Chassis

[Yokel]

Hey all,

 

Figured I'd pick the collective nerd brain here... looking for a textbook on motorcycle chassis design.  Any direction those who tinker can point to?

 

Thanks!

[WhiteCharger]

There are a few good ones. If you can find it, "The Racing Motorcycle - A Guide for Constructors" by Bradley is very good. Also if you can find it, the late John Robinson's "Tuning Guide - Chassis" is very good. Stay away from Vittore Cossalter's stuff, there is a lot of film-flam in it. 

If you have any specific questions on motorcycle dynamics, I may be able to answer them - I have a pretty broad range of experience including consulting work for Harley on stability and being full time on the topic for Polaris on Victory and Indian motorcycles. I don't do it any more,  but I still remember stuff.

[Yokel]

Thanks for the info.

 

Looking at tinkering and producing a 1-off prototype bike for possible manufacture.  There is a LOT to learn before I start welding frames together, so thought I should start now. May reach out to you in the future!

 

I have a fully equipped machine and welding/fab shop at my disposal, so prototyping should be pretty cheap.  Just need to draft it up.  But, education is step one.

 

Thanks!

[WhiteCharger]

So, the two key points are:

 

1) Get enough torsional stiffness for the speed you want to do

2) Get the swingarm pivot position and head tube angles right

 

Once you have those, you can be pretty artistic. 

 

Oh, and you never go wrong pushing the weight forward.