All Electric Ninja ZX6

[theycallmeebryan]

A DIY Electric Motorcycle Kawasaki Should Build | Autopia | Wired.com

built by a 22 yr old in his spare time

[MadisonMPG]

looks good

[janvos39]

Impressive result in such a short period.A guy to be watched for his next projects.

[theycallmeebryan]

I am mostly interested in how he made the fairings for the bike. He made a youtube video of the whole build process. I am planning on using a similiar process to construct aerodynamic fairings for my ninja.

Does anyone know what kind of foam is best to use as a plug? Particularly one thats easy to cut, sand, and shape. I'd imagine i'd buy it in flat 2-4" thick sheets and glue them together.

[Daox]

Very nice. Even a college student can slap something together real quick with a few grand.

[Christ]

Originally Posted by theycallmeebryan

I am mostly interested in how he made the fairings for the bike. He made a youtube video of the whole build process. I am planning on using a similiar process to construct aerodynamic fairings for my ninja.

Does anyone know what kind of foam is best to use as a plug? Particularly one thats easy to cut, sand, and shape. I'd imagine i'd buy it in flat 2-4" thick sheets and glue them together.

Floral foam works good for small stuff, but I don't think it comes in bigger sheets, and making big blocks could get expensive quickly.

If you can start a very rough shape with cardboard, then wet paper over that, then spray foam over the paper once it dries, you get a very cheap, strong positive mold to start with.

Extruded foam insulation works great, but you can't cut it w/ a hot wire knife, because of the fumes it releases. You'll need sharp knives, a sharp rasp, and several grades of sand paper to work with it. You can get it in VERY thick sections, like up to 4".

There are other types of foam you can use, also.

[Christ]

Originally Posted by Daox

Very nice. Even a college student can slap something together real quick with a few grand.

Haha....

"Ion cost $12,000, with about half that tied up in the batteries and drivetrain. It was little much for a college student to front, but thanks to a design grant from the local community college AB-Tech he was able to make ends meet."

Which makes it ludicrous to think that any of us could match it easily.

[Frank Lee]

Even a college student can slap something together real quick with a few grand.

WHAT?!?

His project is very neat, he is quite skilled, and I should hope so after four years of study in that field. Even so, Pa chipped in electrical help (who knows how much?) and I'd say $12,000 is quite a lot different than a few grand esp. to students. He was fortunate and/or clever to raise that funding.

[nemesis]

I really liked that build, hmmmm, I still have a 95 cbr frame laying around, hmmm maybe I'll build something out of that, my budget is way under $2k though.