Topic: "Little Horse," and "Little Dragon" the war of the 500's

[Little_Horse]

My little sister took her first rides with me this last week. The bike fits her well and she enjoyed riding a lot. We rode about 15 miles out in the country nearby. She is very excited.

I have been taking a little flack about strength issues and the modified frame and I am concerned that I may be getting too defensive. Hopefully I don't sound like a bull nosed know it all. I think people underestimate the strength of steel. I work with this stuff every day and have developed a pretty good idea of what it can handle. Maybe I am wrong though, it would be nice if some of the people who criticize (on other forums by the way) actually had done something like this and knew from experience. Then I wouldn't have to be always defending my thought process. I could just say "ok that is great info, thanks for passing that along." Instead I am always like "blah blah this amount of weld, blah blah that amount of bracing, blah blah that hardened steel bracket, blah blah the fatigue rate of steel." Aarg...

rant out...

[Industrial Cafe]

HA!
    You don't know anything. welded steel has the same strength characteristics of plastic drinking straws and Elmers glue.

don't ride that bike in the rain the welds will melt away like rock candy and the whole thing'll fall into a pile of pipes and brackets.

[fastbroshi]

  Your talking about your swingarm shock placement, right?  It probably stems from the site of seeing the single sided swingarm bikes out there and how beefy their ALUMINUM arms are.  Who knows how stout a steel one would have to be.

[Little_Horse]

well thats the thing exactly the look of a beefy aluminum swing arm vs steel. For instance this size of the aluminum spars on a modern sportbike frame vs the steel trellis used on ducatis. All I know is IMO it should be strong enough. I can't account for every variable or even if vibration won't eventually kill things. Hell even Honda engineering teams don't always catch major flaws because they can crop up so far down the road that their testing didn't bring it to light. What I did is basically the same thing minus the whole team thing. I took my best shot now I get to find out if I am right. Since I am not going to be the primary rider, I don't want to be wrong so I wasn't careless about it. I should just let it roll off of my back...

[Industrial Cafe]

yup.

BTW
I think we need a video of the newest bike.

[Little_Horse]

I will get one up this weekend. I made a new silencer that is pretty sweet I even took pics, but the work computer was on the fritz.

[Little_Horse]

I haven't put the silencer on yet but here are some shots. Double tube glass packs.

[Little_Horse]

[The_Crippler]

That thing looks like pure evil, conjured from a madman's laboratory.

Nicely done.

[Industrial Cafe]

very nice.

[Little_Horse]

thanks guys, I am hoping to deliver it this Friday. I have the part to rebuild the caliper and the parts to get it to light the brake light. Just need to install the new silencer and build a tray for the ignition. Thats at minimum fingers crossed thats it. Each day is a day less of summer.

[theofam]

The cd is looking like a fun corner carver! Bet your sis is psyched to get the keys handed over!

[Little_Horse]

Yeah she can't wait, I think she is ordering her gear soon. She already had a helmet, but she found a jacket she likes with matching gloves, and some riding boots she can't stop talking about . I am excited to finish this up for her.

[Little_Horse]

So I was able to rebuild the caliper and plumb in the switch. I ran out of time to bleed the system though. I will do that tonight. I am planning on riding it to work tomorrow so I can weld the new silencer on and build the electronics tray. Then I am done. I will ride some more.

When I said friday I was mixed up about which firday I was free. Now it looks like I am not free any friday anyways (make sense?). So I am planning on trailering it up to Seattle on a weeknight, dropping it off and driving back right away so 7 hrs of straight driving 

[FrankenFrankenstuff]

I stopped breathing for a second.

[Little_Horse]

I ran into more issues, the seal I put in broke when I tried to put the piston in  and the old brake pad broke from its backing  plus the piston has some pitting that is keeping it from sealing as well. With all this said I may just have to bite the bullet and find an entire used caliper set off of ebay. I thought I would ask people on the forums first though if they have extra calipers laying around. Anyone here?

[Little_Horse]

click for vid!

[dagersh]

Wow!  That bike looks and sounds awesome!!!!

The tank and cylinders really make it look Guzzi-esque.  The Stance is completely intimidating to boot as well.

I would have to agree with the earlier suggestions of angling the tank to match the upswept look of the seat and tail.

But that is just a slight nit-pick....

Damn, I gotta get back to work on my 450.....

You are a great brother, BTW!  It is obvious if you had any doubts about the strength of that swing-arm, you would not let your Sister even look at the bike!

Gersh

[Little_Horse]

Arrg

The exhaust is too loud still even with the extra packing. After some discussion with a friend I am beginning to think the length of the exhaust is an issue. I may have to make it more standard exit. A shame since I really like the way the under engine looks.

[Zaipai]

Hum.. does not sound that loud in the video, sounds great to me..

Looks great.. great fab work!..

.: Scott :.

[traveler]

Leave it as-is.

~Joe

[RAFster122s]

The SuperTurbo mufflers have the perforated glasspack style  tubes with U shaped tubes for a turn around. Why not take a look at their design and make it wider by cutting your tubes in half and then putting flat stainless stock to make the assembly an oval. Then route to the center and have a diverter at the end of the first pipe that splits the exhaust stream and U's it back to the front. Then you'll need to U it back to the rear.  It you made it triangular it could split and u to the rear below the two other tube.  Don't know if you need to put a baffle between the fore and aft runs but I'm guessing you would.
Make sense?

The bike is also going to be louder in an enclosed space than it seems when you are out on the road. But no need to make it louder than it really needs to be as permanent hearing loss is just that permanent.

David

[Laminar]

Hum.. does not sound that loud in the video, sounds great to me..

Typical built-in microphones will adjust gain for the volume of sound coming in, so it's really impossible to tell over the internet how loud it really is. I've seen YouTube videos of open exhausts where I'll say, "That's not that loud at all," until I see the sound vibrate the camera off of the workbench from 15 feet away.

[The_Crippler]

"That's not that loud at all,"

You're right - that's just about perfect.

[Zaipai]

Hum.. does not sound that loud in the video, sounds great to me..

Typical built-in microphones will adjust gain for the volume of sound coming in, so it's really impossible to tell over the internet how loud it really is. I've seen YouTube videos of open exhausts where I'll say, "That's not that loud at all," until I see the sound vibrate the camera off of the workbench from 15 feet away.

Yes, I am aware of that and was making some allowance for it.. However not knowing what camera he has I can just make guesses. I am also assuming he has not turned auto gain feature off, as I have with mine. Still he is in an enclosed space, so really it needs to get out on the road to tell for sure how load or not it is.. Anyway, I say.. leave it.. unless she complains about the sound..

.: Scott :.