Wilbers Shocks

And one of his first frontends broke,so doing distrutive testing is an important part as well.I once had some twin shocks mounts welded to a single shockn alloy swingarm and when I first rode it a gradualy uped the load while checking for cracking and I was shitting bricks till it proved itself
 
Vince said:
I was shitting bricks till it proved itself

:D  Yes, it's a bit nerve wracking when one of your designs is put through load testing. Especially when a client who has forked out a heap of money for the design and fabrication is standing beside you.
 
There's a lot of truth in the old adage "if it looks good, it probably is".

But, shit happens... now and then. :D

piet
 
Well, i shant be popping modern brembo calipers  discs and master cylinders on an unbraced framed Jota anytime soon😉
 
...taking my chances masked up on the train to work though..and yesterday clearing the gutters  up the ladder, despite a mates tales of disaster when a friend fell. Calculated risks all round🙂
 
Those who grew up playing with Lego wouldn't have a clue but those who grew up building things with Meccano would have a pretty good idea as to what works and what doesn't IMHO.
 
When I left home and went to university, my mum gave away all my old toys. The clean-out included a very comprehensive stock of Meccano, most of which was accumulated by my dad when he was a kid. I was pissed off when I found out. She was a bugger for getting rid of stuff. She was the opposite of a hoarder, whatever that is. 
 
Well Cam hopefully it went to someone who appreciated it, pretty sure you moved on from Meccano a long time ago... I got heaps of LEGO if anyone wants some....
 
"Well, i shant be popping modern brembo calipers  discs and master cylinders on an unbraced framed Jota anytime soon😉"

this hasn't done any harm on TOG in more than ten years, and has been used (a lot) for weekend rallying with two people and full camping gear and the callipers are ahead of the forks (which many dislike)

I have repaired about five or six cracked at the headstock Laverda frames and in every case I have had serious doubts about the ability of the welder who made the joints, you can see this to a small extent with the naked eye, but when you have it hot and melting under a 6,000 degree flame, then you can REALY see that its badly welded. From the outside your headstock does not cause me any worries Nick, you are a known late and hard braker and if it was going to fail it would have done so by now.

CLEM
ps, famous last words? get the torch out, glasses on and the tank off
 
motoddrob said:
Anyway, you don't need to be an engineer to come up with an elegant and functional design. There are plenty of clever and creative people in the world.

John Britten come to mind
The Britten racer had both front and rear suspension collapse hospitalising the riders. The front end came off completely at speed and a rear suspension link snapped. I have experience of a batch of super lightweight wheels from the U.S that literally fell to bits, I had been out on the test bike half an hour before and a segment of rim broke away, tyre deflated immediately , rider was lucky to stay on. I think you do have to be an engineer .
 
Exmoor beast said:
The Britten racer had both front and rear suspension collapse hospitalising the riders. The front end came off completely at speed and a rear suspension link snapped. I have experience of a batch of super lightweight wheels from the U.S that literally fell to bits, I had been out on the test bike half an hour before and a segment of rim broke away, tyre deflated immediately , rider was lucky to stay on. I think you do have to be an engineer .

I'm assuming carbon fibre wheels? I've been wondering how strong some of the new super-light carbon wheelsets are, especially coping with 200hp hyperbikes.
 
They were in 500 for a while. I remember one braking at Kialarmi with Freddy Spencer riding.[size=14pt][/size]
 
Piranha Brother 2 said:
I'm assuming carbon fibre wheels? I've been wondering how strong some of the new super-light carbon wheelsets are, especially coping with 200hp hyperbikes.
They were magnesium, made in california unknown to me ,a rim had split When inflating the tyre and popping the bead on another set. I rode the bike (zZR1100 ( big bore , Nos) very fast Just previous to to the wheel failing at slow speed- if it had gone on me it would have been catastrophic. The other 4 sets were destroyed. We only sold Dymag after that, never a problem, even saw one that had hit a brick on motorway, dented but still held up. I believe the guy that made Lester alloys died when a wheel shattered whilst he was machining it.
 
People have been killed by bits of rim letting go  when over inflating to pop the bead. Be very careful. I use stuff to help it these days and usually don't need more than 40psi. If i needs more I keep out of the way.
I have seen original Duc Campag wheels with pieces missing after hitting stuff on the road. Not just super light wheels.
Reading about the Britten, even the engines had/have major challenges. The performance costs.
 
as Colin Chapman the then head of Lotus cars once said (something like) "if it is light but strong enough to only fail on the slowing down lap then its Perfect".
CLEM
 
Example of failure mode of Speedline wheels (as fitted to some Ducati Dramahs/MHRs etc).

 

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CLEMTOG said:
as Colin Chapman the then head of Lotus cars once said (something like) "if it is light but strong enough to only fail on the slowing down lap then its Perfect".

A doctrine taken to heart by one SMB Hailwood, one glorious day in June 1978.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8t4ILQKAZA
 
sinister.........................

Pete Davies (aka PK) had the rest of his life ruined because of a failed frame with standard brakes, at the Isle of man so you could be the next?  and judging by your riding skills and shared surname you might even be related! So don't give me that modified is crap, standard frame and standard brakes can still kill you. Every time I rode TOG for the last 39 years I have relied on my own welding skills, because I have only ever ridden the bike, excepting the first year with my own fabricated handle bars, the current set now 18 months old and finally finished, just waiting a mate to turn me up a pair of custom bar ends to trim them.
CLEM
 
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