Also, given the fact that a possible way to produce Diesel and JP fuel from seawater... for similar to right now current costs of at the pump fuels... no brainer. Also, less batteries, being used for starting and gap power.

There are other things... but this would be the most looked at one.
--
greg@gregfolkert.net
"No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible." --Stanislaw Jerzy Lec
New A curious contrivance..
Great pix, thanks.

Having difficulty finding any coherence--either as 'sculpture?' or as functioning, handling machine..
It could pass as an (opium-) pipe-dream, sorta.

'Sculpture' generally depicts flowing-lines as limn some recognizable life-process, its materials being mostly secondary. How you meld that vision
..with hi-tech, hi-$$ precision gew-gaws in an assemblage which betrays not any flow from 'function' towards eye-candy ... escapes my ken.
The clever fasteners are things of beauty And function, etc. but.. where's coherence?
How Heavy is this sucker going to be? Who is the target-driver? (eye-candy Show? eeroling in the twisties--with that wheelbase? Nope, don't see any clues there.)

The bare-frame shot is interesting; so was HRD's/Vincent's near no-frame strategy; machine-work superb--20 μ-in spec? Clutch-plate pic is ~~ same as the small primary one of a Vincent.
But in both cases a secondary/servo-action centrifugal-type thing is mandatory, for a 'light' feel with muscle behind it.
Guess he's got that but didn't see it.

Love the (Vincent again!) 'girder'-forks for unequalled lateral rigidity, as decision. That plus modern concepts , materials for reducing unsprung weight--should Work.
Finally, no 300 mph methinks, unless the whole kit is cocooned in a non-maneuverable cigar-shaped cylinder.
That would hide the clash from super-machined bits stacked in engineeringly-sane ways (but weird to look at?) via a pretty exterior.

So, beyond Bonneville in cigar-trim, later removed and fitted with [What?] ... in what territory do you Ride this dream?
(If he's to make only 3 and has no slightest interest in playing manufacturer/tycoon? maybe that Q. is moot?) He and a few friends might get to play.

Who wants to be the first to drop it? [Nobody, of course.]

(It reminds me of a tool & die-maker's similar dream; he'd replaced the Girdraulic™ forks on this Vincent with some not-very-trick ordinary teles; polished, replaced most fasteners with allen-type; sexy exhaust system, solo saddle etc. Gorgeously-finished w/ surreal paint--I took it to work once, let the machinists drool over the execution.)

But it handled like a pig; the sit-up-and-beg handlebars defeated the entire Point of a V's short-bars: its perfect body position for hi-speed effortless careening
and minimal wind-force on upper-body. Powerful engine in a frame where you'd be silly to try and Use it :-/
==reason I asked, How Heavy is this sucker? Better: Will it er, Handle-well?

Maybe he'll surprise us all !?


Ed: PS: the leaf-spring! IS innovative, and uses the space exactly, where Vincent's narrow steel oil tank (covered by petrol tank) formed the rigid top of its 'frameless'-design.
One could almost see modifying a V. similarly (!) as its rear chassis components just bolted on to the power unit and its boxed springs there: could disappear.
Can already see some sprung/unsprung savings, a mag-alloy replacement for oil tank, etc.
Had I a ton of $$ and some real engr. assist ... Hmmm. It's FUN having a blank-check to imagineer, innit?

Nice touch, the little dog wandering by.. must be tolerant of weird noises and smells.
Expand Edited by Ashton May 22, 2014, 11:31:26 PM EDT
New The Marketplace segment said 1 lb/HP.
The "leaf spring" backbone was cited as a great advance. I couldn't picture it when I heard the piece, and wondered about controlling the flex in it. Agreed that it looks very, er, schizophrenic.

I don't know whether I or the reporter garbled things. What I heard was it weighs roughly 300-350 pounds and they were aiming for comparable HP numbers. But they also said they were trying for 200 MPH on the salt flats. Something didn't add up in my seat-of-the-pants figuring (even recognizing HP requirements rise really quickly above 150 MPH or so...).

It's great that he has the freedom to (roughly) "think outside the box, and then throw the box away" and the way the organization backing him is funded (through licenses of the patents he creates, etc.) is interesting, but it's clearly a boutique project. Kinda like the $20k+ ball gowns that NPR had a segment on a few weeks ago - http://www.npr.org/2...isplay-at-the-met

Cheers,
Scott.
New PS: see above; just edited re That Spring.
It just might be a seminal idea.. and am surprised at 300-350# !! that makes it a Contender (not just Power/Wt but handling.)


Ed: Also, for those not able to wait for a ride on this None-such:
http://www.odd-bike....nachronistic.html

Vincent Lives! Modern super-forks and sophisticated upgrades,but with the unique signature intact.
Expand Edited by Ashton May 23, 2014, 03:00:40 AM EDT
     One for Greg and Ashton: Bienville Legacy - (Another Scott) - (4)
         I'd probably... - (folkert)
         A curious contrivance.. - (Ashton) - (2)
             The Marketplace segment said 1 lb/HP. - (Another Scott) - (1)
                 PS: see above; just edited re That Spring. - (Ashton)

Dorian Gray would show wear and tear in this job.
136 ms