BEARUP machine

Hi

I've been working on the idea for a couple of years now of making a unique machine. one in which I can stand and move the bike over to the extremes of angle while also still being able to sit down.

essentially, we can lean a bike way further STOOD than we can SAT.

if we're in the sh** on a MX type bike we can't lean it far.
if we are stood we can lean it a bit further

so, I'm designing a bike that will allow trials riding but with sitting as well.

those of you that can play chess will be thinking of a single 'move', a single 'idea' but I'm going to try and interconnect 3 or 4 fairly radical ideas into one machine.

this type of riding is called BEARUP riding
Bike
Extreme
Angle
Rider
Upright
Position

I'll put up some photos soon but if anyone wants to guess what it'll be then feel free to say it!

BTW, I packed up both racing enduro and rugby just to take this and another project forwards. so as I say this is two years in the making!


frame with the underside of the headstock missing, the downtube mostly gone and just a little left




two headstocks 'mating'


regards

Taffy

step two this week has been to get things sorted. I've kept the HEADSTOCK only of my original 2002 FE400e and cut it off. I'm going to weld this on thwe front of the frame I have that is spare.

this SHOULD mean (I hope!) that I can go for an annual MOT and they will see the headstock/frame number, the engine number and then give me my annual certificate of roadworthiness. well we can hope anyway!

I've sent the headstock and the spare frame away to be shot blast back to the metal. I've bought a digital spirit level, I have an infra red temp sensor which I will try and use to weld the frame straight
as well as an old fashioned plumb bob....



i have phoned three frame straighteners up and they have all tried to scare me with stories of "the last man who tried to weld his frame up without a Jig: died (probably of old age and natural causes!) what bunkum.

I have received a rough estimate of 40 hours work!

so, local fabricators and bike buffs 'steelcraft' have lent me a huge boiler plate

upon which all this is to be welded. the idea is that I will measure everything down and on to the plate. then tack weld it with MIG weld and then hand it over to the TIG experts at steelcraft.

I also got some 1" steel bar which I can run through the headrace bearings and down to the boiler plate. this should give me the accuracy and frame alignment.

I've asked some three weeks ago for a pair of special 'V blocks' upon which to sit the swing arm pin but alas they are very slow. they have a week left! these are something that can sit close into the frame and needs to be tall and slim x 2.

the target is to get the new headstock angle to 23.5d instead of the 2002 frame's 28.5d. luckily I can screw the new headstock next to the 'old' frame by using the louvre rod hole and then I spend ages mulling it all over.

drawings
I've done the drawings. yes I know that we have computers but I have drawn it so that I can measure horizontally as well as 90d to the angle of castor etc and anywhere and anytime.

I CAN'T GET THAT WITH THE COMPUTER - not at my level of skill!

so what is involved in it?
well I've taped loads of A4 sheets of paper together and drawn the front edge of the headstock. from that (as my basepoint) I have drawn the original headstock angle down onto the ground at 28.5degrees. everything is 1 to 1.

I've also marked where the front wheel spindle would be. and from the middle of that I've drawn straight down to the 'ground' and that is where the tyre is in contact.

then, I've drawn the new headstock angle from the front wheel spindle both UP and DOWN at 23.5d.this means the headstock must move 78mm ahead.

this means that the front wheel will be in the same place as before but that the headstock is 78mm forwards.

but this isn't the end of it. the front wheel trails a mark on the ground created by a line through the headstock down to the ground. it needs to be that distance behind it still.

with the new steeper headstock, that mark on the ground is nearer to the front wheel. so, calculating the old headstock mark to be 183mm ahead of the tyre contact I check again and realise that the headstock must now move forwards at 23.5d a further 14mm and that means I'll have the same trail as before. we are now at 92mm headstock forwards of old headstock at 23.5d.

there is then one more calculation to make and that is the amount of trail if I were to change the triple clamps?

the 2002s handle nicely with 20mm offset. 22mm (std) is too little and 18mm is a little heavy for 'Joe Average'.

then we have to 'guess' what would the offset be with the new angle. I estimate that it will be anywhere between 11 and 15mm offset but most likely 13mm. if the clamps were 22s and they are going to be 13s then for the front wheel to be in the same place again I need the headstock a further 9mm forwards at 101mm or 4" in old money!

I settle for 100mm as 1mm between friends is nothing!

so starting with 100mm and with the least offset KTM do/did which is the KTM125 and 250SX clamps from about 2003. they are 14mm.

luckily I still have my set from 2005 and they are of course FREE!

if i'm lucky the bike is going to be very nimble and light. I'm hoping that 14mm offset will be exceptionally light and that 11-12mm offset will make the steering very, very FAST but still light enough.

the gap from the bars to the rider, footrest position etc must now be calculated.

at this point I've only told you part of the story. more to follow....

regards

Taffy

over the past week I've had the full frame shot blasted as well as the head stock of my old bike frame. the swingarm pin has been mounted on V blocks trued with a line drawn down the middle and between a plumbbob and the laser light I hope to get the frame sitting true ready to weld.


I've had a pair of alloy spacers made to sit in the bottom and top of the clamps right on the axis and by shining the beam down the middle I hope that we can get the new headstock sitting over the middle line of the bike.

I hope....

I'll be tacking it with my MIG and then passing it to steelcraft to finish off with TIG. the welding rods being used are special ones for Chrome Moly and have proven really hard to get hold of without buying 5KG of them.

I managed to get 1KG though from a company called Nozzles. I had asked Fowlmere engineering who couldn't help when I went there for a bottle of 10% argon for my MIG but they didn give me FOC a copy of Kurt Nicholls autobiography.....it turns out it is his dad's business and now run by Kurt's other two brothers!

I've drilled the 'full' frame in order to let fuel through into the spine. drilling later won't be feasable. so I drilled two holes in the front, then through them I drilled about 10 holes at the back. the two holes will be welded up later.

the frame is to be painted in ordinary cellulose paint because I get the feeling it is going to be cut and welded many, many times yet! colour is a really bright almost floerescent yellow.

i've had trouble locating the kind of neck and cap I wanted to fit. I wanted the thread on the outside and a 'Kerch' type thread but there's nothing out there it seems so I've gone for the old fashioned bike chrome cap with the two opposed fingers like a car.

the idea is to put the original FE400 engine into this frame along with carb.

I've ordered special 3" longer throttle cables, also some straight hose for the left coolant pipe, the horizontal one will have to have a simple extension for now.

regards

Taffy

I'm not sure either!

Taffy

it's a hybrid between a trials bike and a trail bike. so it's a troll bike LOL!!!! should suit one ozzie I know then...

it's for people who stand up

people who do really tough technical stuff not just wussie flat plains stuff.

I'm talking Motel Hill - Brecon Beacons, Moab (a lil ol place in a lil ol country!), talkin Hell's Gate in Italy, I'm talking most of all about KARL'S DINER!!!!

I'm not sure it has a racing application to be fair.

I did warn you all at the beginning that this is being told after the event in weekly intervals. so I know the result!

regards

Taffy

well I got the frame back with all the welding done and have started the paintwork. I've sprayed the bike in a VW yellow but to be honest there are loads out there to choose from in that bright yellow. the idea is to use cellulose and then as things need rewelding you just spray some primer in quick and yellow when you can?

this isn't going to be pretty

first thing the lads found was that my spot welds were off course (of course!) and I would have been 3mm out at the wheels. they corrected this and then welded the headstock on, the downtube neatly into the old one. if you look closely at this first photo you'll see that the downtube from the new headstock slips straight onto the old one just above the splay in the frame. also each of the two tubes running underneath the engine hs 4 tiny welds to 4 tiny cuts, this was easier than bending the frame.

they then re-arranged the radiator points as well. they welded up the air filter holes
and the rubber boot hole but I had done the engine breather and the bottom of the old headstock holes with MIG before letting them have it to save them time and me a little money. this is now only half visible at the back.
the front half is now concealed forever behind the new headstock. they've also welded on the new petrol cap mouth (this photo was taken beforehand obviously!).


I'm not pleased to say this but without having sat down and really worked it out, I decided to just make a double male fixing to go in the bottom of the frame spine for the fuel to come from. this means the fuel will be permanently on. the trouble is: TIME! this way we can see how it works and if it leeks. we should learn a lot from it. the pipe only just misses the auxillary tank and the rear shock.



remember, the idea is slow and steady progress by riding and feeling.....

I have fitted a 2003 set of electrics as well as my old 400 engine. I have swopped the valving and base spindle holes from a set of 2003 forks so I can use the big spindle on the front. I have a relatively new set of shiny wheels to go in but the rear is a 19". what the hell! I have a few 19" enduro tyres here that weren't moving so now they'll find a home!

I used an old swing arm I found with new bushes etc. this was in rough condition and to this i added a new chain guard, C & S, another carb.

the carb has the cone air filter back that i used to race with 2-3 years ago. this stops against the shock.

the exhaust just HAS to be the original Doma that I always used to race. this goes around to the right and then crosses through under the carb to exit on the left side as usual.

the left header though wants to caress the frame downtube here though as the downtube has moved some 10mm forwards. so we fit a steel ring around the port exit and the header goes in through this giving us 2mm of gap.

a set of EX bars finish the job, I hate them, I really do but it is a start. someone more organised would have had something sorted by now!

the sidestand is one I find and is in black and off an SM so I shop out a bit more diagonal tube from the 'old' frame and weld it in. I do it to where I like it and ignore all the EX side stands I can see around me....I know better! new springs and a 'c' clip complete the job. I add a 2004 bolt and drill through the oval holes to round them again.

and so we come to the moment of starting it. the bike fires after three kicks and is back to it's old self. I'm using the fuel can that we hang from the roof....this is easy!

the kickstart arm closes in with a whallop against the diagonal bar but there is nothing I can do about it....:furious:

now we get ready to ride it for the first time! firstly though, we must fill the three holes with fuel and work out how the four (yes 4!!!) taps are all going to work!

stuff lined up:
I have ordered a set of triple clamps off racfx. they are 11-14mm offset and I'm having the gold anodise changed to a nnice iceberg blue before I fit them. so they are away at the moment.
the 14mm offset KTM set I've had 7-8 years have been fitted for now though.
nothing else is in the pipeline though.....wait till I start troble shooting though! OH MY WORD!!!!!!

I have a deadline to get all this done and ready for next friday (thursday PM then..) when I ride for two days in Wales again!

regards

Taffy

I'm not sure what you are all expecting? This is not a thing of beauty - it is an engineering exercize as far as I'm concerned. THERE WILL BE NO BLING.

the bike has now been completed ready for the first ride out which is a trip to Wales.
working long hours the bike has gone together quite well.

I had the weird experience of finding that the fuel tank wouldn't go down on the back two rubbers and I can't fathom why?

in the end I had to grind the short shafts into a 'D' profile and the same went for the rubbers themselves.

I've fitted many new parts to the old tired bike: C & S, tyres, swing arm bearings, seat poan, front mudguard. the spraying went OK, could have been better. it's the first time I've sprayed anything in over 10 years and I've never used aerosol cans before for anything but at least the top coat is done with a spray gun.

I filled the fame with fuel but didn't bother with the auxillary. I then filled the main tank but alas there seems to be a leek in the weding somewhere?

I've been forced to use just the auxillary in that case and the main tank. there's a plethora of fuewl pipes under the tank!!

I'm afraid paint is peeling away from the frame but we'll see how the first ride goes.

regards

Taffy

well I've cut the headstok off my original Husaberg Gav and welded it onto another frame. all that can be seen is the headstock of my original frame and the matching engine as well!

that way I'm hoping to take it for its yearly MOT and get away with it - without saying much......

Tourist
I will keep you "posted"

regards

Taffy