getting some software update glitches done, and ill post some of my work. the software does designs but is heavily rigged for display and presentation work (like buy one of these things i thunked up, aint got one yet but it will look like this). And what is it, some close to me have wondered, about motorcycle design? Heres the scoop: im often called up on to sit quietly and alone for hours and hours, then do that repeatedly day upon day. Sometimes im too sick to read or watch t.v. or even stay awake, like this past week or so. During these times i need to think about something. I mean, i can just observe, be the witness the sentinal for a long time. but i have the bicameral mind with the self aware feature many of us are blessed with. When it needs to idle along and thinkity think think, i find comfort in what ive done since i can remember. my earliest memories: taking things apart, see how they worked. Well i ran across a guy a decade or two past who build a wonderful machine, a real beauty almost as well designed and pretty as the Volkswagen fleet. The guy was a motorcycle racer in 1914, but when war broke out he went to the army to become an engineer. He rode as a dispatch rider for a while, but eventually became a pilot with the british air force in 1916. he flew as an artillery spotter and was shot down twice. the second time he didnt make it back to his lines and was a prisoner of war. here the legend takes over. It was said that he kept his mind occupied while in prison by designing a racing motorcycle for the TT rally on isle of mann. Whatever the details, in reality he came home from the war and proved his riding skill breaking 4 world records in one day at an event called Brooklands. But his racing record was dismal due to poorly built motorcycles. he built his own bike, the one hed kept sane by dreaming of for more than 10 years by now. It was a thing of great beauty and design talent. When quizzed what HRD meant on later vincent motorcycles, riders would say harley riders dream. he was an excellent engineer and racer, but a poor business man. He went belly up after just a few years and sold all the plant and plans to Phil Vincent. The bikes were built by Vincent brand but still carried Davies initials, HRD. Heres a few pics of what i mean by pretty. believe me, the design of the frame and all the rest was bleeding leading edge of capabilities at the time. These were comparable in design skill to some modern space age sport bike but the engineering was done in the head or on a drawing table, not with some push button CAD/CAM system and vacuume casting and furnace brazing and aerospace materials that puts a hundred plus horsepower crotch rocket between the legs of a modern 20 year old for payements less than some poeples cable bills a month. Well, here is the the purty pictures. just look at the girdraulic front end: at least 30 years ahead of its time and the basis for BMW latest set of racing frames. The rear cantilever swingarm and engine as stressed frame component, even more ahead of its time. the rear swingarm with hydraulic damping was thought to be a deadly disaster waiting to happen. Turned out the pencil whipping was wrong on that point. everybody went to that design within a few years. By stressing the engine, he overcame a balance and harmonic vibration issue that still plagues designers of modern super stiff frames. So. I have time on my hands and i fill it with thinking. Im just an idear man and a witness, sentinal left and forgotten by the mother ship may lifetimes ago.
Posted on: Mon, 17 Mar 2014 05:46:38 +0000
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