Building a race bike

Piranha Brother 2 said:
There must be several billion carbon framed bicycles frames on the roads these days, most made in Taiwan (the best at it - manufacturing for all the big names, including the Italians) for massive companies - who don't want to be bankrupted by lawsuits ... so if done right, carbon is fine. Would I use wheels like that on my SFQ? Maybe ... but would look bizarre anyway ... and I could never afford them!

Biggest prob is, when carbon fails, it fails catastrophically ... no warning and whammo! If it's been in a collision or suffered a severe impact it has to either be X-rayed or tossed.
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Neighbour and friend of mine was hit by a car when on his bike the car was coming right side out of another road, fairly slow, and nocked him off his bike. He was hit by the car on his right upper leg and fell off the bike, the bike went under the car and was pushed over the road (it did not run over the bike, just pushed it over the ground).

The bike frame had multiple serious cracks and actually went into pieces...  :o Not sure I would trust such a bike again and ride it with speeds of 70 - 80Km/h downhil...  >:D
 
Around the world records are all set on carbon bikes. TDF and all racers are on carbon bikes. They crash and ride. Carbon bikes get broken and repaired properly all the time. My mate's steel bike had a weld fail and he ended up under a car. If you don't want to use carbon, don't.
 
hochkoenig said:
You can see on some Pics how tiny and small that pice was....
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That was Chris Haldane. Crash nearly cost him his only NZ F1 title - broken collarbone which healed slowly. I watched him being lifted off his OW01 after clinching the title with a hard earned 3rd place at Levels.Riding effectively one-handed.
Anyway - the piece that broke was a mistake by John. He took carbon cloth around a corner which you should never do.

The guy who mounted the tyres on John's first carbon wheels wouldn't do it until he had the results of a stress test at the Uni of Canterbury in ChCh.
Very wise IMO.
When the Britten went for some world standing start records, the FIM steward was Hans von der Marwitz - pardon the spelling. While here he ran a course for FIM Technical Steward qualifications which I attended. In discussions the carbon wheels came up...I was the top local scrutineer at the time so got asked what I knew and thought of them. I replied that for short course national level races on smooth tracks I'd seen  no problems. But if I was doing the IOM scrutineering, I'd ask to see all his wheels bare for a physical inspection - and if a marshall reported hitting a curb or similar, I'd impound that wheel.
Hans was a tad surprised - so I told him I'd heard that at least two of the wheels had been repaired to my knowledge. Which made them suspect IMO.

Again IMO, those wheels should not now be used for anything other than a demonstration ride. And that's probably risky. Technology has moved on.
 
Hi guys,

My new forks are Drum type,  they are not advertised but they are available if you ask,  just received them today,  really happy, Super quality!!

The dripping on the rims saved me 270g per wheel, so as Piet says, should be well worth it at that diameter and spinning fast! 
Still working on the brakes to get them lighter and safe at the same time,
Got the footrests finished and saved 138g each over the equivalent milled Alloy plates with the same measured deflection. Well happy!

Pics to follow shortly.

Jules

PS.
Boba used Kevlar in my tank, we spoke about it and it seems this is what he does in all his tanks.
I used spoked wheels simply for the looks, I think it would have looked all wrong with cast wheels, especially as I want drums.
It has to be light it has to be fast, but it also has to look period so no CNC and no fancy visible modern stuff. 
 
From my 15yo son - 'drip' is fancy clobber (ie, clothing, attire) ... so wouldn't dripping on the rims imply ADDING something, not removing?  :D

Or is it just jazzing something up?
 
julian said:
Hi guys,

My new forks are Drum type,  they are not advertised but they are available if you ask,  just received them today,  really happy, Super quality!!
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Is 'Drum type' a brand or a particular technical detail relating to the operation of the fork, Julian? Heard of drum brakes ...
 
That mystified me Q, but I am sure it means the fork allows a drum brake wheel to fit, I commented earlier that the site only showed 35mm forks that allowed both kinds of front brake but only disc brake 38mm forks. Everybody hates the 35mm forks on Pantahs and I remember Bob Dixion used 35mm forks on now Yogis Barcelona as he reconded they were lighter till he found they flexed like bowstrings. Even 38mm is almost marginal for racing. There is a reason why they got bigger over the years and eventually upsidedown, obviously less bending with a thicker width. So after all that BS from me, Julian's forks are 38mm to suit drum brakes even though there not show on that site.
 
If want to buy the latest model of a Race Bike just purchase the latest Suzuki model.

Cost you an arm and leg though !
 
You guys have no imagination... dripping-drilling,  L and P are adjoining keys on a keyboard, just a typo. ::)

Gotta think outside the box sometimes!

piet
 
Vince
?Everybody hates the 35mm forks on Pantahs ?

Well these are excellent forks depending on what?s inside. And with P05 and 260mm discs and small cast wheels (Ducati or Laverda small web) you will have strong brakes and low weight for good performance. I am looking forward to see what Julians bike will weigh in running conditions with 5 l gas. Should be less than 160 kg.
Cheers
Michael
 
Julian - all that weight saving on the rims and hubs will go for nothing if you still have to run tubes.....

Have you worked out a way to run without them ?

Your project is around the weight limit for wire wheels IMO. I've got plenty of experience with heavier Post Classic race bikes where changing to cast wheels made a huge difference to the handling. Wheel stiffness becomes very important with the modern sticky race rubber.
 
sfcpiet said:
You guys have no imagination... dripping-drilling,  L and P are adjoining keys on a keyboard, just a typo. ::)

Gotta think outside the box sometimes!

piet
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Yes Piet. I knew that, but couldn't let an opportunity for a bit of a wind-up go by without comment.  :D

Maybe you've been living in Germany too long. You're taking things too seriously. ;)
 
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