Some of my fav cafe racers, flat trackers, and scramblers examples here. Just love em.  

  Have found a new more efficient cell configuration and package: Still LiFePO4 cells; the new configuration proposes 24 units of 3.2v 100ah prismatic cells connected in series. to give an overall 76v 100ah pack, 3C continuous (5C peak). This package along with a BMS fits into a 420 x 280 x 250mm dimensional envelope….

While surfing the Interweb I bumped into an interesting simple frame building application called RattleCAD. It’s main use seems to be for bicycles but basic geometry and triangulation is similar on bike frames in general. One day I might have a go. http://rattlecad.sourceforge.net/

Bumped into a charge point today and noticed that there are many types of charge point sockets and plugs. Really should try to find out which types are the most popular in the UK to install one of those in the bike rather than having to find a domestic 13A mains plug and carry a…

Popped over to the NTDC (National Transport Design Centre) and Ryan the resident VR genius and I discussed a Keanu Reeves video that depicted him checking out some Motorbike design in his Arche studio with some wired VR glasses. He detached his desktop computer from the desk [I had no idea it was detachable], clipped…

Front caliper piston refurbishment is completed by Zed Parts. The original piston was severely corroded. Efficient stopping power is now guaranteed. Can now go ahead and refurb the rest of the caliper. Awesome!

While chatting at Zed Parts a parts list site was recommended to me by Oz. – Consolidated Motor Spares: http://www.CMSNL.com It has all parts for the my xj600 1991 with part numbers. Very useful indeed to understand the assembly of the mechanical parts designed for the bike and the order they assemble in. Pics n…

Looking at seat hoop options. The travel in the wheel is short but is close to the seat bars. All considered an angled hoop might be a sensible choice to give more room for rear wheel travel. Some examples are below. How this will work with the current seat angles is a job for a…

Battery calculator here: https://power-calculation.com/battery-storage-calculator.php

Had a very interesting conversation with a realy nice chap on an e-bike forum in the UK. He suggested that I look at Enertrac hub motors too in terms of gaining some choice for hub motors. Website is: http://www.enertrac.net/product.php Product text for the Enertrac motor is: This motor was designed to make the gas to…

As a research designer and academic of consumer automotive and transport design I have seen many trends; a very worthy trend currently being ‘sustainability’. It is one that the man on the street can contribute too as well as big industry, and the result of being sustainable is positive. We prolong the life of our…

Found a sassy Haynes manual for the XJ600 Diversion on the internet on the oxfam website. Obviously a classic that someone decided wasn’t needed any more. For £4.00 I was very happy to swipe it up. If only for the diagrams and the correct assembly for the frame components that are being carried over as…

I Contacted the DVSA (Driver & Vehicle Standards Agency) to get a better understanding of the regulatory guidelines for the design of 13kw e-motorbikes. I wanted to ensure that our prototype is of a regulatory standard from the start if there are any. Replay was as follows: Hello Dr Hutchinson, Motorcycle derived vehicles fall into…

One thing that is becoming quite clear is that there are a number of issues concerning the use of eBikes with a certain amount of power. With a speed limit of 15mph the current laws for usage on the road are quite compromising. An interesting video on youtube has been made by a guy called…

I like this video of a honda conversion: http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-build-a-72Volt-electric-motorcycle/ Another video of an e-motorbike is by a young lad called Kimball Crawford. Clever lad. used a lightweight frame

After visiting china and seeing how easy it is to convert a bike from petrol to electric. I’m starting to think about putting together a wee electric bike project. Could be a fun little task to do when my research dies down to keep the research engine running. Could even give it the full design…

You should try an runny fried egg in between two bagel halves. If you put it together right you can make lake of yoke in the bagel’s hole. Just in case you need a hand with the mythical lake of yoke please see the picto instruction.