time to fully enclose my bike

[bschloop]

Aluminum honecomb panels come in a variety of sizes and dimensions. A sheet of 3/8" x 24" x 48" lists for $162 USD at McMaster-Carr.

Sounds like I got $80 worth of free materials always a good thing.

I suggest reinforcing the joints at the rear bulkhead by the seat with vertical pieces of 1" aluminum angle stock bonded with epoxy for stiffness.

I already layed up a layer of 1.5oz fiberglass mat into those corners. I think they are ok, but we'll see. interestingly I hot glued in cardboard to mock up the wheel well, and that made a huge difference in stiffness. it seems that closing it in the rest of the way was the key.

[bschloop]

I spent some time gluing up and laminating the tail lid this weekend. I used the foam strip type construction that I used on the rest of the tail.

while it was is the sun curing I took a step back and got a good side shot.

I also laminated my cardboard wheel well in with fiberglass. it just seemed to work so well, that I didn't want to change it

[bschloop]

I installed the speedo cable yesterday, so here's the first tank fill with numbers. 66.6mi 0.69gal for 96.5 mpg. I rode 30ish miles yesterday,and the rest today. this is with only the front fairing. I am hopefully going to be installing the tail in the next week or so, so I may get in a full tank before that. this will give me a baseline for comparison.

[bschloop]

My wife decided she wanted to go for a ride, so we went ahead and installed the tail, a taillight, and the license plate, and took a twenty mile ride. it did fairly well. we held 55mph with no problem, and hit 65 on flat ground. I need to do some tuning, since it seems that it's running quite lean.

here are a few pics.
me on the bike with a mockup windshield. The windshield was not on the bike for the ride


front view


trailer taillight plug for quick disconnect.


taping the lid down for todays ride.


I think the windshield will end up being a little taller, but the rest is getting pretty close to finished I just need to lay up the doors, and the major parts will be done.

[renault_megane_dci]

Is the streamliner width (wich I found is a little too wide) to comply to the 4 bags of grocery requirement of the Vetter Challenge ?

[PeterS]

I see you've set it up to carry a pillion but if riding alone a light clip on shell to cover the extra gap might be useful?

[bschloop]

Is the streamliner width (wich I found is a little too wide) to comply to the 4 bags of grocery requirement of the Vetter Challenge ?

Yes, and no. last year's fairing was 20" wide, and carried the groceries fine, but could not carry a passenger at the same time. this year's fairing is 24" wide for two reasons. This way it can carry the groceries while riding two up Making it a more effective tourer than a goldwing, and also I can install full sides. Last year I tried side doors, and they touched my shoulders on both sides. I will have bomb bay doors for my feet, and retain seating for two. it is actually currently very slightly smaller overall frontal area than last year's, since it is shorter, and rounder. We will see if this changes as I tweak the windshield.
(P.S. this would work really well on a scooter with the floorboards removed.)

I see you've set it up to carry a pillion but if riding alone a light clip on shell to cover the extra gap might be useful?

Very much so. this is exactly how I did it last year.although it started off as a single passenger and then morphed into a two seater after.

One seat.


Two seat


I got 85mpg in two up mode, and 108mpg at the Vetter Challenge in one seat mode.

[renault_megane_dci]

I have been told by a fellow aeromodelling enthusiast of my colleagues that round at the back is BAD.
Every cars this days has hidden sharp edges at the back for the air to detach properly.
If you don't want to have a pointy end, you have to have a straight cutted one.

[bschloop]

Originally Posted by renault_megane_dci

I have been told by a fellow aeromodelling enthusiast of my colleagues that round at the back is BAD.
Every cars this days has hidden sharp edges at the back for the air to detach properly.
If you don't want to have a pointy end, you have to have a straight cutted one.

completing the point at the rear is on my to do list. the slight rounding of the trailing edge was actually done to get the fiberglass to wrap around it tightly. the fiberglass cloth tends to pull away from sharp corners, so I put a very small radius on the edges. I will be filling those spots in with fairing compound, and then putting a lens over the taillight to bring it to a point. the license plate will just get the corners sharpened, since I don't want to cover it. that said, I will be working on the doors first, since this is an opportunity for greater improvement.

[bschloop]

oops, I think you meant my reference to rounder in my prior post. I meant when viewed from the front, as the wind sees it. the top and bottom are 12" radius circles rather than 6" radius connected by a flat. given the same height, this yields a slightly smaller frontal area even with the larger width. up to a certain height.