Recumbent Honda 90

[Ironside]

Thanks for the comments guys, P-hack I hope it will encourage others, I'm happy to share my experiences and offer advice to anyone contemplating a similar build. In the words of Sheepdog44 'I try to be helpful. I'm not an expert'

The total cost including the donor but excluding my time, is around five hundred dollars, most of the cost was replacing or upgrading the worn out engine and cycle parts.

The fairing was 50 bucks secondhand, lexan for the screen $20, my buddy did the welding and fabrication of the footrest hangers and fairing brackets, also modifications to the frame and exhaust for free.
Don't worry I'll take good care of him, I will need his help again.

[Giovanni LiCalsi]

I bet Honda would be interested in seeing this!
Their engineers probably would spend a million dollars on a test bike to achieve these mileage numbers!

[PeterS]

1.7 litres per 100 km ! I'm impressed ! and I really wish I could find a dustbin fairing like that one especially at that price

One of your photos shows a cover over the panniers that appears to be a more complete fairing aft, is that the usual now or the exposed panniers ?

Originally Posted by Ironside

The wee beastie is almost finished. I say 'almost' because I don't think it will ever be completely finished, projects like this tend to continually evolve.




It's the first time I've used basecoat and clearcoat from a gun, I got some bad advice and consequently ended up with a poor finish. To be honest, the fairing moulding is more than a little uneven, so the job would never be perfect. Just to pove a point, I gave the tank a coat of clearcoat, and going with my gut feeling with regards to gun pressure and paint thickness, the result was almost perfect.




Took it out for a run yesterday, probably because of some recent air filter changes I could feel it holding back between 3/4 and full throttle so I think a bigger main jet is needed. Nevertheless I was clocked at 65 on the flat, so with some gearing changes I think my target of 70 is realistic.

Did a 55 mile run along A roads, B roads and dual carriageway and I wasn't 'hanging about', fuel consuption was 166 m.p.g result !. General running around before fitting the fairing was between 100 and 120 mpg., so a 40% improvement which I think is in line with general consensus.

I have more testing to do, I'm hoping for 200mpg. at a steady 50 mph cruise along a flat road (not easy to find in Wales).

It's too early to tell whether gusty conditions will effect stability, I've been reading Teri Tx's thread with great interest and will be incorporating a 'storm strip'. I will report results on his thread.

[PeterS]

Our rego boys probably wouldn't allow this mod, they hold original frames to be sacred but even without it my bum would only be 4 inches higher, the rest of it should be acceptable .

We don't have that model of step through in Australia but we do have a vast number of CT 110s as the Post Office uses them as the standard mail delivery vehicle.

Does the geometry look sufficiently similar to your model to work as you have done ?

2010 Honda CT110P (ADR)

[Ironside]

Hi PeterS,

It's a Postie bike!, there are guys in the c90 club who would give their eye teeth for one of those. Probably a better starting point than a regular c90, bigger motor, proper forks, and possibly a 4speed gearbox?.

I've done some checking on the c90 board http://http://www.c90club.co.uk/index.php?sid=27297ca41e97386835433700e58a4f67
and it seems that they are a derivative of the 6v models, in which case the frame would be identical to mine. There are 'gurus' on this board who can advise on everything appertaining to c90's, I strongly advise you to join.

The frame cut is not essental, by raising the seat an inch or two it could be avoided. In fact, I used the bike for some time before notching the frame, at the time it was the easier option to modify the frame rather than add more padding to the seat.

Conventional panniers (they are actually, easily available tool boxes) were fitted for convenience, that and the fact that in it's previous form it was rather unkindly called 'The Wheelybin'.

I wish you the best of luck with your build, the best advice I can give you at this moment is to do it in stages, in that way you can roadtest each stage to make sure it works for you in terms of comfort and fit. I spent a lot of time re-doing things because I wasn't happy with the result.

It might be better to PM me you want any specific details.

Regards
Ironside.

[PeterS]

Thank you Ironside, it appears that the CT 110 is the basis of many different options and it's certainly a popular little machine over here. I'm sure you've heard about the bloke who rode one from Sydney to the UK !

[PeterS]

The Honda C90 Club • C90Club.co.uk

Joined ...as AeroSib

[Piwoslaw]

Originally Posted by Ironside

Ironside, I understand that the side openings are for ventilation, but could you make them so they could be manually opened and closed? In the closed position the aero would not be spoiled, and you may not always want the cold air rushing in.

Oh, sorry - I just noticed you're in the UK, so no threat of anything really cold

[Ironside]

Piwoslaw - your observations regarding the ventilation slots are correct. I have cosidered closing them off, or redirecting the flow toward the cylinder head to aid cooling, or to the base of the screen to improve the airflow over the top of the screen.

At the moment, I have no problem with either of these issues. I think the vents help to equalise the low pressure area behind the fairing as I can feel no significant buffeting, also I will probably be glad of the ventilation when the weather is hot.

I don't want to do anything which might adversley affect the useablility, it's no use having the worlds most streamlined motorcycle if can't be ridden on the street, or overheats after a fast run. There are compromises that have to be made with regards to efficiency against useablility.

Regards
Pete.

[PeterS]

Ironside , have you ever used the aero calculator tool at the top of the page to work out your CdA ?
Aerodynamic & rolling resistance, power & MPG calculator - EcoModder.com . I'd be very interested in the area and what you think the drag figure would be ? .4 ?

I have to admit that your job thus far is the most achievable I've seen here. That dustbin fairing would be the biggest task but it's something I'm going to have to build no matter how I proceed. A CT 110 is available for about $1000 ... that's fairly cheap for an roadworthy bike of any variety here.