Introduction & Cross wind solutions to motorcycle Streamliners?

[PeterS]

Originally Posted by sendler

The wake drag would be many times higher than an airfoil but you would have some nice storage and probably still make a slight improvement in fuel consumption.

Many times ???

Could you explain why?

[sendler]

You wil have no doubt seen the many excellent posts on ecomodders by Aerohead showing the drag of different shapes.

[PeterS]

I have but there is no implication at all that the lack of the foil side will result in "many times" the drag.
There will be an increase in drag but also far less side lift.

[sendler]

I though you meant parallel sides which would result in a big wake area at the back.

[PeterS]

Cool. Looking at the photos of the models it isn't obvious ( except to me because I made them ) that there is a 16 degree taper from front to back . Having noted that how do you think the idea holds up ?

The straight sides would make housing sliding doors within the rear section relatively easy, they could be mounted on draw slides and held closed with magnets but sprung with shock cord to open when released .

That would really improve the aerodynamic efficiency .

[sendler]

Doors are where the crosswind issues developed for Vetter when he tried it way back when because you are blocking off the vent from one side to the other. He took the doors right back off. But Alan has partial doors on his bike right now.

[PeterS]

I thought doors might be OK as without the foil sides there should be less differential pressure . I'll built it with the option anyway.

[Frank]

Apologies for resurrecting this old post but I'm curious if anyone has done any further experiments with VG's, stall strips, etc.

The response of streamlined motorcycles in the land-speed world to side winds can be extremely problematical and there has been at least one major crash due to this over the past couple of years. I'm hoping to do a bit of work on the issue this summer so any comments or further thoughts are appreciated.

Frank

[freebeard]

I'm interested as well. I want to put one of these on the Bonneville Salt Flats, with full wheel pants and a boat tail. Possible half-doors the height of the wake of the front wheels.

[Frank]

These guys seem to be out of business but it's an interesting concept. I might make something to try.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waXdmK3s9y4