Low & Slow's Ninja 250 project

[Longsnowsm]

I absolutely love threads like this... I am glad I found it. I have been toying with the idea of a Ninja 250 ever since reading Bryan's thread some time back so I really can hardly wait to see what kind of practical improvements you come up with that might help those considering hypermiling a 250 like this. Awesome!

[Grant-53]

I just sent some e-mails to Craig on aero mods for the front of Alan's Ninja. Remember that the center of pressure on the front wheel fairing needs to be behind the steering axis. A profile for the bike needs to be an inverted wing shape to generate some down force. For those going for the trash can tail box, check the Rubbermaid #2979 Roughneck 30 gal. Experiment with cutting slits in the 4mm Coroplast and overlapping sections to get the curves you want, use cardboard from cereal boxes to make 1/4 scale models until you get the shape you like.

[sendler]

Originally Posted by Grant-53

Remember that the center of pressure on the front wheel fairing needs to be behind the steering axis.

Probably not. I see the the land speed guys placing any ft wheel fairings entirely in front of the forks only.

[Grant-53]

Yes, I've seen them too. Consider that they can do that because they follow a straight line only below a specified wind speed.

[sendler]

If you put any fairing over the back part of the front wheel you will tend to cause a counter steering lean from side winds the wrong way making the bike feel as if it handles worse in the wind.

[HHOTDI]

all good fodder for the cycle-ecomodder... :{)

[Grant-53]

My bicycle experiments have given the results that fin area ahead of the fork turns the bike downwind instead of into the wind to compensate. See Alan Smith's pictures and comments on craigvetter.com. Is the snow melted enough in your area to do some road testing?

[HHOTDI]

nearly, it is still about 20f here. We have been having a lot of high winds lately so no riding for me as of yet. Round in the front and pointed in the rear seems to be the best, ref Craig's website. He also notice that if a small amount of weight was placed up by the front wheel the stability changed dramatically for the better, ref his "how they got 477mpg" dvd. I bought it and there is a lot of great info on there! :{)

[sendler]

Originally Posted by Grant-53

My bicycle experiments have given the results that fin area ahead of the fork turns the bike downwind instead of into the wind to compensate. See Alan Smith's pictures and comments on craigvetter.com. Is the snow melted enough in your area to do some road testing?

Probably don't want any disc or fairing on the front wheel then. Just have to try for a full dust bin with all of the fairing bearing on the frame only.

[low&slow]

During the rainy weather, I took advantage of some down time to do some work on the Ninja. I added some small "wings" to the windscreen/fairing and a right side mirror. I also spray painted my additions so it looks somewhat better. I went ahead and extended the tailsection to a full boattail and added sidepanels over the rear wheel. I still haven't done enough miles to merit a fillup but I will use the Ninja tomorrow to run some errands and may top it off to see how the new 15/41 sprocket combo is working.
Attached are some pictures of the latest configuration.
Next steps: smaller rear sprocket , possibly a 39 tooth and check with Craig about starting work on another Vetter tail.