Swingarm Gets Colour

The first of our chassis parts gets it's fresh powdercoat finish and it's the first chance to see the colour we are going for on the prototype bike. As soon as this was back from powdercoat, it was a case of running the tap through the threaded holes and pressing the bearings into place, before bolting the aluminium pieces on and seeing what we've created for the first time.

We decided to go with anodised black finish on the machined aluminium pieces and these are bolted to the steelwork.

Stainless steel hardware, black anodised aluminium and blue powercoated steelwork. The brake caliper hanger slides in place and the chain adjusters have removeable sleeves to take multiple sizes of rear axles, should you wish a different option.

It looks great mounted to the back of the frame, but you'll have to come back in a few days to see that!

Frame Building

And so it all starts again . . . 

The new jigs are working a treat. We can't wait to see the difference in weight and looks of the frame when it's built with the new smaller diameter tubing.

There are three frames lined up for production. If you want one, drop us an email.

Fuel Tank

Somewhere around two years ago we received some lasercut parts which we bent up and prepared for welding. They got sent off and after doing the rounds a bit we finally managed to get them welded by Josh @ JAF Fabrications. Two years later and what turns up is a super lightweight, fully welded aluminium fuel tank, and here's some pictures!

I did say lightweight. I weighed this at just under 2.5kg. The original steel tank on the SV is up around 4.9kg.

 It's not quite as large as the OEM tank, taking around 12 litres, mainly due to the limited space on the bike we had to work within.

Having now fitted it to the bike, the minor adjustments over the original we made have made fitment so much easier. 

2016 Plans

Since last time, we have finished welding and making all the parts for the prototype swingarm. The trickiest part of this was the final step, machining (more crucially, aligning of) the bores for the pivot bearings. This was done on the lathe, with the swingarm clamped to the cross slide and a boring head mounted in the chuck. Unfortunatly, we didnt take any photos of this step, but it was very pleasing to be able to press the bearings in place and for perfect alignment on the swingarm spindle.

There was one part that we re-made - the brake caliper hanger. We made an error on the hole pitch for the caliper, so while we were re-making the piece, we altered the rear wheel spacers, thinned the part out and reduced the weight by half. All part of development.

The end of the year saw a bit of a halt on things since we were insulating/painting the workshop and organising it whilst we went along. Now everything has its place so working should become more efficient.  

The prototype bike is now undergoing a full strip-down (with a few modifications to some mounts on the frame) in order to go off for powdercoating. What colour? We don't know yet, but it's going to be better then white!

So what does 2016 bring? We've got some big plans, starting with the first production run of frames. We have started making parts for the first three frames to be manufactured. These are going to be slightly different to the prototype frame as we look to improve it in many ways and we will post more about those specifics in future posts but most importantly it will be lighter. 

Therefore there are going to be two frames up for grabs (we are building one up into a much more race orientated bike ourselves (the engine is stripped on the workbench ready for a rebuild)). We are just finalising the price and marketing material, but if you are interested (we have had many requests so far asking when . . .) then please do drop us an email at info@moto-rdesign.com. 

SV650 - Swingarm Weld Time

This weekend we sat down with the TIG torch and got to work on welding the new swingarm and although not quite there with it (we've ran out of gas) a lot got done and we're now not far off.

From the previous post, we had the initial lower section tacked together, before test fitting it to the bike to make sure everything cleared. With this all good, we were ready to weld - but there was a change to make first.

The pivot tube made initially was 1 1/2" with a relatively thick wall. The counterbore for the bearing was machined from this, therefore creating the greater tube thickness in the middle of the tube. This created extra unnecessary weight so we changed the plan. Now we have gone with 1 5/8" x 16swg CDS tubing, but have machined bosses that are welded in either end to take the bearings. These are currently undersized, ready to be machined in line on a boring setup we are making on the lathe when the welding process has done with distorting my once straight tube.

With the lower half fully welded (and checked for distortion (the two legs pulled in 9mm!)) and re-positioned to where they should be, the top half of the swingarm could start to be tacked on. Again, it was very much a case of tacking a few bits on and checking on the bike. This was especially important to enure the shock, exhaust and chain cleared all the tubing.

You can see the large cut from the front tube that has been shaped around the shock. There is very little space between the shock and chainline.

Once popped out of the jig, access to the joints became easier to weld and it was all going so well until the Argon ran out. So this is the stage we are at, with a couple more cross braces to add and a few welds to finish off. Then we can look at machining the bores for the bearings and correcting the distortion that has occured on the top tubes where they meet the aluminium block at the the rear.

SV650 - August Update

We had another track day booked at RAF Benson in the middle of the month, so held off stripping the back end of the bike down until this had passed to get on with welding the new swingarm.

These are all of the steel components that will go into the welded part of the swingarm. In addition to the above, there are a number of machined aluminium parts to mount the rear wheel which can be seen below.

The first tacks on the lower half of the swingarm. We thought we'd take it steady and tack a little at a time, then check it on the bike, then tack a little bit more . . . 

 

Here's a shot of the lower half of the swingarm on the bike with some of the CNC machined components loosely bolted in place. It gives a great impression of how its going to end up looking!

SV650 - Bending Metal

We've been busy bending this week in the workshop to get the fuel tank ready for welding (actually, the bending doesn't take very long at all, as we have markers cut into lasercut blanks and have designed the fuel tank to have very simple bends).

Above we have the main structure of the tank, with the internal baffle doubling up as the welding jig.

This is the lower portion of the tank which sits down the left side of the rear cylinder and contains the bosses for mounting the fuel level sensor and fuel petcock. it also helps to add vital overall capacity to the volume of the tank.

This is the re-designed fuel neck and filler cap flange. This has been changed from four welded bosses to a machined flange - just as quick to machine and requires minimal welding compared to four bosses. Lighter too!

The main structure again showing how the baffle locates into slots and below we have all the parts that go into making a Moto R Design SV650 fuel tank. Now to print off some drawings and send it all on its way to Simon who will be TIG welding it for us.

SV650 - How To Build A Motorcycle Frame

Happy new year to all. The festivities are now over and its time to get back in the workshop, ready for the warmer weather and a lot more time on track this coming year.

Over the past few months we have been working on drawings for all of the components and we thought we would treat you with a couple of images to show the level of detail that we have gone to throughout the project. 

The two images show the CAD model of the frame, with a handful of dimensions that relate directly to the frame jig we have produced, along with a drawing showing the location of each tube that goes into a frame. The frame tubes all have there own separate drawing and along with all the bosses and brackets, there are over 70 components that go into producing each frame, along with a good few hours of TIG welding.

This year we would like to start to enjoy some of the work we have undertaken, by spending more time on track, but would also like to offer the parts that we have designed to others. We are finalising some costings into the manufacturing costs of the various components but in the meantime would welcome any emails or messages from riders wishing to express an interest.

Have a good year!

SV650 - Battery Box Re-design

So this may not be the most important thing in the world, but it has been bugging me since we built the bike up. 

 

There was nothing wrong with the old design of the battery box, it worked fine when it was on the bike, is proving to be strong enough and is positioned nicely between the front cylinder and fairing, it's just that on the odd occasion when we have needed to remove the battery, its been a pain in the ****.

The old design has the battery removal from the top, which works fine on the computer and workbench, but this space is occupied by a water hose on the bike, meaning the only way to remove it is by removing the mounting bolts and lowering the enitre battery box.

The new design allows the battery to be fitted & removed from the side, by removal of the "A" shaped side plate. Whilst re-designing, we chose to refine the design, to reduce the number of components and speed up manufacture. 

On this new design, only one bolt needs to be removed to remove the battery (opposed to four previously), theres one cross brace (opposed to two previously) and there are fewer welds to construct the main carrier. On the front mounts the rectifier and inside the battery is cushioned with foam.

The drawings have been sent off to be lasercut, so when we get those back we'll get one made and fitted to the bike. This should also fit the standard bike, with a couple of different sized mounting spacers, so we'll check that out to confirm, then if anyone wants one to fit there SV, give us a shout!

SV650 - Fuel Tank Refinements

Having built a tank and fitted / removed it from the bike many times, some issues were discovered which needed to be resolved.

Due to the way the tank fits around the OEM airbox and the way that it extends down one side of the rear cylinder, it was always awkward to get it into the correct location, without a bit of wriggling and partially removing the airbox. It was also impossible to run the overfolw catch tank that is attached to the airbox (not something I need, especially if racing, but would be nice to accomodate it).

So, working between the bike, the existing tank, a few cardboard templates and the original CAD model, a number of tweaks were made to the model to redesign the internal shape and lower side extension. The rubber mounting system has also been slightly modified.

It's maybe hard to see many changes from the earlier photos of the Aluminium tank, but it should hopefully make fitting and removal much easier along with manufacture, as the break down of parts to be bent has been refined.

The next stage for this is to send the drawings off for lasercut, then find someone happy to TIG weld one.

SV650 - Front Subframe Part 2

The now welded front subframe, mounted on the bike with all the parts fitted to it. I did intend to get photos of it before putting it on the bike, but forgot to do so. 

Instrument panel mounted. Still have to make a surround for this - thinking of deep foam, reminisent of '90's sportsbikes.

 

 The adjustable haedlight and LED sidelights fitted. I still need to develop a mini wiring loom and work out how to mount the LED's, so thats one of the next stages.

The LED light guides are still only temporarily mounted. The wing like brackets are made and ready to mount to the main subframe body, but the final position of the light guides may still change. We'll have to see with the front fairing and air inlet ducts fitted.

The Morimoto ballast pack for the HID headlight, neatly designed to mount in the side of the subframe. It comes with two M4 mounting bosses, but two cables ties seem far more suitable.

Trying to hide all the wiring loom behind the instrument panel so its out of sight when the fairing is fitted. Hidden most of it, but space is tight.

In other important news - we have rode the bike for the very first time. Only up and down a straight ride, just to run everything in. It all felt good and behaved as it should, so we need to finalise a few things now as we are keen to take it to a track!

SV650 - Fuel Tank

The fuel tank, finally completed and sealed and a fairly snug fit within the frame. This is only the second piece of aluminum TIG welding I have done (a few welds on the battery box being the first) so I really have been learning it on the job!

Fortunately, as most of the tank is covered it hides my earlier attempts, but I had some nice beads flowing on the more visible parts. I managed to pressure test it to 3 bar with no leaks, so it should hold fuel no problem.

 

A quick test fit of the fuel tank of the frame with rear subframe in place. Did I mention it was a snug fit? There's an engine to bury in there as well!

 Talking of engines - old ones out, new(er) ones ready! There's nothing fancy gone on with it, just cleaner and covered far less miles. Ideal to get the bike up and running, then when everything is fine with the chassis, we may try to improve engine performance.