Anyone want to start building with XB 600 parts?
As you can tell these are very slick aerodynamics. How fast would it make an XB 600? How far might it go at full speed with such little wind resistance?
Many of us know that wind resistance becomes more important once you hit 30 mph.
This is what is called a dustbin fairing. These were outlawed for racing in the 1950's. They were so fast, they were somewhat dangerous. The British, who were behind in this area but controlled motorcycle racing didn't want the Germans and Italians gaining an edge, so they created rules saying that axels must be exposed. We have been in that mindset ever since.
Just as important as the smooth front end, are the clean lines in the back.
I would laugh if a XB 600 could hit 50 mph with these fairings.
Craig Vetter has been working on this idea for a long time, most especially the last year. He's put up a lot of information about a design idea he worked on over the last year. His latest report was that design wasn't working out and he wants to start over. Anyway if you're serious about this, take a long hard look through his design notes.
http://craigvetter.com/pages/470MPG/Intro%20to%20economy.html
He also has a DVD of a presentation he gave (?? in 2007 ??) about the same observations you've made.
- David Herron, The Long Tail Pipe, davidherron.com, 7gen.com, What is Reiki
Good point, but I have been through all of Vetter's stuff. Despite the suguestions, Vetter seems reluctant to work with electric motorcycles:
"I like electric. But to get a horsepower of energy from the wall to charge up our battery, don't we have to burn a couple of horsepower worth of fuel somewhere else?
Does this make sense to you?
Electric would make sense if we harvested it directly from the sun, say, from our roof tops."
Vetter's goals also push him away from electric motorcyles of our small size:
"I am trying for 100 mpg at 70 mph, into a 20 mph headwind with 4 bags of groceries."
Vetter wants to drive up mountain passes and such. If he would slow down to 55 and and go electric, he could exceed the mpg goal. I hope he tries electric, slows down and goes for more mpg. Even an electric machine built for 60 mph on the flat against little wind might yield some impressive mpg results.
dp, I mostly agree with what you said. I didn't mean to suggest depending on Craig figuring it out, or Craig delivering the solution. I meant simply to refer to a body of work from someone who appears to know his stuff.
I completely agree with him that 4 bags of groceries are a good benchmark to think about. To adequately replace cars one needs a vehicle that can replace typical around town trips. That includes shopping trips such as grocery store runs.
But for around town use I'm with you - highway speed (70 miles/hr) is not required.
- David Herron, The Long Tail Pipe, davidherron.com, 7gen.com, What is Reiki
Oh.. and I do have one of his older fairings out back behind my house. The intention is to mount it on my electric motorcycle for just the purpose you're talking about.
But I haven't done it yet. Too many projects.
In any case the fairing is a simple bubble of high strength ABS plastic of some kind. Once you get a shape designed it should be relatively simple to get the bubbles and mounting hardware made.
- David Herron, The Long Tail Pipe, davidherron.com, 7gen.com, What is Reiki
I want to go in this direction, but I don't have much of a shop or fiberglass skill so I am going start really simply with the right windshield. I am quite sure it will make me faster.
I was hoping that someone with more skill and motivation might be inspired by the pictures and throw the gauntlet down at Craig Vetter. Show him what we can do.
Captain Slug's naked scooter is already stripped down and ready for a dustbin fairing:
Another great picture from the past:
A related mailing list is: CabinScooters .. A 'Cabin Scooter' is a two- or three- wheeled "scooter" with a fully enclosed seating area (cabin).
I recall doing some research into fairing construction. There is a lot to learn from studying velomobile construction. A velomobile is essentially a recumbent bicycle with a full fairing and there are a lot of sites showing details of constructing the fairings.
Here are some resource pages I collected:
Aerodynamics links
Cabin scooter and faring design resources from around the Internet
- David Herron, The Long Tail Pipe, davidherron.com, 7gen.com, What is Reiki