IWETHEY v. 0.3.0 | TODO
1,095 registered users | 0 active users | 0 LpH | Statistics
Login | Create New User
IWETHEY Banner

Welcome to IWETHEY!

New Second the music-diss..
I didn't audition the whole thing till later. (Actually.. 2nd gear red-lined at ~90 mph*) tall-gearing in anticipation of ... you know ... cruising about at the Ton. Game with Harleys was to just inch up ~the '80s as-if kinda working hard
..then drop two gears and ..disappear. Hell, ain't that what testosterone was invented for?

*dunno what all those gew-gaws were, pasted on the utterly plain Smiths clock (prolly max-per-gear, but Ugly, especially the radial lines.) Cuthless!

Nicely realistic swervery on this and a decent pilot, and {{sob}} sounds. Except the Muzak. I was privileged to own one without having to be rich/middle-aged, thanks to a nice confluence of an Italian engineer who liked to get a new one every 3-ish years and my dropping into Milne Bros.' Pasadena shop at a magic time.
Just about broken in, it was.. And in those days, 0-60 in a Detroit lead-barge was somewhere north of 20-22 sec IIRC. Shadow + rider was 6.5 sec (the Rapide model had a lower 1st gear and could break 6 sec.)
The vibration-free torque was to die for (before we had that catechism) and yes top-end was 125 min; Cycle Mag. issue du jour got ~128 on their road test. Have the issue somewhere.

Mainly, it was just so fussless that any mere 'ride' was like a treat, because of the absence of vibration and ... the twist-grip seeming to be geared directly to the speedo: you turn a quarter inch and viola! now you're 15-20 mph faster.
It never scared moi but I also wasn't 'proving' anything, which may account for my presence.
The mystique was palpable, given the execrable performance then of most U.S. cars and any Std. bikes; I'd surmise that James Dean in his Porsche 550 Spyder felt that 'tip of the Pyramid' exaltation, en route to that Race?
... but failed at due diligence :-/

Vrooom!
..banishes all thoughts of Carrion (..or of orange-topped psychopaths :-)
New The sound doesn't tweak my nostalgia bits
--

Drew
New Me neither, but it's interesting.
About the closest thing I've heard to it was when we were driving on a highway in Switzerland and we were (quickly!) passed by a souped-up new-ish Mercedes (not an AMG but even more extreme, IIRC). That had an amazingly angry snarl too. I'd heard nothing like it before.

Like the designer of the Miata thought/said, sound is a big part of the driving experience.

I've never owned a motorcycle, but have had times when I wanted one really bad since riding with a friend on his 50cc Honda when I was about 8. A high-school friend had an 1100 or 1200cc Suzuki. The rush was amazing....

Cheers,
Scott.
New Et tu, Brute?
Was (briefly) on an autobahn, at night.. in the tiny A-H Sprite when..
SOMETHING!! went by in the fast-lane (I may have had a guess as to ~what?. but it was er, DARK)

.. at-Least 70 mph faster than our respectable 70ish, sl.rocking our teensy conveyance appropriately..
Loved. It. natch
(Had recently visited Stuttgart/M.Benz re parts for a friend's 300SL) and I touched an SLR! of the '55 LeMans magnesium-conflagration construction.
whereby some guy named Lance ___ Macklin maybe? had cut-off the SLR as ended up immolating n-spectators, self ... while the Perp lost no skin :-/


But I digress.. doubt seriously that our Zooom-passer-by was in something as exotic as That..
But on autobahn.. ya never Know fershure what exotic might be cleaning your clock.

Sorry you missed the two-wheelers :-/ (thus later sketching-in ... all the 3-D vectors of your trajectories :-)
New Kinda agree re all Vee twins..
These just-Not! the harmonious-while-RASPING*.. quality of, say..
John Surtees on the Gilera-4 at a jillion RPM back in the daze when, besides the odd Ariel Square-four, there were no 4 cyls. in production, only memories of a early 'Henderson' (about which I know zippo.)
[Which is why I just Had-to get the first Honda Four 750!] ... {{too fucking big/heavy for my tastes}} , but FOUR-cylinder suaveness to the ears;
traded it within the year for the more-civilized 500-Four==also not quite the Cat's Pajamas as to overall-Cuth. /Me picky-bastard.

* rasping like say, tearing sheets of 1/8" steel apart .?. such as heard from maybe 10' away (?) at IOM as he went by right at the downhill to Kate's Cottage--having gone at full-chat/full-braking --> towards the rt. angle Tee below.
My bias has been that: the peculiar sound of a Harley (typ 45º twins IIRC) is particularly Annoying-to-hear, the Vincent at 50º less-annoying--an obvious irrational-bias!*--but also clear sonic-distinction.
The Harley sound (they bloody-Patented!) just evokes an idea of shaking a can of misc. nuts & bolts? angrily.. just to make a random-Racket.

* akin to? the established factoid--when people will Be Honest for a few mSec!--that they Like the smell of their-Own-farts! ... while Yours Are ... ... Awwwful!!
We be such hypocrites-of-Convenience ain't We?

Came across this Cycle World exhaustive essay on the topic just now; hadn't realized there was so much Interest as well as pedantic-Lore on this seeming-trivial topic!

Bon appetít
New My friend in Dayton had a bunch of Honda V-twins.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_CX_series

SilverWings, Turbos, etc., etc.

A funky engine, but clever engineering.

He got his first SilverWing when Honda and the other Japanese bikes were trying to steal the big bike market from Harley. I think his first one had a list price of around $10k and he got it for $2k - new - because the market for them collapsed, for various reasons.

Cheers,
Scott.
New Paid little attention to such as these, alas
The Brit. 'LE Velocette' (a gutless, ride to work in bizness-suit transport) exemplified the engr. advantages of Liquid- -vs- Air- cooling
(efficiency, quietude (!!) and longevity) as always appealed. IF.. you could pare-dowm the weight-penalty of such bits as radiator, water pump etc.

My Ideal clean-sheet-design-pad always was: Make It Light ..
so. that. you *CAN* er MAN-handle the sucker with alacrity, in those priceless mSeconds averting
The Unpleasantness at the Belona Club kinda thing. :-)
Say, 275# Max??

Still, ya just aren't likely--pre-ELECTRICS--to achieve [bike + Rider!] Pounds per H.P. for High-Gs-Zoooom!
..while trying to fit This design rule. Hey, I didn't say it would be Easy.

...awaiting the Tesla 150 HP Unter-lightweight-via-some-Polymer battery made of 100% Fluff.
0-100 mph and STOPPED in say 12 sec?

GET ON IT!!
New My RD 350 didn't even meet your weight limit
And that thing was pretty minimal.
--

Drew
New Heh-squared :-)
For my then-S.O. I purchased a new Yellow! '70 RD-250 (IIRC its model) because, assuredly she did not need to strive for --> Zoooomitude! y'know? RD-350 == overkill, that was fershure.
I can't recall my impressions in test-ride of that machine.. obv. it passed the test..
I deemed that RD-250 wasn't a "too-short-wheel-base" Killer like: whatever they called The Triples, wayback(?)

It Was however, entirely powerful-enough to get any witless-tyro into Trouble, and I don't recall thinking.. say.. "Hmm this thing handles 'Superbly!", meaning, it was OK but not to-Die-for/umm, Bad analogy..
Concluded that I would not be killing-off My Lovely with a machine powerful-enough to BE deadly (except via unwisest Ego-error of its pilot; there's no Insurance against that (!)
(If that makes sufficient sense.)

She did manage to drop the plot once, get a 'dueling-scar' on cheek, but that was just Learning-stuff; both she/machine survived the pairing :-)
Pass-storming in the Sierras: 3 bikes; two females + moi (on H. 500-Four) ... sleeping-bags under The Milky Way and like that. Bliss..


Carrion
Don't let your bike Lead you to That..
New The 350 was more than enough for a noob
They were really tail-heavy; you could get the front end airborne in most of the first 2 gears. I only did it by accident once, merging into traffic with a passenger holding on tight.
--

Drew
New Going electric.
I doubt Tesla will be interested in electric motorcycles any time soon, as there are a number of other people already playing in that space. And Tesla are focussed on cars at the moment.

According to Wikipedia, the main problem with electric motorcycles is range - 140 miles is considered long range. But electric cars have the same problem. Although Tesla have set their sights on lithium-ion for batteries, other technology is coming online that will be competitive and it will probably get a foothold in electric motorcycles.

Mention was made earlier in the thread about the sound. That's something us humans have learnt. And will likely have to *un*learn as we shift away from engines driven by exploding hydrocarbons to engines driven by electromotive force. The world is too noisy anyway...

Wade.
New All good points.
Battery life? Can envision, for the occasional long trip: Temp panniers'-with-power such as place that mass low-down ie. Not up around saddle-height! etc. Handling won't be improved with any added weight natch but:
Point of 'long range' seems to be: you don't need the handling finesse of recreational swervery when focussed on er, a 350ish mile trek from A --> B.

I suspect that much still needs sorting-out (perhaps via some sort of partially-slipping clutch during power application ??) so as to mimic the sensibilities already residing in muscle-memory about handling, occasiionally controlled RW-sliding and such (Racers: 2-wheel drifts! but we won't Go there.)

Sound! "We' have yet to begin sorting that out . For the disabled and to alert All: SOUNDlessness KIlls; methinks that -->soon there ought to be some characteristic sound sig for various electrics of any config: loud enough (only externally) to sanely face the issue. Distinct to indicate cycle? car, truck and such.

I cringe whenever encountering a BLOODY-silent Prius, for EX. (Above is to save animals as well, so they can evade yet another feckless human+machine.)
New I assume until there are breakthroughs...
Electric bikes with decent ranges will be variations on something like this:



I remember seeing one of those shortly after they came out. Looks like a great (fair weather) commuting vehicle. But quite spendy in the gas version ($10k in 2013).

Cheers,
Scott.
New Fair weather is the rub.
Not really a goer up here.
Regards,
-scott
Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson.
New Has a conceptual C.G. problem, alas.
(Yes I quite remember the [-]s of the gorgeous Lambretta) scooter-with faired-in gadgetry: tiny wheels, etc.) My first New machine, post- Whizzer moto-bike.
'Decent range' might appear in such designs as above, agreed. But

One needs Large wheels aka (actual dia. != misleading er, Tyre-sizes.
..not to mention the picky geometries of fork rake/trail, axle-height-above-ground + other subtleties.
Simple focus: *You*.. able to move about (occasionally even partly-stand a bit, moving your weight-locus down to foot-pegs
(while you cannot "compress-down"! much!)
plus *Machine static CG* determines the road manners + ballistics. *You* thus alter the ∑CG (and will need to..)

Just observe the commonality of sizes/placements on Any serious expen$ive Racers to note how these shapes converge.
Your pic looks Purty but.. [see above, where the Rubber meets the Road].

I wot that: Language + studies of Newton, basic mech. engineering etc. all have their places, but
Simply, I see no substitute for a course in Lessons-learned at-speed, and on a variety of 'models' as you can lay hands+feet on,
to derive any useful guesstimate of where any next actual-Improvements might lie.

My compressed recipe is ~~ [unlikely to convert anyone]
It's quite non-algorithm-able, this [Problem of Man + Machine] at lethal velocities. e.g.
Can recall a borrowed Velocette small single: execrable power-unit, torque, Noise etc. BUT..
It was light! w/ Lovely frame/suspension design as inspired confidence to try damn-near Anything.
(This you test with Engine Off!, a "coaster race" down say, "O'Shaughnessy Ave in S.F. !?)
No torque available to SYA, y'see? Ya gots only brakes + road-cuth. You can learn Lots. Or drop the plot ez.

{{sigh}} Nope, no magic clean-sheet of Paper I've ever seen: worked first try.
(The awfulness of certain scooter-like devices, esp. in any evasive maneuvers: Experienced! Once ... tells one more than any 'analysis paralysis' can.
Sure, New! and Better incremental designs Will occur next (too) but my overall ∑ View is that
Truly those [++]s come about via ART. Which we must count on for lots of matters, Right?



Vroooom ----> ... but on a New thing? Stay focussed and anticipate {the unExpected}, while wearing leathers, nice helmet/gloves and humility :-)
[Geoff Duke, John Surtees You Ain't]
New Good points.
I dunno enough about all the issues, but that general layout seems to have several examples (including from BMW and Suzuki). They're much bigger than the empty bike looks.



100 mph top speed is plenty.

Presumably being able to stash battery cells almost anywhere would give more flexibility on the CG than having an IC engine. And the people wouldn't have to sit so high if a huge covered carrying capacity wasn't needed.

But it will never handle like something like this...



;-)

An electric version of something like those Honda, Suzuki, or BMW scooters would seem to make a lot of sense for commuting in dense urban areas. A lot more sense than self-driving cars... ;-)

Cheers,
Scott.
New PS.. re that top pic
Just CAN'T let that color-glossy sit there un-disparaged, y'know? Red-flag..

WRONG is:
Exactly (in height) ---> where this pair-of-butts sit:
-vs-
The C.G. of all the gearhead-bits, way-too-farbelow.. There; you are on STILTS!
Especially-awful with Two-Up. (Passenger if unskilled is dead-weight; cannot even Try to 'help'.)

Needs no words; The pic all-alone suggests well, the Difficulties a pilot Will endure/(or not survive)
with any need for a rapid maneuver.
(And look well at the height! of your boot-soles!) == lowest-point you Can place your body-weight to influence matters, i.e.

Because, also too the wheels are too-Small dia. for rest of chassis {sigh} Cornering demands here, as with a scooter, needs road-clearance == why they had-to place foot-rests ^where^ they did. :-/
You just *Can't!* use your body as you Need-to, to ameliorate [Your + machine's] combined C.G.
(thus to apply physics to S. Y. A.) {{sob}}

Rest case. Racer pic below: illustrates the shape-map for function: just torn-up by Boobus Marketus.



Std. Advertainment-pulchritude fantasy OVER all hard-won authentic-lore to date. Yeah they likely will peddle n of these. I hope to Drumpf voters (as would never notice 'science'.)
Just like glamorous Giant-'Hog' Ad-pix of Harleys, old Indian Chiefs ..with about same %mass given-over to sexy-sheet-metal cosmetic shapes
..as-in Detroit-iron of the days of Insolent/Heavy Chariots -vs- [all aspects of Basic design-physics]

You can get away with that in 4-wheelers.. sorta, but NOT with 2-wheel-equilibrium!
(I'd likely drive one of these around the block. Carefully. I drove a foot-clutch Harley.. Once.)
New ignore, forgot the link
"Science is the belief in the ignorance of the experts" – Richard Feynman
Expand Edited by boxley Sept. 11, 2017, 07:08:04 PM EDT
New put a battery in one of these I would be interested
"Science is the belief in the ignorance of the experts" – Richard Feynman
New I don't understand those
They're not motorcycles. They aren't weatherproof. I can't think of a use case that something else isn't a better choice.
--

Drew
New They're 3-wheel go-carts. For adults.
New It is an opening
for those not/no longer comfortable on two wheels but for whom a convertible is too "square".

Trike conversions have existed for a very long time. Having the two wheels up front eliminates the differential problem and the Slingshot opens the market wider by having a steering wheel.
New People still buy 'em.
BAC, Ariel and Caterham (and likely others) have four-wheel cars like that and they seem to be successful.

There was a memorably Top Gear challenge where the hosts got to use some of these cars in daily driving. Except it rained that day. :-)

Wade.
New Highway police bait! :)
Alex

"There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."

-- Isaac Asimov
New Good points, but...
I envision them being used for commuting on urban interstates, 35 MPH roads, etc.

Not tooling down the PCH or cutting through the Alps on a beautiful summer day.

At least that is what I would use it for. The guy I saw on a red Honda version a few years ago must have been around 70.

Energica EVA electric superbike. 617#, 124 mph top speed, 50-60 mile range when whooping it up, $35k+.

:-/

It's got a ways to go yet. But it's good that people are trying!

Cheers,
Scott.
New Tesla isn't just focused on cars
They're looking to take over the trucking industry.
--

Drew
New And home power, etc., etc.
PowerWall.

I think Elon's just throwing money and memes everywhere, to see what sticks. The Hyperloop is an interesting engineering exercise, but it'll be a boondoggle if anyone tries to to actually build one. (This isn't to minimize what he has accomplished, but he's yet to actually show he has a sustainable business model.)

It's easy to see that electric transportation and distributed power is the future, but "first movers" are rarely the ones that win (look at Apple). "The exception proves the rule" though...

Cheers,
Scott.
New Some are trying, though :-)
http://www.motorcycle.com/manufacturer/ducati/ducati-desmosedici-stradale-v-4-engine-revealed.html

The output numbers are in silly territory. And it definitely sings to its own tune,
New That's nuts! Wow. Thanks.
     Command line history is evil - (crazy) - (58)
         Laziness needs balance. - (static)
         Re: Command line history is evil - (rcsteiner) - (56)
             2007? - (crazy) - (55)
                 2012! - (rcsteiner) - (54)
                     And the award for "Longest Setup for the Least Payoff" goes to ... -NT - (drook) - (53)
                         (chuckle!) -NT - (Another Scott)
                         Agreed -NT - (crazy) - (51)
                             But since we're here ... - (drook) - (50)
                                 Nope. - (malraux) - (49)
                                     That's the thing about nostalgia - (drook) - (48)
                                         Yup. Nostalgia ain't what it used to be. -NT - (malraux) - (2)
                                             It never is. -NT - (static) - (1)
                                                 It used to be -NT - (drook)
                                         Some of us, of course are quite beyond lures of such wistfulness.. - (Ashton) - (44)
                                             I don't miss kick-starting -NT - (drook) - (43)
                                                 Obligatory... - (Another Scott) - (42)
                                                     *cough* ..you rang? Indeed was I correct in that assessment: - (Ashton) - (38)
                                                         Compression release is for pussies - (drook) - (7)
                                                             I'll bet a bunch of 1-armed barnstormers thought that too. ;-) - (Another Scott)
                                                             Umm.. Me/pussy then - (Ashton) - (5)
                                                                 carry some deer whistles in yer pocket for when you encounter priusses - (boxley) - (4)
                                                                     Always glad to hear about clever Lads of any stripe :-) will grab a few, too. - (Ashton)
                                                                     Do deer whistles work? - (Another Scott) - (2)
                                                                         "behavior alteration in response to the whistle (little to none in the majority of cases)" - (boxley) - (1)
                                                                             still.. prolly pretty low-audio-level if car at low speeds :-/ er, more deafening-silence. - (Ashton)
                                                         Thanks for the clip. - (Another Scott) - (29)
                                                             Second the music-diss.. - (Ashton) - (28)
                                                                 The sound doesn't tweak my nostalgia bits -NT - (drook) - (27)
                                                                     Me neither, but it's interesting. - (Another Scott) - (1)
                                                                         Et tu, Brute? - (Ashton)
                                                                     Kinda agree re all Vee twins.. - (Ashton) - (24)
                                                                         My friend in Dayton had a bunch of Honda V-twins. - (Another Scott) - (23)
                                                                             Paid little attention to such as these, alas - (Ashton) - (22)
                                                                                 My RD 350 didn't even meet your weight limit - (drook) - (2)
                                                                                     Heh-squared :-) - (Ashton) - (1)
                                                                                         The 350 was more than enough for a noob - (drook)
                                                                                 Going electric. - (static) - (16)
                                                                                     All good points. - (Ashton) - (13)
                                                                                         I assume until there are breakthroughs... - (Another Scott) - (12)
                                                                                             Fair weather is the rub. - (malraux)
                                                                                             Has a conceptual C.G. problem, alas. - (Ashton) - (10)
                                                                                                 Good points. - (Another Scott) - (9)
                                                                                                     PS.. re that top pic - (Ashton) - (8)
                                                                                                         ignore, forgot the link -NT - (boxley)
                                                                                                         put a battery in one of these I would be interested - (boxley) - (5)
                                                                                                             I don't understand those - (drook) - (3)
                                                                                                                 They're 3-wheel go-carts. For adults. -NT - (Another Scott)
                                                                                                                 It is an opening - (scoenye)
                                                                                                                 People still buy 'em. - (static)
                                                                                                             Highway police bait! :) -NT - (a6l6e6x)
                                                                                                         Good points, but... - (Another Scott)
                                                                                     Tesla isn't just focused on cars - (drook) - (1)
                                                                                         And home power, etc., etc. - (Another Scott)
                                                                                 Some are trying, though :-) - (scoenye) - (1)
                                                                                     That's nuts! Wow. Thanks. -NT - (Another Scott)
                                                     How to do it right. - (CRConrad) - (2)
                                                         Of course he has a dial telephone. - (Another Scott) - (1)
                                                             Calls to ask for heat insulation for the exhaust pipe on the Viper bike on said phone... - (CRConrad)

Jump, jive and wail!
232 ms