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folan highland - what do we know?

Taffy

Taffy

Joined Nov 2001
17K Posts | 774+
Ely, England
someone has asked me to look at the folan 'V' twins for sidecarX. what do we know about them now? would like a very light, powerful 500-750 'v' twin.

I know Dale L had a bit to do with them but he doesn't reply to me anymore..... :twisted:

regards

Taffy
 
Both actors are "on hold". Folan due to the market went down and production of mobile fire pumps went to zero. The President of Highland, Mats Malmberg, was killed some months ago in a airplane crash. Martin Lind took over the rudder, but I do not know their future plans.

Remember this one:
00169%5B1%5D.jpg
 
i know that dale had a beautiful watercooled V-twin in his workshop from Highland I think.

I looked on Blocket (yes your blocket!) and the highland production roadbike engines looked very heavy? is that fair? (i.e. not really racing)

what info have you got on folan now Mats? do they make 'race' v-twins?

I know of someone who tried and still has a folan engine in a sidecar and says their is too much engine braking.

regards

Taffy

PS. apparently there is a specialist in these somewhere in the UK?
 
Taffy said:
i know that dale had a beautiful watercooled V-twin in his workshop from Highland I think.

I looked on Blocket (yes your blocket!) and the highland production roadbike engines looked very heavy? is that fair? (i.e. not really racing)

what info have you got on folan now Mats? do they make 'race' v-twins?

I know of someone who tried and still has a folan engine in a sidecar and says their is too much engine braking.

regards

Taffy

PS. apparently there is a specialist in these somewhere in the UK?
Click to expand...
The Highland V-twin is almost as "skinny" as the orignial Folan (both originally designed by Mr Lars Nilsson - Fredrik Olsson, LArs Nilsson = FOLAN). If it looks fat it's propably due to the nasty intake and water coolers. The engine weighs some 45kg in the 950cc version, so both are slim in my opinion.

Folan is unfortunately on the edge of getting out of business. I don't know if there is enough materials left to put together a geared crankcase. If you are seriously investigating it, I can pay them a visit (8km from my house)?

There was a dutch company, Heiden Tuning, that worked with Folan. i believe they have a Folan V260 engine still for sale. Talk to Jerry at [email protected]

If engine braking is too much, maybe a slipper clutch can be fitted? I think the fuel injection also can be adjusted to easy the effect.

Or the guys need a DOHC Husaberg? :D
 
950cc and 45KG is too much. the husaberg is 34KG if i recall. i guess a 40KG 750 would be nice. so they nly make these as 950cc? i bet they do a 750 that weighs 43KG or so.

I guess they must be close to the finish? oh dear!

thanks for that. you can't really say anything on behalf of anybody Mats if, like me, you are merely enquiring for someone else.

they don't allow Fi in sidecarX and they let off a team last week in rudersberg (D) at the last GP that turned up with a new LDC 570 outfit. so they would need a carb specialist i think...... :lol: :lol:

regards

Taffy
 
FWIW my engine weighs 28 kgs

the 45kg twin near 1200cc would be a nice narrow hillclimb engine, narrower than a 4 and 10-15 kgs lighter than the big roadbike engines
 
yeh but I race mine wrapped in cardboard and bubble wrap ready for next day delivery! :lol: :lol:

i fink i forgot! :cuss: :cuss: 8O 8O

what a shame the Aprilia's are so unreliable. is there another really light middleweight V-twin out there? I can't think of one? I just checked the weights for my old pantah and it started at 59kg/130LB in the engine and I got that down to 48KG/106LB. i guess the pantah could easily be a 750 for that weight (or a kilo more) and produce 80bhp. against the 20 kilos you'd have no radiator or hoses for the coolant.

has to be a v-twin. that suzook looks a heavy lump. at the moment the winner is the husaberg with 65bhp divided by 28kg which equals 2.32 bhp/kg. what a shame the folan is such a big engine.

honda once made a 500 inline v-twin but the japs NEVER make anything light and functional do they?

regards

Taffy
 
Wasn't there a 750 vtwin honda(sorry for the dirty word) race motor that cleaned up the harleys on the longtrack in the states before it was banned? (bit like ozzie touring car races, ya beat em and they ban ya) Ducatis will be the next to be banned!
 
cypher said:
BERGBRO said:
... Ducatis will be the next to be banned!
Click to expand...

why..have they found a way to make em quick again :lol:
Click to expand...

No, just quicker than the Hardly Ablesons around the dirty oval.
Although a couple of Multistradas did clean up @ Pikes Peak too..... still too big and ugly for sidecarangrys I suspect.

I think (very slowly) the Hondas were RS750's.
 
The Folan industrial engine is from 950cc up to 1150cc ( 90 and 60 degrees versions, with or without gearbox/clutch), and in that state I know it will weigh max 45kg including a generator large enough for the fuel pump, EFI and injectors. The design was made with very high priority to weight savings, almost nagging the reliability. You can of course also throw a BMW 650 thumper to PAMI along with some 15000€ and they will return a 740cc 45kg 85hp powerplant... :D Oh, did I mention I only loose a bike length on the far straight, against such a bike? :D

BTW: Since somebody already said the japanees H-word, I can get away with Hyosung 650 (stock 79hp).
The picture at the top of this thread was the 1000cc V-twin Mr Nils Hedlund produced in the 80:ies for sidecar mx. Very low weight pumping out 80hp without revving til the dogs go mad.
 
Dr-C you came back and beat me to it!

I just saw an advertisment for the hyosung 650 twin learner approved detuned to 40Kw and 59Kw unrestricted

bike weight is 196kgs so engine weight is probably near a boat anchor ?

90 deg twin DOHC with a wet sump

spoke to a guy friday who just ran an aprilia twin through the safari with no issues (he said) the next day his clutch went

the RC8 / LC8 still looks nice

there is a honda 1000cc twin is it the TLR ? also a suzuki K5 Sl 1000 I think is a twin also
 
Taffy, have you ever heard of the Denco speedway motors ( originally a single but I used to watch the sidecar boys running a V-twin (1000 or 1100cc) built as a speedway motor they are light and a more viable option than a Britten(no more being made I believe). Denco engineering dont appear to have a website. Mite be worth doing a search for more info.
 
yes but there is such a thing as too much! too much weight to power is the problem and all the power must be usable. that's why people are turning to 250 solos, yes?

so i need a 500-700 tops - light and functional.

the aprilias are too fragile. from what the SM boys have been saying anyway.

regards

Taffy
 
bushmechanic said:
why not Make your own engine Taffy ?
Click to expand...

A V-Twin Based on the Husaberg 6Fiddee with 2 x DR_C's heads on it. Would an engine designed by Taffy take on any of his personality? Might be real cranky to start I reckon :lol:
 
what about a supercharged 600 4 cyl ?

have you seen lineaweavers BMW twin dirtracker Taffy?

[youtube:1vmvo1db]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bm7Pe_SzkMM[/youtube:1vmvo1db]
 
too big again bushie i'm afraid. it puts out more standard HP than a dirt tyre could ever cope with.

should i say: which twin 4T could make 80hp after it has been tuned to the hilt? the husabergs start as 628s and end up as 700s. that's about 70hp from a 28kg engine. 2.5hp to each kilo.

i remember dales engine but it's heavy....

maybe the folan could have a shorter stroke, thus rods, smaller crank but don't know?

probably best to take an aprilia engine and convert it to husaberg clutch and gearbox....

regards

Taffy
 
I was goin to point out that logic sez Aprilia with a dose of added reliability, meets most criteria already.
Are they fundamentaly flawed or is the unreliable rumor generated by a lack of suitable mainantence for the level of performance and could therefore be re-engineerd to a reliable unit?
Why the intreset in 2 cylinders? All things being equal.... a twin will put out more HP but if outright HP is not your thing then why bother? as there is always a weight penalty with an extra cylinder. Maybe the extra person onboard requires the extra HP. One of Husabergs performance advantages is their lightweight I believe, guna be hard to match.
P.S. Im not knowledgable, just curious!
 

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