some of the scenery in the last minute of this video is just jaw dropping. Oh and I like the bike a lot too.
ktm
some of the scenery in the last minute of this video is just jaw dropping. Oh and I like the bike a lot too.
ktm
Not sure why but when I started it was just sort of a goof and an offshoot of the 2 stroke biker blog for all the cool non-2-stroke stuff I was finding and I never really intended it to become quite the force it did…. much less last for 2000 plus posts… Cool. And for “gits and shiggles” I checked the counter and we’re rapidly approaching 870,000 page views! well Damm..
Holy crap. I’d have balled up in a fetal position and wept for a week…
Regular contributor to my 2 stroke blog Ted Guthrie sent in his latest “barn find”.
Hi, Steve. Thought I’d share with you the great barn find I brought home recently. It’s a 1973 Suzuki T500 Titan, with 4,000 original miles on it. Although far from perfect cosmetically due to plain old aging, it is in amazing condition. All I did to get it look as it does in these pictures was to wash it. Torn fork gaitors show, as well as a broken lock on the gas cap – hence my baggie/rubber band seal. Tape on the tank is my label reminding me there is no fuel in it. Haven’t tried to fire it up yet, as I intend to go through the carbs and ignition first. Dig the condition of the seat and tires. They’re exactly as when I got the bike. No Armorall on ’em or anything. Nearly 40 years old. Amazing. What a survivor. Ted Guthrie PS: Please see also, pic of parts and pieces of ’75 Bultaco 350 Alpina I am putting together. 1960 Triumph Tiger Cub is next in line, too.
So there I was perusing one of the many message board threads that I check in on regularly when I tripped across this AMAZINGLY COOL photo of a Royal Enfield flat track conversion that had been rather casually slipped in to to a “Flat Tracker” thread. My eyes quite literally bugged out of my head. I’m not embarrassed to say that I’m a wee bit smitten with this build.
Well, long story short I inquired about the bike and was hooked up with Art Guilfoil who is a part owner of Doug Douglas Motorcycles in San Bernardino, CA. He’s been working on the prototype. And I mean hot freaking damm… how nice is this!
After getting in touch, Art was kind enough to provide the background info on this really trick build.
Hi Steve
The bike you’re talking about is our prototype for a streettracker that we are making parts for. This is something that’s been in the works for about a year off and on and we just got it all together the other day so we could bring it to the IMS show. It has yet to turn a wheel at the track so I don’t have much to say about riding it…yet.
We plan to be up and running building street legal bikes (ed: YES!!) with the parts we are developing within a few months. We still have a lot to do in developing this as a racer but that will progress throughout the year as we develop performance items and test chassis issues not to mention the new parts we are creating.
So, to give you a rundown on what we have so far: New swingarm that is stronger and slightly longer than stock. It uses a disk brake as opposed to the stock drum brake and that’s a major upgrade to begin with. The forks are 43mm R6 modified for flattrack and they are in adjustable triple clamps that have been annodized black and this particular set is engraved “Royal Enfield”. We built the seat loop to use a Champion 250 style seat base and Saddlemen made us the seat. We have relocated the electrics including the battery for looks as well as to protect those pieces. The stainless steel exhaust is a race only unit that’s really loud.
For all of these parts we have some development that will continue before we are willing to offer them to the public but it will come soon enough. The idea is two fold…we do want to race this bike and hopefully it gets a following in amateur racing (ed this seems like a natural!) since there’s not many modern bikes besides dirtbikes that are used for flattrack any longer. So this is that alternative for the guy who wants a proper looking bike and yet wants electric start and reliability. The second part is as a street tracker that allows someone to have a bad-ass conversation piece with a warrantew and can be financed and depending on ow he options it up the price would be 10k to 15k. That’s about half what other builders are getting for their street trackers that are based on old bikes that can’t even be financed let alone have modern comforts such as the e start buttona nd fuel injection.
We think we have a winner on and off the track. For now, we’re just enjoying the build. 90% of the project at this point is personal satisfaction.
I’ve included a couple more photos we took just before it went to the show. Not the greatest shots but it’s all I have right now.
Thanks for the email. If you want mroe info let me know.
Take care
Art
“90% of the project at this point is personal satisfaction.” That is the cornerstone to most great success stories.
Thanks to a suggestion I saw in the previous Electric Bike Poll post I went and looked the Killacycle! Check out their blog! Cool stuff! This is definitely an area where E-bikes can thrive. Short course racing. Drags, MX and even Supermoto. There’s actually a gap being closed in these areas. It’s when the distances stretch out that the competitive disadvantages of the E-bikes hit home hard. I’m surprise there isn’t a tials bike yet. The torque might be a natural and overcome the weight. I’ve even seen come cool videos on Electric go-cart racing that was badass. And quiet carts have the advantage that you don’t have to be out in the sticks with those tracks to hide the noise.
Specifications
Normal Voltage: 3.3V
Capacity (1C to Vmin=2.0V): minimum 18.5AH, typical 20Ah
Dimensions(mm):7.2 x 161 x 227
Weight (kg): 0.495
Volume (l): 0.263
Operating Temperature: -30c to 55C
Storage temperature: -40C to 60C
Number of Cycles : minimum 300, typical 2000
Max Discharge (SOC and Temp dependent): 300Amps
Wh/kg: 130.5
Wh/Cell: 64.6
Wh/Liter: 245.6
Self Discharge @ 25C: <2%/month
Nominal Voltage and maximal / minimal discharge voltage (recommended and critical) 3.3 nom, 3.6 max, 4.0 critical. 2.0V min, 1.0V critical
Nominal Capacity: 18.5Ah min, 19.6ah nom
Internal resistance: 2 mOhm nom
Specific Power (nominal, W/kg): 2400
Maximal current discharge rate: 300 cont, 750 peak
Charge conditions: maximum voltage, charge current CC-CV to 3.6V. 300A max, 600 peak
Here’s a video from 07
One more from 09
I’ve been getting a lot of friendly nudges lately from readers suggesting that I should cover more electric bikes. To be honest, I’m luke warm on the segment but I thought it’d be interesting to get some general feedback from the readership and experiment with the polls function. So what say you folks? Oh, and comments are open so convince me.
I’m going to be gradually transferring all my assorted photo albums that were lost when the Village Photos hosting company vanished (along with about 1500 or so of my older uploaded photos). This was last nights effort. Today’s upload is from the 2008 Riding Into History Motorcycle show and charity event. Regular readers might recognize a LOT of these bikes from older posts. There’ll be more galleries on the way as time permits. Click on the image to go to the gallery. Enjoy!
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| Riding Into History – May 2008 |
Thanks to Don Miller (AKA:Donzilla) of Metro Racing fame for the heads up! I had a few 2011’s and they’re a great addition to the shop and/or den. High quality and very well produced! Get yours now!