| Author | Message | |||
     One |
This is not a Buell. But the CEO of Confederate Motors ( Matt Chambers) talks about engineering and is as passionate about motorcycles as our Own CEO Eric himself. In the early 80's the Wraith and Hellcat were just a dream as Matt rode his early model Buell. His dream is past reality now and his websitewww.confederate.comapply shows where his dream is headed. But if one ever gets an extra $62,500 the Wraith might be the next step after an X-1.
(Message edited by one on March 06, 2007) | |||
| One |
 Sorry Here's the picture without going to the website. | |||
| Leftcoastal |
I liked the original Hellcats, then the "new" Hellcats came out and were (and ARE) really interesting machines. The Wraith has evolved from an interesting design concept with a version of the XL motor much like the XR's, to the bizzarre item pictured above. Chambers and his cohorts seem to be on a constant drive to take design on a continual evolutionary rise to the point where there will be no need for mechanical or physical objects. The 2012 Confederate will be a pure form of light and flows of energy, ridden by Spirit Beings of infinite wisdom and oneness with the Ultimate Design of it ALL. The rest of us mere commoners will have to somehow make due with our inferior and lowly Buells, Harley's, Ducati's, and bikes of that ilk. Only the "chosen" need apply (or anyone else with 70 Thousand of disposable income) Just my opinion, I could be mistaken! AL | |||
| Bake |
At 62k a pop I doubt we are gonna see a lot of them. Open primary and a bicycle seat makes it look more of a show bike rather than a rider. | |||
| Lake_bueller |
I saw a few of them in New Orleans when I was there (pre-Katrina  . They looked as good on the road as they do in pictures. | |||
| Spiderman |
Eric who?  | |||
| Naustin |
So is that front end supposed to do something better than conventional forks or just look scary?  | |||
| Big_koch |
Check out Chopperhandbook.com for some information on the benefits of a properly engineered girder suspension. Assuming it's been correctly designed, a girder will out-perform even the best telescopic forks. Primarily due to change in trail as the suspension cycles, but I'd bet it's considerably lighter as well, given as it seems to be made from CF. | |||
| Jayvee |
This bike will leave a big dirty streak down the back of your jacket I think. If he could just put at least hugger fender or something on it, I think it's cool. | |||
| Mbsween |
Ever read Tim Hanna's book on the Britten? Andrew Stroud, the guy who won the majority of the races on the beast commented that he'd have cleaned up everything if they'd used a conventional fork. I don't know if the Britten was the first implementation of a CF girder, but I'm sure it was one of the first . It took the Britten team quite a while to get the front end working right and they only ran on race tracks! Imagine trying to get that right for New York State after winter (think tire eating potholes). If a girder fork had that much advantage I think you'd see more of them, especially in places like MotoGP where money,time, and engineering effort know few boundries I can't see that thing out handling just about any Buell. It sure does look cool in its own way though. Just my 0.02 | |||
| Big_koch |
Aren't the MotoGP (or nearly any other race team including Buell in his beginning) limited to using production-style components? Just a thought as to why you don't see more. I'm sure a Buell would smoke that thing, but I'm not making an argument for the whole bike. A girder, in and of itself, is a superior design. Engineering for NY streets would be cake compared to "only race tracks". My M2's suspension is Worthless with a capital W. A suspension with enough cushion to absorb NY (or here in NE) potholes would be worthless in any other situation. One-size-fits-all production engineering isn't much of a challenge compared to the feats undertaken on the track. (Message edited by big koch on March 07, 2007) (Message edited by big koch on March 07, 2007) | |||
| Naustin |
If a girder fork had that much advantage I think you'd see more of them, especially in places like MotoGP where money,time, and engineering effort know few boundries +1 | |||
| Grndskpr |
Aren't the MotoGP limited to using production-style components? No actually Motogp is required to use non production one off items, teams have been baned for using production based components R | |||
| Big_koch |
Naustin: You've got to be kidding me. Grow up. Grndskpr: Thanks for that insight. I didn't realize they were different like that. The only other excuse I could imagine is availability/ engineering/ cost being so much more for the CF girder than its benefit is valued. I'm not sure how much effect changing trail has (probably little) on lap times. Mathematically you can't argue with the girder. For practicality there is probably no argument to be made there either, but in favor of telescopic instead. However, in response to the original question....Yes, it does "do something better than conventional forks". |
Confederate Wraith B-120