Ok this is the 'final' design - ready to go to the builders. The forks have been pared down to 3.6kg for the pair. They are 6061 – T6 alloy. FEA has been done assuming a 1 G stoppy with a 300kg all up weight all on the front wheel.

There's been a lot of discussion today (April 1st, 2009) about the relative merits of the Buell motor compared with the SV1000; the main concern with the Buell is the width of the primary and possibly cooling problems when it's faired.
The SV1000's only real problem is its length, though I am not too concerned about wheelbase; I'm sure it will still be shorter than a Quasar and by all accounts they go round corners very well.

So I thought I would post a few pics from back when I was designing the R1-based machine.

Been thinking about the Buell 1200 as a sutible engine for my FF, what it has going for it,
Very narrow,45deg V so short to, side exit exhaust so no problems with a hot crotch (eg a sv1000) enough horse power 95-104bhp, but much more importantly low reving low down torque, IMHO this is esential for real world riding ie power availble instantly.
It also has very respectable economy ive seen 55mpg quoted.

My first attempt at a Hossack front end was designed to be built as much as possible out of stock material - tube and box section - as possible. The ball joints were bought from a friendly neighbourhood motor factor for the princely sum of 600 baht (about €12).

Here the 2 ball joints have been replaced with 3 sets of pre-loaded taper roller bearings. No more belting ball joints with a hammer to reduce preload / stiction.

Here the lower balljoint has been put in tension as it was designed to be. This moves the mounting points of the 2 ball joints too close together.

Note the Forks are now made of sheet steel The green is where one sheet has been set transparent to allow the inside to be seen.

It started with a tape measure. That didn't get me too far, so I got a friend to photograph me on my T-max from as far away as possible with maximum zoom. It wasn't nearly far enough, but the results are acceptable.

Since the re-build of BikeWeb has killed my links I am going to build this as a blog, rather than a book

I had been keeping this under my hat until such time as it appeared it would actually going to get off the drawing board.

Blez tries Mick Broom's wacky BMW F650-powered FF for size at the Hesketh open day in 2008. I rode it too, which was a strange experience with the 'push me pull you' steering and a foot throttle where the rear brake would usually be! I managed not to drop it though. Apparently many riders don't get more than a few yards! PNB

A 1912 Wilkinson 4-cylinder Feet first machine with armchair comfort makes a striking contrast with the head first Norton kneeler which broke the lap record at the North West 200 in 1953, powered by a laid-down Manx Norton 500 single. Sammy Miller owns the Norton and it is on display in his museum. Sam rode it for the Top Gear filming. There is a photo of him with it in the museum in August 2016 on the Sammy Miller Museum page. PNB