Some video shot from FJ, compiled by Ian Kew, during a trip to bewilder the Bristol branch of the institute of Advanced Motorcyclists - who turned up in cars...

John Brennan leaving Beaulieu, shortly after 'take-off' or raising his MonoTracer's undercarriage. Photo: Paul Blezard

Beaulieu was the site of many an FF gathering in the noughties at the annual and late lamented Motorcycle World. See here: http://www.bikeweb.com/image/tid/31
The new Beaulieu Ride-In is a shadow of those events, but better than nothing, especially in the perfect weather of 26th June 2011.
The only previous time that Peraves machines made it to Beaulieu was when Arnold and Franziska Wagner visited and performed at Motorcycle World in 2000, along with a third UK-based Ecomobile owner. See here: http://www.bikeweb.com/image/tid/32

Mark Verden died early this month, after a heart attack a few months after his sixtieth birthday. Mark was one of the FF proponents in Bristol in the late seventies who swapped Velecette Venoms for self-built FFs. Mark based his on the last, incomplete, set of Quasar parts liberated by Malcolm Newell after the Quasar project shut down. He was one of several people who demonstrated the Quasar safety performance, in his case by slamming one into the wall at Waterworks in the Isle of Man.

After initially building a seat mock-up to check ergonomics, I designed the seat sub frame in two parts.

Interesting look at ultra-lightweight FF performance, and novel engineering solutions.

Here are some ambituous claims, based on believable performance and weight figures. Vapourware?

This shot of Koen's 1992 Ecomobile and Genesis at Zolder Clean Week, shows just how long the Eco is. Bear in mind that, at 72 inches, Genesis's wheelbase is some 8 inches more than that of the standard Burgman 650 chassis on which it's based. The Eco's wheelbase is about 112 inches.....Photo: Paul Blezard

Last night I lowered the seat 3" and adjusted the Trailing Arm (front swingarm) pivot back .700" thinking my low speed handling problems are the result of too much trail.
Also went to Deadwood and got a license plate. Have to correct my earlier Blog, the LT is a year 2000 not 1999, also I have 45 years riding experience not 35. Fuzzy math going on when I wrote that (35 years).
Can't wait to try the new setup.
Doug

I should preface the following with the information that I live out in the country, my driveway is gravel and a 1/2 mile long.

Took the machine out for the first test drive today, kind of exciting.

Craig Vetter in his prototype streamlined Helix with the tail removed. It's only held on with bungee straps and can be removed in about 30 seconds. (Compare and contrast with the other pix of the machine in this folder). PNB.
Photo by Paul Blezard March 2011

Paul Blezard in Craig Vetter's Honda Helix-based streamliner after a first ride in Carmel Valley. This shot was taken after we removed the seat padding to see what a lower position would look and feel like. Better, in my opinion!
(Compare my head height in this shot with the 'high seat' photo taken on Highway 1: http://www.bikeweb.com/node/2137
PNB Photo by Craig Vetter with Blez's pocket Olympus. 20th March 2010

Here is a link to my build blog for my AKIRA Kaneda's bike replica. I will be adding more info and pictures as the build continues so check back every once in a while to get updates. http://tinyurl.com/6fejcbb

Here is my FF project bike, close to a preliminary test drive.
Any help as to how to build lightweight body work would be appreciated.
DKE

February 23rd 2011. At the fire station in Valence, in the south of France, Genesis finally meets the ZeroTracer less than 24 hours before completing its circumnavigation of the world in 80 days. The yellow car in the background is an all-electric and British-built Tesla (based on a Lotus) which had been travelling with the posse for the previous couple of days. Both electric vehicles were taking advantage of the 3-phase power available at the fire station, which allows the ZeroTracer to re-charge in 2 hours. See the zero tracer blog for more info.

The 2010 Cmax seat back transport being moved from solo to passenger positions and back, shot during construction.

A short video shot from the back seat of FJ during a trip to the local airport

FJ goes to work, using a variety of local roads

A Voyager moment on late January roads

Some routine camera-on-FF footage of urban usage in Bristol.