Rickman CR parts sourcing, rear wheel spoke hub manufacturer, etc?

Here's another peak at the fork setup:
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This is a set of Suzuki RF900R 43mm diameter 730mm long cartridge beauties... early Hayabusa/Bandit 1200 6 piston calipers for smaller pistons to help clear wire spokes near the hub (widest point). Calipers came with red stainless lines (to match the red Koni shock springs on the GS425-475cc project). Full ft&rr set of RF900 stainless lines coming with another $75 pair of RF900 fork legs, the later ones with adjustable dampening even!

The early RF900 non-adjustable dampening models are the same as Bandit 1200 & early GSXR1100 K forks aside from being 730mm long vs 775mm or 745mm long.

Custom GS500 fork brace that was destined for the GS425-475cc with easy bolt-on GS500E 37mm damper rod (+ RT Emulators) forks, but now I'll throw a single 310mm rotor and RF900 forks on the 425-475cc also. The RF, Bandit, and GS500 all have fork brace mounts cast into the fork lowers, so they just simply bolt on. I'll be making some billet spacers for this one to gain more clearance over the tire on a 17" wheeled fork so that I can squeeze the Rickman fender under it, and increase the spread to the 198mm to 204mm triples that I need for opposed piston caliper clearance to spokes.

Also, a favorite on the GS forums for their i.d and o.d. diameter and 6 bolt GS pattern, late model Honda rotors... the RF rotors are 5 bolt 310mm minimal offset. the 97-98 CBR900RR Honda rotors are 310mm, 6 bolt, and the exact same bolt circle diameter as GS hubs (and old Goldwing spoke hubs??), and have a much needed greater offset than the rest at around 21.5mm or so. Custom machined spacers between the hub and rotor will still be necessary, but a fairly adapter to make.
 
To utilize the massive hollow axle's stiffness of the RF axles, it will be necessary to swap to a 20mm i.d. bearing to fit the GS hubs, and come up with custom spacers, as well as a quest for a 20mm axle speedo drive that can be adapted to the GS hub, that came off of a bike with an 18" front wheel (1990+ cruiser or retro model will be best bet). early 90's GSXR and the RF900 speedo drives look to be the same hub interface, but are for 17" wheels, so my speedometer accuracy wil be slightly skewed. Getting custom gauge face vinyl overlays made up by Sonrier would be one option, after using GPS to determine actual speed at marked speedo needle positions...

The bearings in the GS front hubs are 15x42x13. For the modern 20mm axle that the modern forks are made for, jumping up to 20mm i.d. in the same 42mm o.d., the only standard options are a 20x42x12 (1mm skinnier), or a 20x42x16 (3mm wider)... hanging out an additonal 3mm of bearing outboard may help with the speedo drive being recessed with the rotors being spaced out maybe 10mm off the hub (exact spec once I decide if the VMAX triples are wide enough or if the calipers can be slightly milled for more clearance, vs custom Weiss Racing billet triples in 204mm width).
 
Chuck78, I may be able to help with your triple tree issue. I have capability to make custom offset and spread trees in many designs (or can design something for you) but would need the appropriate stem before I got started. I have some more info posted on the SOHC4 Honda forum. Follow the link here to check it out.

http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php/topic,150982.0.html

You can PM me here if you have questions.
 
slikwilli420 said:
Chuck78, I may be able to help with your triple tree issue. I have capability to make custom offset and spread trees in many designs (or can design something for you) but would need the appropriate stem before I got started. I have some more info posted on the SOHC4 Honda forum. Follow the link here to check it out.

http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php/topic,150982.0.html

You can PM me here if you have questions.

Nice! I might just have to take you up on that offer, too bad I didn't hit you up before I gambled on some ebay VMX12 triples... .I'll see if I can get the stem swap figured out and if these VMAX 1200 93-05 triples allow enough clearance, but I still may require another set or two for my other 2 bikes... Otherwise I'll be needing a pair (or two) in about 204mm width, 43mm fork legs, 50mm to 55mm offset, 1" thick top, 1.25" thick bottom...

The 1980's Ninja 600 steering stem seems to be a pretty versatile one if you don't mind chopping the top and having it shaved down and new threads cut. The upper bearing surface extends from all the way down at the base of the lower bearing area increased taper all the way to the very top, so the upper bearing can slide up and down anywhere in that range and the top of the stem can be shortened.
 
slikwilli420 said:
I have capability to make custom offset and spread trees in many designs (or can design something for you). Follow the link here to check it out.
http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php/topic,150982.0.html

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Design 1 looks similar to the original Rickman design! Something that looks like a Honda VF750/1000F like 12 (relief cuts in the middle to lighten!) but with fork leg clamp orientations like 15 or 16 would be the ticket! combine those features with #1 even!

A flat top with relief cuts milled into the underside would be really cool, so that I could put 10mm colored LED lampholders inset into the triple to have oil pressure, clutch, and turn signal indicator lamps (Like a Honda Shadow or Magna).

I am liking this option a lot, and very skeptical about the VMAX triple being able to cope with wire spoke wheels and opposed piston calipers... May have to re-sell them. They'd go great (VMX12 trips) with Honda CB1 forks though if I wanted to run that on the GS425-475cc and just use cartridge emulators.
 
Here's a few of slikwilli Matt's works in progress, top is media blasted and ready for customer to powdercoat or polish, rest are unfinished:
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I'm thinking two of these in 1.25" billet top and bottom, with the undersides milled out in webbing patterns to shave weight, that would be my choice... Maybe two or 4 extra holes jetted through the bottom between the fork stanchion holes and the steering stop area (I would add stops, need some chunks of billet cut and drilled/countersunk by you though, I'd position them and drill/tap into lower)
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Maybe drill in some indicator lamps like these in some Honda VT750/VF750 models:
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I think those were 41mm for superhawk/cbr600f2/f3 forks, woulda ran em aside from the monster 215mm widths...
 
Within reason I think I can accommodate any of the features from any of my designs or suggestions from you. Feel free to PM me and we can exchange info and start talking design. Original Rickman shape setup for new forks would be awesome in my opinion.
 
Chuck78 said:
Here's a few of William's (Bill's?) works in progress, top is media blasted and ready for customer to powdercoat or polish, rest are unfinished:
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I'm thinking two of these in 1.25" billet top and bottom, with the undersides milled out in webbing patterns to shave weight, that would be my choice... Maybe two or 4 extra holes jetted through the bottom between the fork stanchion holes and the steering stop area (I would add stops, need some chunks of billet cut and drilled/countersunk by you though, I'd position them and drill/tap into lower)
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The first tree was for a cb750 front end swap to gl1000 and turned out really well. As an aside my name is actually Matt, the slikwilli thing was just a stupid handle I came up with a long time ago and it has been my go to for almost any forum.

Could definitely work out a way to add indicator lights for your application.
 
Triples




Well the VMAX 1200 43mm ebay triples arrived, and they are very very sweet looking aluminum pieces for sure. Unfortunately the steering stem was a bit too long as I suspected (figured I'd have to modify & swap the 86 Ninja stem anyways), BUT they're 195mm spacing & the calipers are practically touching the spokes... I think I'll shelve them and look for a sacrificial caliper to mill down for a thickness test, or search for a sliding single sided 2 or 3 piston caliper that fits these mounts, and run that on the GS425-475cc, as I can run the VMX12 triples on a Suzuki GS frame with a generous spacer (4-4.5mm) under the lower bearing to make the stem length work.


Soooo...... for the Rickman...custom triples from Matt it is!!!
 
I accidentally stumbled upon 3 late model Suzuki front ends at the junkyard, Hayabusa, 03 GSXR 750, and a 97-00/01-03 RSU GSXR600 complete fronts. I noticed the shiny aluminum steering stem tubes on all three & had my tape measure handy, they are the exact EXACT height bearing placement that I need for the Rickman frame! Luckily I found a lone Gsxr600 lower triple that my buddy hooked me up with, as a stem donor (and a misplaced NOS Kerker System K aluminum can and mid pipe to fit to my header!)

Matt, I have to try & get Tony Foale's windows software running on my Linux PC and crunch numbers again, so that I can get a more accurate offset for what I'm going for, and verify my rake & trail on that or a GS forum engineer's excel rake&trail calculator.

Once I figure that out, I can get something set in stone & send you this nice gsxr aluminum stem if needed. 195mm didn't work on the triples for clearance to these mega monster 6 pot calipers, so I think a fairly standard 204mm spacing is going to be the ticket. And 48-53mm offset, will get back to you on that. PM coming your way soon.
 
Matt aka slikwilli420 is working with me designing a billet repro of the much less common Rickman underslung brake hanger for my AP Lockheed caliper with the inverted bleeder fitting, based on my dimensions and images captured from the Rickman CR750 frame build video on youtube:




Also in the works is a billet triple design based loosely around the outline shape of the early Rickman triples found on the "41mm" 1-5/8" Betor single disc Rickman forks.
These will be around 205mm-206mm width to run the RF900R adjustable cartridge forks and modern opposed piston calipers, and around 52-53mm offset to give a good quick turning trail dimension calculated based on my revised tire/rim sizes, taller rear shocks, & ever so slightly shorter forks.


I pressed out a late model GSXR/Hayabusa aluminum steering stem to use which was nearly a perfect height for a Rickman frame using a 30mm thick lower triple, and a Suzuki GS frame. I'll be having my buddy help me machine the bottom of the stem all the same 30mm diameter as the lower bearing i.d. area so I can clamp more of it in the triple and also better center the bearings surfaces in the Rickman frame. In the Rickman original style, to drop the triple to the height of the original Rickman, I'm going to machine off the locknut threads on the stem and turn it down to the same diameter as the rest of the upper triple clamping area, so that the upper has more clamping area and sits right on top of the bearing. This is how the Rickman original is designed (like all modern high-end threadless bicycle stem setups), and I am insisting on going one further and using a double pinch bolt on the stem to retain the bearings in addition to the top nut that will help load the bearings to proper adjustment. I'm a chop off the top of the stem as well in tap the inside for an m14x1.0 bolt to load the bearings, finer thread than the GSXR stem nut.




I'm on a quest to run clipons on top of the triples to stay close to the classic Rickman CR aesthetic of clipons, but make the bike more rideable long distances, as I often ride the Appalachian Hills in SE Ohio for 4-9 hrs at a time to get my twisties fix.
lsl-offset-high-clip-ons-triumph-thruxton-bonneville-t100-153-t024h-4888-p.jpg

German-made LSL "Offset-High" billet riser clipons caught my eye as being the only appropriate looking riser clipon to meet my aesthetic other than the $43 Chinese pieces that ebay is flooded with. These put the bars at a 37mm higher position than standard clipons, and a 5 degree downward slope vs the standard 7 degree. That means they can be installed without quite as much swept back angle to give a bit better leverage, but still bring the bars downward and angled back some to keep a good bit of the ergonomic down sloped rearward angled clipon effect.

I'm doing a lot of calculations to plan a slight offset downward on the upper triple to squeeze the 34mm tall LSL clipons in top of the triple on these shorter than usual but vintage styled RF900R 727mm tall 43mm cartridge forks. The original Rickman ran literally the shortest forks possible to design an 18" wheeled frame around.
 
2nd pair of Fox Factory Shox!!!!! (THANX KENNY!)

Got a 2nd set of Fox Factory Shox road/race piggybacks by some excellent luck and the right connections... I was about ready to buy steel body fox street shox (nitro/emulsion) for the GS750 & swap the Suzuki clevis Fox Factory Shox to this build with custom extended eyes, but these that I just picked up are substantially longer at 14.5 inches, in the longer distance shock mounts on the Rickman, this is about the max rear ride height that I can run.




They need complete cosmetic restoration, cylinders zinc plated, Springs powder coated, all aluminum wet sanded and buffed/polished. All soft parts replaced, spherical eye bearings installed in place of the decayed rubber eyes. May get new shafts and custom shorter length lower eyes so that I can run the lower forward shock mount position on the Rick swingarm but only if these 126lb/in long red springs paired with "firm" short blue springs will prove to be too stiff.

even after being very in tune with these Shox for a few years, the use of two separate spring with still confuses me as far as spring rate goes. The long red spring is advertised at 126 pounds per inch, and the blue at a firm rating, but combining to them and ending up with more coils would reduce the rate I would assume. Only a spring testing shock Dyno setup could really tell me I suppose. Basically, I think this rate should be pretty good. Having two different lower shock mounts to change the shock angle will also change the spring rate requirements, the rear mount with a shocks laid down will make it much stiffer overall, the front lower mount will make the shocks more vertical, and the swing arm will have much more leverage on the Shox. interesting tuning options I have there, very excited about the two shock mounts, definitely a reason to not run a different swing arm on the Rickman. This is my only quick tuning adjustment on the rear suspension!spring preload takes a spare of snap ring pliers after compressing the spring. Very antiquated in terms of adjustability for a high performance shock, but a very awesome performing shocks once set up properly.

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Kenny tells me Bob Fox what is the very first tuner to use a shock Dyno and oscilloscope in the development and design of high-performance shocks. It really shows in the ride quality of these Beauties. Very great advanced valving set up.

also, if I can deal with this seat height then a little higher and not touching a flat-footed on the ground, I think I have about 25 degrees rake with these shocks. I have not mocked up my engine in the frame, just the crankcase half alone is still a bit for one person to carry with this massive GS 750 crank that was substantially over built by the engineers.
I'm hoping that the chain alignment will work out with this swing arm angle so that Idon't have to run a massive rear sprocket to get the chain to clear the swingarm pivot tube.
 
Still slightly considering a GS1100E/GS1150 engine, but still leaning heavily toward an 894cc GS750 build for my CR900...

Busy with tuning up/rebuilding the 2 main daily rider bikes due to this warm spell of 70 degree Ohio winter days and road salt all washed away, but should have Matt making me a few billet parts asap for this project. The billet triples require a lot more geometry calculations and another paycheck, but should have him making those this month as well. Very very excited about this build, just too little time! Still haven't relocated my shop to the new house or excavated to run electruc/air /gas to the garage or trenched in deep perforated perimeter french drains to dry up the basement shop... busy busy busy

My wife was hinting at what parts I needed to upgrade my well abused BMX dirt jumping bike for my bday, slammed into a wall airborne at 20mph after getting squirrel on over shooting a real fast jump section at the skatepark... tweaked the bike a bit. I'm going to suggest instead a repro Rickman fiberglass tank cover and tail section, or maybe an aluminum repro tank (skinnier knee dent area and slightly better look imo but $700!!!!! vs $130+$$ shipping from Australia for the glass tank cover).
 
Those Fox shocks look the business on this project. I love vintage performance parts and its hard to pass up something that fits the bill this well.

As to your tank issue (aluminum vs fiberglass cover) that is tough. I personally like the shape of the longer glass cover more than the original glass tanks but that's just me. Once I finish the one in the garage now, a full out build will commence with those Rickman parts I picked up and that will be one of my main choices to make, since the bodywork is so important on these bikes.
 
So I just scored a NOS Rickman dual disc front hub on ebay, but realized that I missed out on a $200 CR rear wheel the week of AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days weekend this past July. I have since saved the search terms in my eBay alerts.

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I was snoozin' on this one:

"This is a genuine Rickman CR Road Race rear wheel with Borrani alloy rim, brake rotor and sprocket.. The sprocket is just set on top of the rotor but mounts to the other side. This came off a CR Honda built in the 1970s. A very rare piece for any Cafe Racer."


Looking at the first photos of a rear Rickman hub on this thread by hartman, I see the rear has no cush drive. I know the old Triumphs had the cush built into the engine's countershaft sprocket. Is that the Rickman rear wheel posted here? I assume the CR's built for Japanese Fours had a cush drive built into the rear hub, or did they not?
 
Sorry for the lack of any updates. Busy year. Lots of working and a bit of riding...


I scored most of the fiberglass parts for the CR, looking at a Rickman half fairing on another forum that I may get, scored a pair of Yoshimura Isle of Man race cams and a Yoshimura Series 1 4 into 1 exhaust, Fox Factory Shox piggybacks, & a change in plans with some 89 GSXR1100K 43mm forks so I can more easily run clipons above the top triples.

Also scored a 1974 Rickman Montesa 250 with the drastically improved left side shift 73M VR "Vehkonen Replica" 250cc beast of an engine. This thing instantly got a custom set up pair of 4.8" travel Fox Gas Shox and is now getting some 2" longer travel Betor fork sliders and damper rods. The stock suspension on most pre-'74 dirt bikes was absolute garbage for anything more than racing through grassy fields, so this upgrade with Kenny's help will make it a heck of a lot better for general trail riding...

Both of the Rickman bikes are in the basement shop for the winter... the 250 VR MX'er is getting a beater tank and beater fiberglass swap after I do some massive dent repair and repainting. The original stuff on the 250 is almost like new, only a couple scratches. Too perfect of originals to actually ride. The tanks sell for $300-450 on ebay, that'd be a sin to crash up the good one so I bought a rusty hulk with 25+ little dents to fix! The original fiberglass bodywork was a faux pas for the dirt bikes of the time. Fiberglass cracks easily when crashed. Plastic bodywork flexes and bends a lot before cracking. Riding technical off road trails basically means even experienced riders are likely to drop their bikes / crash them regularly. If you're riding in the dirt and you never ever crash, either you are an absolute master of that particular terrain, or else you aren't riding the fun technical stuff enough!







The Rickman Montesa 250VR MX looks much more capable with a decent lift in the rear with these beautiful Fox's that xb33bsa kenny set up for me. Ken is the man... Thanks to him I have these bolt on Betor fork sliders that are nearly a direct swap as well! Stock was 6" travel 35mm Betor's...



 
BUMP! Bumpity-HUMP-bump-bump.

Any news on this build? I see it going further & further into the CROTCH-ROCKET direction, with all of these non-period-correct parts making absolutely zero attempt at looking remotely vintage, veering dangerously into STARBUCKS RACER territory with the USD forks & the mono-shock conversion, 17" mag wheels & fugly bedazzled SnowFlake/SpiderWeb rotors, etc. YA'LL know what type of build I'm talking about. We've sure as shit seen a TON of 'em around here these past five or ten years! What would you call it, in a word - the process whereby a bike BECOMES the proverbial STARBUCKS RACER? Yanno, when your favourite old cafe is replaced by a Starbucks, and then three more of 'em pop up on the same intersection - "GENTRIFICATION" comes to mind....

I keep hoping to tune back in and see it all RETRO-FRIED, with parts made to look older without sacrificing dimensions specs etc.

Would've been nice to see it done as though it really were an original Rickman Suzuki CR - "CR1000"? With the FIRST-GEN motor, of course.

Anything involving the GSX engines might as well be covered up with RICKMAN PREDATOR bodywork. Being that the chassis under the Predator look wasn't anything new....

Honestly though, there's a heck of a lot of potential in this build. It could really turn out BEAUTIFUL, if only we could abandon the tired old FISH-HEAD thing with the fugly six-pot Tokico calipers & even fuglier gold bespangled spider-flake carriers in those floating rotors. With some pretty standard fare Suzuki composite riveted discs in the same damn size, with some single-puck calipers of ANY marque, retro-fried with some surface treatment, slung off custom caliper-hangers if needs be - And the later-era forks spun down round, with just a stub of a lug for caliper hangers -

There was a new MV Agusta powered Magni-replica a few years ago, I suppose it worked so well 'cause it was done with a 4LS front brake so they could simply SPIN the fork legs down smooth - But they gave the classic CERIANI fork leg look to something like 45mm tubes & 25mm axle etc. Doing so with a CALIPER type fork well - The really FUGLY feature is the outstretched CLAW replacing the separate hanger piece - IF these could be somehow reversed so as to HIDE that flat claw "palm" if you will, perhaps there'd be no reason what-so-ever to carve 'em away, and you could still bolt the adapter to those identical hangers you just wouldn't have to LOOK AT the fuckers..... Meh - I'd also look at whether they could be used to place entirely new holes, facing to the inside again of course, 'cause you don't wanna look at that shit - but the new bolt holes could re-locate a period-correct Suzuki single-puck caliper, or similar, to space 'em out to some ridiculous new dimensions.

'Cause those old composite riveted rotor carriers can be rebuilt with new outer disc rings - Metalgear Au does 'em, there's another seller on eBay doing 'em in CAST IRON - for the Honda 296mm SOHC stuff, though they're open minded about doing other versions of riveted composite discs -

Picture something like the AMA Superbike discs, typically upwards of 310mm-330mm but still a solid center fixed riveted type. It'd be a heck of a better match to that lovely period piece on the rear hub!

Gotta wonder about those old Rickman PREDATOR bikes though, how many of 'em were even made - I've only seen a few picks of the DOHC-4 Honda version, with the Suzuki & Kawasaki stuff being easier to find on Google or Pinterest etc.

But yeah, they're probably the far more rare model, far more capable in their running-gear specifications etc, more powerful next-gen motors etc. And yet I'd bet $$$'s they're far cheaper on resale compared to the typical cookie-cutter Rickman CR750/CR900 you see in the magazines - over & over & over again!

Well if the frame is indeed nothing substantially different, could the PREDATOR be dressed up in retro-fried bodywork to LOOK just like the earlier model(s)???

Or do the frames simply sell for around the same money no matter their year of manufacture? Hmmmmm.....

Well either way, IMHO the Suzuki Rickman should be built as a hypothetical 3rd model - to match the release of the GS1000 which was what, 1978 or 1979? (I'm more of a Honda buff, and don't keep up with Suzy DOHC-4 dates & specs quite like I undoubtedly should. 'Cause the KICK-STARTER on the GS1000 is the missing element which I so so long for on my DOHC-4 Honda!

Speaking of which? A kick-ONLY build would be the preferred style, wouldn't it? With the capacitor type "battery eliminator" ignition, etc? Sure, you could ditch the generator & keep the starter, run a total-loss ignition. But I'd hazard a guess the starter-clutch would remove close to the same amount of weight from the crank. Well it would on the HONDA anyhow. See - this is my whole DOHC HONDA LOGIC creeping into my discussion here - With the kicker you can remove BOTH, is the point! Surely without the generator OR starter-clutch on the crank-shaft, the kicker lever won't be TOO MUCH extra weight & clutter on the bike? Just sayin' - with the generator & starter-clutch taken off the crank, with some type of modern optical pick-up ignition system slid uner a low-profile cover, you could substantially narrow down the first-gen motor's crank - at which point the later GSX and Bandit motors lose that argument about cornering clearance.

But you know, there IS a way the later motors and fugly crotch-rocket nonsense could find their way onto a classic style of bike: Just "whip up" a new FRAME for that shit - An EGLI style backbone/spine-tube frame, really heavy-duty of course, would surely be stiff enough & light enough as to compare with whatever fugly Deltabox bullshit the engines came from - No, the Bandit 1200 frame itself doesn't count! ... You'd wanna pick out some random aftermarket or retro replica "Cafe Racer" Brit-bike alloy tank, and/or something like a GS1100E tank I suppose - Maybe a replica of some random '80s Suzuki Endurance-Racer tank, could work with just a random assortment of Suzuki "standard" bike parts, side-covers from here, tail from over there, fenders from blah-blah-blah - But the engine the suspension the running-gear, it could ALL be from the Y2K+ type of shit and it would MATCH - Yanno? Maybe you'd take your wire-spoke hubs from the modern DIRT-BIKE scene or the latter-day-CRUISER shite, all of it from the Suzuki box-a-tricks. A bike like that could be FANTASTIC - Especially if you did it with one of the really new LIQUID-COOLED motors, just dress it all up with a bunch of fake fins if you can't deal with it. If the later-era motor's to be rebuilt, then just take the jugs & carve some shallow grooves into the outer walls of the water-jacket. Do the same with the covers & part of the head - or ADD material if it suits you - On the one hand it's for aesthetic reasons, yes - But on the other hand you'd be adding intrinsic surface-area to the motor, something which could help you to shrink down the radiator, to around the size of the Bandit's over-size oil-cooler. Then you could tuck it up underneath a little bubble fairing etc. It could work out!

I've always been curious, well ever since I've first HEARD of the things, I didn't invent it as an infant in 1973 - But those newfangled SOLID STATE THERMOELECTRIC GENERATORS would be an interesting way to either stick some fins onto a liquid-cooled motor, or build an external oil-cooler and/or radiator - though supposedly the exhaust gases represent the greatest heat differential - WHILE generating electricity in ways which are normally wasted as heat!

Reading up on the subject, it would seem that replacing mechanical electrical generation (ie, on the end of the crank) with one of these doohickeys, can potentially increase fuel economy by 4% -

And I would take THAT to mean that the mechanical generator is placing so much drag on the crank that getting RID of the thing, could give you up to a 4% boost in horsepower!

Jeebuz - at that rate, IMHO even if you've got to carry two or three batteries on-board, (Talking about lightweight GEL batteries mind you!) it would be well= worth running the total-loss ignition plus total-loss EVERYTHING. So long as it'll run your lights & ignition over a full 24hr IRON-BUTT rally and/or spontaneous 24hr Endurance-Race, coast-to-coast "Cannonball-Run" etc, and you can trickle it back full again in one night's sleep? Heck, if it gets drained you might want your electrics to step down sequentially, losing auxiliaries, then indicators, then headlight WITH a warning - and only THEN lose the ignition. But otherwise, I'm really diggin' the idea of a doubled-up GEL battery ... "pile" with a total-loss system. Maybe stick some kinda SOLAR charger rolled up under the seat? Whatever the hell it takes - there's GOTTA be a way to ditch the generator on a long-distance TOURING rig....

I figure it's relevant 'cause YOUR bike this RICKMAN build, seems to have a similar purpose as my own. Ripping around through the mountain foothills etc. Plus, parking it in a livingroom and just fondling it all over with a soft cloth & some polish!

Well WHATEVER - Here's hoping to see MORE of this build-thread. Some very interesting stuff right here. Potential for some period-correct GORGEOUSITY - or some cheezy STARBUCKS RACER type of shit. I suppose either way it's gonna be interesting. But only the former will be going into my BIKE-PORN feed!


-Sigh.
 
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