SV650 - Swingarm Progress

The jig for the swingarm has started to receive the first set of tubes for swingarm number one. We have had to make a few adjustments to the jig to add some stiffness and some additional stops. Now we have it tacked together whilst we work on and check the prototype swingarm and then we can weld it fully.

There are four tubes in the swingarm design that feature bends, so we have re-familiarised ourselves with the tube bender (once we made a new, suitably fixed stand for it in the new workshop). We went in at the deep end straight away with this 80 degree bend (previously the max bend that we have done with this tubing/bender was 50 degree) and it came out perfectly, with very minimal tube distortion (I see CNC tube benders produce much worse).

A bit more cutting, bending and notching and a swingarm begins to form on the jig. I really enjoy how easy this process is when time has been spent perfecting a lasercut jig, as everything just fits as it should, unlike the jig process we used for the frame.

And we end up with this. After a few evenings, everything is notched and all the tubes are located in place. Now to order some more TIG rod and start to tack/check on bike.

On another note, its not all been hard work in the workshop here, we have been having a bit of fun! Here's a recent picture of our buddy Greg having a test session on the SV at a recent RAF Odiham ARD. 

He liked.

SV650 - More Machining

These parts have recently been machined to add to the collection of machined swingarm bits that are ready to go. These four pieces get welded into the end of the main tubes and are bolted onto the aluminium wheel mounting blocks at the rear.

We are now awaiting the arrival of the remaining couple of CNC aluminium parts which were outsourced, then we get to see if the parts all fit together as the CAD model suggests.

SV650 - Back to it . . .

Some more progress at last!

At the weekend we starting machining the first components that are required to build the prototype swingarm. The design has been sat in CAD for over a year now so its great to finally see some of the parts we've been looking at on screen for so long.

The first pieces to get underway were the chain adjusters. Inspired by the items found on GP bikes, they are simple in design with a fairly chunky appearance to them (they may well get refined later with more material removed).

We machined the side profile first on the CNC, then put the main slot through the middle before sticking them up on the end to machine the hole for the threaded stainless adjuster.

Next up we have the brake caliper hanger. This has been designed to sit with the chain adjuster block in order to prevent it from dropping when the rear wheel is removed. Again, I think its over-engineered and we can get away with a lot less material.

Here we have the result of the days work. These are the majority of the aluminium parts that will be needed to build the swingarm. The main blocks which bolt to the rear of the steel trellis are being machined elsewhere, due to a few complex angles that looked a bit too challenging for the tools we have, so we should have them back soon too.

Radical SR8 RSX Spyder

A few weeks ago we visited the Autosport Show at the NEC to see the unveiling of some of our latest work.

Over the past five months we have spent every available hour working on the exterior design and CAD modelling of the bodywork for the new Radical SR8 RSX Spyder race car. Unfortunately, this has put a temporary halt on finishing other projects, but an opportunity like this could not be turned down.

The final CAD render above which was previewed at a Radical event at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya during Autumn and below is the Spyder having just been unveiled at the Autosport Show.

It may be a car, and we are all bike fans here, but it certainly packs performance (there is a little video clip here of it's first test https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VwzfmReUHw ) and it sounds immense.

SV650 - Lasercutting, it makes my life easier.

With the entire design process for the swingarm done in CAD, it made sense for us to design the jig alongside it on the computer screen. 

I seem to remember very well spending weeks making the previous jig for the frame and didn't want to endure the same kind of timescale with the swingarm jig. So to avoid this, a very simple structure was designed which could be easily manufactured, consisting of lasercut steel plates, box section steel, stainless steel tie bars and aluminium bosses. 

The key to this simplicity is having the fully designed part and opting for lasercut plates. This means we could send them out, have them cut very accurately with no post processing required and when they return, simply fit them together. The steel box section acts as cross members which are welded in place to make the jig solid and space everything out. Then come the tie bars and aluminium boss, which locate the main fixing points on the swingarm.

Two weeks after sending drawings out, we received the lasercut parts.

Half an hour to cut some steel box section to length and then a few hours to make up some stainless tie bars and everything is mocked up loosely. 

That's as far as we got with it today, all that needs to be done now is to machine the aluminium bosses and weld the box section in place and the jig is good to go.

 Lasercutting, it makes my life easier!

SV650 - Vinyl Wrap Time

In preparation for the upcoming trackday at Rockingham, we thought we'd make the bike look a bit more presentable and have a play with some vinyl. The mudguard got the full treatment - having suffered from scratches, filler and fibreglass throughout the build and we also did the tail section and fuel tank insert, along with mounting the Contour camera on the back of the bike.

This stuff takes ages to put on (the mudguard is probably the most time consuming part) but it was certainly worth the effort and looks great.

The tail section has come out really well too. It was always the intention to have the rear section in carbon, but wrapping it gives just as nice an effect, and its quick and easy to change. When the bike is complete, we will do the whole bike with some nice graphics. For now, whilst its still being tested, bare fibreglass gel coat is on show.

SV650 - Air Duct Design Part 2

Back to the air ducts - now popped off the molds and roughly trimmed (they even look symmetrical).

With the fibreglass parts roughly trimmed, they can be "fine tuned" and fitted together as seen above. We have designed them to have the smooth (molded) surface of the part on the inside of the duct and the rougher, fibreglass mat material on the outside, as this will be how the airbox will be laid up. (The performance of the air is more important then then aesthetic of the part when hidden in the engine!). That said, we have confidence of achieving a nice external appearance to the ducts.

Test fitting to the bike and working out where mounting points will be. There are a few modifications to make to make the fitting easier, as can be seen above with the duct sitting on the mold.

These pictures show the position of the air duct. Its a very snug fit to get the maximium air volume through the steel trellis frame, as we did look at various options of taking it back further and entering through the side (like Ducati) but this gave us the wrong position for the air filter we intend to use. 

In hindsight, a little more thought on some of these later aspects earlier in the design would have been beneficial, but we are always learning . . .

Next time, airbox entry and final molds . . .

SV650 - Air Duct Design Part 1

The air ducts - something thats been put low down on our priority list but has always been there. The standard airbox has an inlet that sits just beneath the underside of the fuel tank. On the basis that an engines performance increases if it can breathe more efficiently, then this seems a rather daft place to draw air in. 

So we are designing a larger airbox (using the underside of the tank as the top of the airbox) with the air ducts either side of the headstock to help draw the air in from the high pressure point on the front of the bike.

Here's how we are doing it (this will be in several parts as a work in progress and may not be the best way to do it, but is the way we are doing it!) . . .

Above, we have modelled one air duct using MDF and styling clay (quick, easy and the way an Industrial Designer knows how to do it) which fits onto the bike (only one side as the other side will be a mirror image).

From the clay, we have scanned the part using a FARO Arm and processed it in CAD to give us a 3D representation of the air duct in Solidworks. If we were getting really technical at this stage, we could reverse engineer it into a manufacturable part and do all sorts of flow analysis to optimise the shape - but we didn't. 

This 3D model was then sliced in multiple 12mm parts (like a loaf of bread) to give us a number of profiles which could be cut out from MDF and laminated together to create a mold. In fact, there are four molds, one for the top and one for the bottom, then duplicates for a mirrored part to sit on the other side of the bike. (This stage could certainly be sped up by 3D printing or machining the parts from foam, but we always seem to take the hard, less expensive route).

Laminate MDF profiles then gave us these molds, which required a fair bit of sanding and filling, but these will only be used for the first prototype parts, so can still be a little rough. The important thing with these is that they are symmetrical to one another and that both the tops and bottoms fit together.

A close up of the contours. There are a lot of hard points for the air ducts to clear, such as frame tube, fork legs, fairings, light brackets and even stubborn wiring, so they have ended up with quite organic shapes. Once we get to a finish as seen above, we coat them in epoxy resin to give them a hard surface, then a quick sand down to smooth off any high points and its time to lay them up with some fibreglass.

We'll let them cure now, see what happens next in part 2 . . .

SV650 - Swingarm Design

The bike has been sat on an ABBA stand at work for the past few weeks whilst we have had the swingarm out for measuring. This only means one thing - the trellis swingarm is finally being designed!

Due to continual demand (everyone seems to love the swingarm on the original CAD drawings) we have finally got to the point of beginning the design work on this element and below are some early ideas of how the design is developing.

We feel it is important to ensure the swingarm is designed to allow flexibilty and different combinations of rear wheel setups to be used. As we have designed the frame to be capable of taking either the early or later generation SV650 swingarm, it is important that we do the same for the swingarm, to allow riders the option of purchasing the swingarm to fit onto their standard bikes. With this in mind, both generations have been roughly modelled in CAD, in order to optimise the design of our swingarm we are planning to go with a machined aluminium dropout design in order to offer customised wheel options easily.

These are all early design ideas and we will be refining them over the coming months ready to make a prototype, so any suggestions are more the welcome.

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 - Delivery of Lasercutting

The lasercut aluminium for the fuel tank and battery boxes has just arrived back from FabTech in Crowland. All the blanks in the picture above are now ready to be folded into each section of the fuel tank. Whilst waiting for these to arrive, we have been machining the various bosses, mounts and fuel neck flange ready to send it all off to the welders.

Below we have battery box blanks to make three of the new design. We would like to offer this product to Minitwin racers using the SV650, so if anyone wants to run one then let us know and we can get one on your bike.