FF Web - Bob's 'Bananaskins' (GPz500, VT600&CN250)

Headlamp relays 2

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 19:03:14 +0100

I always have this cunning plan where I will mock up the proposed system to make sure it works and then my intention is to take it to bits again and remake all the connections with perfect soldering. Except that I am a compulsive bodger and if it works OK first time I tend to tape it all up and use it as is......fool!

Headlamp relays

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 19:00:18 +0100

The illumination from the Kawa headlight on the way back to Devon from Beaulieu was a joke in the dark and I was reduced to following lorries as I could not see where the road went. Being colour blind does not help but using the info regarding headlamp relays at www.ebbo.org I was able to use a Triumph headlamp sub-loom and relays from the old rebuild of the crashed 900 Sprint Triple bought as a project(OK a deliberate act to lose money!). I thought it may be helpful record what I did in a nutshell, and to show a pic of the Triumph loom. All I had to do was take the male terminals out of the big white block on the right and stuff three of them (ignoring the sidelight one) into the Kawa headlamp socket.

When I dreamed of going to France on my home-made bike.....

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 15:45:26 +0100

....this is how I hoped it would be!

When I looked out of the window...Unusual overhead shot.

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 13:46:54 +0100

We don't see many overhead shots and this example shows how far forward a dustbin type fairing is fitted. It does not extend back much past the riders feet so therefore appears only to function on the front third of the bike, needing aerodynamic balance from the rear side area to stop it diving all across the road in a side wind.

Wet day at Beaulieu 2008

Sat, 12 Jul 2008 20:25:50 +0100

My first attempt at Adobe Photoshop using the 'blizzard' layer to illustrate how awful the heavy rain was in the morning, superimposed on an excellent photo by David Scott, cropped and lightened by Paul Blezard who supplied the camera, and reworked by me to remove the pole and rope at the side of the road. The background fuzziness was unintentional, I simply do not know what I am doing with Photoshop!

Weight considerations 3 - the scales do not lie!

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 16:50:20 +0100

Straight off the bike, 27 pounds 9 ounces (12.25 kgs). At the Ministry of Tranport goverment roadworthiness test today the rider weighed 92 kgs (up 2 kgs in the past year!), and sat on the bike the front was 134 kgs and the rear 180 kgs, a total laden weight of 314 kgs of which the bike was 222 kgs - 95 kg front and 127 kgs rear (43% F / 57% R). That was with 10 litres of fuel in the tank and a full rear box except crash helmet. That is about 80 kgs less than the Honda Bananaskin version, excellent. The power:weight ratio (with me on it laden!) is improved from 102 ps/tonne on the Honda(

Weight considerations 2 - Fairing and screen

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 16:30:42 +0100

The fairing and screen weigh 27 pounds 9 ounces, or 12.25 kilograms. I have reduced the previous bracketry on the Honda VT 600 Bananaskin by a large extent, saving 10 kgs.

Weight considerations 1 - Comfortmax topbox shell

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 16:26:22 +0100

Empty shell of Comfortmax top box weighing 5 kilograms, to which I added a floor, hinges, padlock, supporting brackets, indicators, and clips to keep it securely closed. I added in total about 3 kgs making 8 kgs in all for an empty top box , but then I packed it with spares,tools, wet weather clothing and food weighing a further 12 kgs so the whole thing adds 20kgs to the bike. The aerodynamics are excellent. I would not be without it now!

Beaulieu 2008, tiny line of road mud on topbox shows aeros working OK!

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 09:45:00 +0100

Andrew Gibbens did a good job in designing the topbox, no large areas of still air amongst the turbulence behind the rider, just a tiny thin line of consistent swirl, excellent.

Beaulieu 2008

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 09:45:38 +0100

Hiding from torrential rain on the Sunday.

Classic Ossa at Barcelona 2008

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 14:54:45 +0100

This pic is for Michael Moore of eurospares in the USA - he loves these older bikes and with Montjuich Park just a short walk away from the show it was very appropriate. Bob W.

Bob's Barcelona stoppie

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 14:57:46 +0100

This will be great at the NEC! No I cannot do stoppies but the young BMW lady obscured by my ample gut has hoisted me and the bike up hydraulically - will be very popular at the NEC this year! Bob W.

Constant tension chain at Barcelona 2008

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 11:07:59 +0100

We have often discussed anti squat geometry but this chap seems to have overlooked the need for the anti squat to be proportional to the rear thrust - see www.tracklever.com Bob W.

Broken frame @ Barcelona 2008 - 5

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 15:07:46 +0100

One for Tony Foale's House of Horrors - a cast frame snapped in three pieces in a front end crash - exhausts flattened a bit and I have my doubts if these are the original forks. But demonstrates the first thing to go in a thin cast frame. Does not bother the rider, he flew off on his own adventure over the bars. Bob W.

Honda DN-01 at Barcelona 2008

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 11:09:00 +0100

Nice and low and comfortable, a much bigger screen would be nice, and not difficult to make. Bob W.