Aerodynamic motorcycle cloth idea??

[gumby79]

Try some open cell foam like they ust in race fuel cells to reduce fuel sloshing. Shap it for the tucked position. It would compress easy enough win you sit up.

Dreem big chisel down to reality

The fabric parts sound like a kayak spray skirt. That will pop off with out user input in an incident .

[treekids]

Originally Posted by gregsfc

I'm going to be very limited on what I can modify for the Vetter FE event this summer if I make it due to financial constraints and my lack of mechanical abilities, however, I'd previously had an idea for some kind of cloth or stretchy material to use between my lower torso half and a box that is behind me on the seat. The material would be semi-permanently attached to the front end of what ever box I use and then would attach to the sides of my suit or wrap around my waist after mounting the motorcycle. When I ride upright, the material would be loose but when I lean in and tuck, the material would take up the space between my lower torso and the box. I plan on a taller box (maybe a true, rectangular milk crate or something similar but not big enough to meet the 4-bag rule). What do you aero smart guys and gals think? Would it make it dangerous in a layover? It would pretty easily break away. I don't know...It was just a thought, as I'm not going to be able to do any real body work.

I'm also looking to maximize the windshield and mount for the event or maybe just take it off, but I don't have a clue other than to look at what some of you guys have and hope it helps for my style of bike that is an upright seater and puts my body far from the windshield even when I'm tucking, but that probably better for a separate post.

I rode at the 2014 event and somehow achieved 96.9 by my own records and 101.82 for the official records; this beat my own best record for a tank by 12 mpg and I still am not sure if that can be replicated or if it was some kind of anomaly, as I don't usually have mpg anomalies. Back then I had a large Dewalt tool box on there and my windshield mount fell down sort of at the last minute as there were some conical washers that broke. This caused the windshield to sit at a more obtuse angle and it put the air coming right at my face, but I wonder if this helped create some kind of streamline effect when I tucked in.

Any thoughts regarding some kind of material between my torso and the box and/or how to configure it would be welcomed

I'm wanting to do something like that. I have coroplast and access to a lasercutter. I'm thinking lasercut ply with that heatshrink insulation material might make for some smooth curves. But look what Vic Valdez did with corrugated plastic.

[gregsfc]

Originally Posted by freebeard

Wear a long coat with weights in the hem and throw it over the box?

Thanks! Might just work; or something similar. I need to keep it as simple as possible. This helps me think about covering the gap between me and the box in a whole new way.

If I had good construction skills, it would not be very expensive or complicated to design and build a tail body with storage myself. I could end up with a tail system much like Sendler's only even more simply removed for service or for going back to stock for 2up riding. It would be very easy to attach a tail system on the CTX700 with its removable, latching/locking-style seat; it's just the actual construction where I struggle. I've got to at least have some collaborators in person to help with details and probably someone to help with the actual construction to ever be successful.

The way in which the CTX700 seat is constructed one could build a custom seat wherein the seat included the tail/box in its construction and then easily locked on and supported with loops that would hook onto the pillion grab bars or luggage hooks or both. It could even be a one piece design with a push button unlock to remove and a snap-on self lock when mounting the tail and custom seat together on the bike, because that's how the stock seat mounts only it's a key-required unlock. But that seat lock is very strong. One could easily and quickly switch back and forth from a stock seat with a pillion half to a rider-only seat with a built in tail/box.

I'd have to do some aero math to determine at what point along the taper it'd need to be cut it off based on the total bike length, but I believe I've previously found that info on the www. My problem though is the same thing I face at work all the time. I'm good at coming up with ideas for making tasks better and/or easier and/or faster, but I'm not that guy that can easily or quickly or cheaply execute those ideas to try them out and then make adjustments. Below is an image of one of my few successes at implementing an idea at work. It did solve lots of issues for our team, but it cost me months of time and lots of brain cramps to get it done.

[PeterS]

I'd suggest Googling Skin On Frame SOF Kayak websites. There are a lot out there and they offer excellent info on fabrics and construction. Certainly a cheap and fast fairing construction material.

[sendler]

Originally Posted by freebeard

Wear a long coat with weights in the hem and throw it over the box?

Or magnets

[imwoody36]

my friend Robert D and I are converting this prius into what He calls the Streamliner
here is the link to photos
it now has airplane fabric around the steel tubing,
stained beet red, with hidden LED lighting
http://autobeyours.com/streamliner.htm

[freebeard]

What is the windshield from?

[gumby79]

Are you going to use Dacron with dope or are you going to use Oratex 600 / 6000? They are about the same price. Dacron is cheep for supplies and expensive on labor, repairs require full panel replacement. Oratex is expensive on supplies and cheap on labor(no dope or paint), repairable.

Looks kool..