Topic: Cycle X Drag Bike - Sneak Peak!

[CycleX]

My name is Jim, I work here at Cycle X! I thought the SOHC forum would like a sneak peak preview of our drag bike that we are building. Ken and Todd have made great progress on the frame even though it is in the very first stages of mock up. From here the fork tubes will be cut down to length and the rear of the frame will be braced, etc. Lets us know what ya guys think!

[MRieck]

A good start.  The base is there.
  Mike

[Retro Rocket]

In for the ride...

[dusterdude]

Niiiice


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[Bill/BentON Racing]

Kenny, glad you got outta the snow bank, woke up and got busy! Like Mike said " a good start" .You going to make Valdosta in Nov? Jim thanks, getting Kenny to post is nigh to impossible! Missed you Cottin'pickin Kenny and Todd this past weekend. Keep up the good work, we appreciate what y'all do.
Probably call him Monday and update, Bill

[Stev-o]

Looks great, details on the engine? I'm sure you have some "goodies" planned.

[Old Scrambler]

Lots of detail about the motor on the www.cyclexchange.net web-site..................BIG BILLET JUGS.........with BIG VALVES & INTAKES......

[Fastbike]

Your not gonna like this.  You said tell you what we think.  Here goes:  I hope the tubing is chromemoly.  The two tubes from the end of the backbone to the rear axle are a flex-fest waiting to happen with the bends in the tubes before the rear wheel.  There is nowhere near enough tubing in it. I see no triangulation.  If you are trying to make it as light as possible, the chassis is the worse place to try that.  You need all the strength you can get or it is going to handle like a salami going down the track, especially if the engine has any kind of horsepower.  Straight tubes are the strongest, don't use bent ones just because of a lower seat height or whatever.  Remember, Puppet said never try to save weight in the chassis!  Flame on, guys, but this is what I see.  If you plan on more tubing in strategic places, then "Never mind!". 

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

That motor is a beast.

[dusterdude]

Puppet was the frame god...rip


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[scottly]

I was thinking the same thing, Fastbike.

[dragracer]

I've got to agree with all that David mentioned. More homework needs to be done on the back half of the bike based on the initial design shown here. I think the plan is to run at least 8.90's on the bike which means a lot of stress being placed on the back half on the launch. Would seriously suggest that you guys take a good look at the chromemoly  Bill Benton has from Gary Pena. While your design may work perfectly for a pro street bike, it will show its limitations with that 7" slick with wheelie bars and a sticky dragstrip surface. Square tubing for the swing arm should really be considered a priority on a dragbike.

[Bill/BentON Racing]

Your not gonna like this.  You said tell you what we think.  Here goes:  I hope the tubing is chromemoly.  The two tubes from the end of the backbone to the rear axle are a flex-fest waiting to happen with the bends in the tubes before the rear wheel.  There is nowhere near enough tubing in it. I see no triangulation.  If you are trying to make it as light as possible, the chassis is the worse place to try that.  You need all the strength you can get or it is going to handle like a salami going down the track, especially if the engine has any kind of horsepower.  Straight tubes are the strongest, don't use bent ones just because of a lower seat height or whatever.  Remember, Puppet said never try to save weight in the chassis!  Flame on, guys, but this is what I see.  If you plan on more tubing in strategic places, then "Never mind!". 

+1 saw the same thing, begging for triangulation in my opinion. Have I ever built a frame, no, but that's the first thing I noticed, I thought rear needs more bracing. But as Dave said....my .02. A horizontal brace across those tubes up near the front would also help. Awesome work, you guys rock, just want you safe! Bill

[MRieck]

Your not gonna like this.  You said tell you what we think.  Here goes:  I hope the tubing is chromemoly.  The two tubes from the end of the backbone to the rear axle are a flex-fest waiting to happen with the bends in the tubes before the rear wheel.  There is nowhere near enough tubing in it. I see no triangulation.  If you are trying to make it as light as possible, the chassis is the worse place to try that.  You need all the strength you can get or it is going to handle like a salami going down the track, especially if the engine has any kind of horsepower.  Straight tubes are the strongest, don't use bent ones just because of a lower seat height or whatever.  Remember, Puppet said never try to save weight in the chassis!  Flame on, guys, but this is what I see.  If you plan on more tubing in strategic places, then "Never mind!".

There is more bracing to come Dave. I spoke to Kenny last night and said the same thing. They have a computer generated model they are following. The frame is chromemoly. I will say the large upper tube holds fuel and the vertical. tube holds air

[MRieck]

Puppet was the frame god...rip


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The TF bike Dave Vantine rides has the last TF frame Puppet made.

[Bill/BentON Racing]

Yeh, he ran 6.02 this past weekend! One day hopefully , no, will be running Gary Pena's ...ok not 6's! Haha....maybe 9's!  Kenny, constructive comments, not criticism, your bike will set new records I feel sure!  Bill

[H2Eric]

I agree with Mike, it's a good start, but my first reaction was there isn't enough bracing for the rear end. Others have also commented on this and I see extra bracing is in the pipeline. Hurrah ! It's always a good idea to look closely at what others have done, especially the TF guys. When I made mine (many moons ago) I simply copied the quickest bike on the planet at the time. Fuel in the top tube is a good idea, but is it large enough? Looks a bit too small a diameter in the pics to hold enough fuel.
Just some food for thought. I'll be keeping a close eye on this.
Good luck and best regards
Eric

[POPS 911]

Terry Mc Intosh from New Lebanon OHIO makes great frame parts for MANY fast bikes just ask Schnitz, Dan Rudd or any of the MAN CUP OWNERS or racers.  Puppet is gone and Elmer trusted his art, but who is the best frame builder in the USA.......... TODAY ?

[MRieck]

Terry Mc Intosh from New Lebanon OHIO makes great frame parts for MANY fast bikes just ask Schnitz, Dan Rudd or any of the MAN CUP OWNERS or racers.  Puppet is gone and Elmer trusted his art, but who is the best frame builder in the USA.......... TODAY ?

No argument there....nice work for sure.    That is a good question about frame builders.

[dragracer]

Walt Timblin, D&G chassis, Kosman, PMFR(defunct) to name a few. Take a look at the design of their stuff. Not saying Kennys won't work but drag racing puts stress in places that choppers and road race bikes don't. I'm only thinking safety here although as someone else said, I'm not a chassis builder. I've ever seen my share of aftermarket frames and proper / bracing is paramount. I'm sure the final product will take this into consideration. Not criticizing, just offering feedback as requested. We'd all like to see Cycle Ex succeed on this project and showcase what the old sohc motors are capable of with new ideas in place.

[turboguzzi]

+1 on fastbike, got the same feeling just as i opened the pics

rather than triangulation i'd think along using/bracing to the engine as a stiffener in more than one point.

see also a problem with the force path from chain pull, you can almost visualize how its going to spread out the left rear triangle top run... would do a straight strut form rear axle to top rear motor mount to counter it.

[Fastbike]

Glad to hear the chassis will have more tubing.  Walt Timblin gets my vote for best chassis builder.  Everyone I have talked to who has one loves it. 

[TM]

Here is a preliminary sketch of the rear bracing.  Like Jim said in the first post, we are at the mock up stage, and need to finalize the location of a lot of parts before welding in the bracing.  The frame is all 4130 Chromoly. 

Todd  ( CycleX )   

[Fastbike]

Todd,

Keep this in mind;  I AM NOT a chassis designer, but I have seen alot of dragbike chassis over the years.  The triangulation I see in your post appears good, but, it all centers on the vertical tube behind the engine.  If you look at the state of the art dragbike chassis, they are as wide as possible in that area, which would appear to ME to lever the forces in the back half to more than a single point.  IMHO, those forces need to be spread out over the widest area possible to eliminate side flex which would pull the rear wheel to the left under the pull of the chain.  Granted, it would probably depend on the amount of horsepower you intend to subject the chassis to as to the width desired.  I am not an engineer.  Take my ramblings as a grain of salt, but you might check out some of the offerings already out there.

[POPS 911]

Why not put their [ CYCLE X ] motor in BILL'S PENA Chassis and if it goes straight and fast 8.90 or 8.20 then build one exactly like that frame.  Didn't Bill say that guy ran 8's with NOS on that SOHC 750 bike   At 7.90 to 8.90 that frame better be right as a PRO MOD bike that I worked on still sits in the garage of the fellow who bought it and made one pass = hanging off the left side so he did not hit the wall at 1000' with the frame flexing as third stage of NOS CAME ALIVE.