The test unit was dismantled in transit. Whoever took it apart could not reassemble the front and rear axles and just tossed them in the carton causing damage to fairings and miscellaneous parts were put on the wrong place. We reassembled it. Only took 1-1/2 hours to remove the fairings, locate the correct location of the parts and put it back together properly. One part to the handlebar dual front disc assembly was lost preventing us from testing it on the dyno and track. The replacement is on its way, as are new fairings. We machined a couple of missing wheel spacers. No big deal. We were aided by an accurate set of complete assembly and parts diagrams, rare for a Chinese bike. This is an extremely well designed and constructed bike, as you will witness as we proceed.
The perimeter frame is now cast aluminum with extruded parts. The engine housing is cast aluminum.
This is important because it shows that the radiator was manufactured by an ISO9001-2000 company and is certified. ISO9001-2000 establishes the standards for both the manufacturing process and keeping of all records related to it. The rad manufacturer is located in Chungking, the motorcycle capital of China.
The bike looks excellent. The engine looks amazing and to be constructed very well. The radiator is ISO certified which is great as you fellow engineers know, but probably the least important part of the bike that needed to be certified. Hoses and clamps appear to be good quality. The rotors seem a tad undersized however they are duel up front. External water pump is great for maitence. The reliability of the belt drive is probably questionable. Rear sprocket is of high quality. Tires appear to be better than the stock C1's. The pipe looks to be of good quality although smaller than a C1's. Fairings appear to be off a standard L7 Cag.
All in all it looks like a great bike.
My biggest problem is with the rear swingarm. It's made of cast aluminum. Now don't get me wrong cast aluminum can be great. But it Chinese cast aluminum. Cast aluminum tends to bend or become brittle under high stress applications. Now you're gonna wreck this thing eventually. And lets say you cartwheel the bike end over end. More than likely the swing arm is going to bend. Now here's my problem. You cannot bend cast aluminum back into place even with heat. It will break. With steel you could heat it up and bend it back. We'll see soon enough if this will be an issue or not. Hopefully it's made of high quality aluminum and it won't be as succeptable to damage.
I'm excited to hear the performace review of this bike so keep the review going and the pics coming!
Nice! The bike looks great. Also, if the engine performs as good as a polini 6.2 w/c, I'm in. Can't beat polini engine quality. All the italian's run polini engines for a reason.
Quote:
Originally Posted by scooterteq.com
The test unit was dismantled in transit. Whoever took it apart could not reassemble the front and rear axles and just tossed them in the carton causing damage to fairings and miscellaneous parts were put on the wrong place. We reassembled it. Only took 1-1/2 hours to remove the fairings, locate the correct location of the parts and put it back together properly. One part to the handlebar dual front disc assembly was lost preventing us from testing it on the dyno and track. The replacement is on its way, as are new fairings. We machined a couple of missing wheel spacers. No big deal. We were aided by an accurate set of complete assembly and parts diagrams, rare for a Chinese bike. This is an extremely well designed and constructed bike, as you will witness as we proceed.
The perimeter frame is now cast aluminum with extruded parts. The engine housing is cast aluminum.
Thats true, but Tom has had pretty good success getting those origami clones to be competitive in the proddy class. I would hope that the chinese manufacturers can get this polini clone to be as fast as the current w/c motors, but you're right in saying looks can be deceiving.
Although, scooter did say he raced a prototype of this bike against one of his 8HP italian pb, and this GRC clone stuck it pretty well. Hopefully he'll give us more news soon.
E
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave
Looks can be deceiving....
If they cant squeeze 13 or so hp out of a direct copy of the Blata Motors, I dont think it would be possible with a Polini Motor.
The bike looks excellent. The engine looks amazing and to be constructed very well. The radiator is ISO certified which is great as you fellow engineers know, but probably the least important part of the bike that needed to be certified. Hoses and clamps appear to be good quality. The rotors seem a tad undersized however they are duel up front. External water pump is great for maitence. The reliability of the belt drive is probably questionable. Rear sprocket is of high quality. Tires appear to be better than the stock C1's. The pipe looks to be of good quality although smaller than a C1's. Fairings appear to be off a standard L7 Cag.
All in all it looks like a great bike.
My biggest problem is with the rear swingarm. It's made of cast aluminum. Now don't get me wrong cast aluminum can be great. But it Chinese cast aluminum. Cast aluminum tends to bend or become brittle under high stress applications. Now you're gonna wreck this thing eventually. And lets say you cartwheel the bike end over end. More than likely the swing arm is going to bend. Now here's my problem. You cannot bend cast aluminum back into place even with heat. It will break. With steel you could heat it up and bend it back. We'll see soon enough if this will be an issue or not. Hopefully it's made of high quality aluminum and it won't be as succeptable to damage.
I'm excited to hear the performace review of this bike so keep the review going and the pics coming!
We noted the potential problem with the w/c pump belt and will observe it closely when we test further to consider alternatives. It is easy enough to change but not so easy in the middle of a race when you have to get take the fairings off to get at it. The oblject is to win races, not lose because of belt failures. The frame material posed a problem because of the weight of steel. The bike is heavy enough due to the weight of the engine, pump, rad, etc. Over 90% of the steel parts used to develop the prototype were changed to aluminum for the production model. We will have to see how well they stand up to crashes. The manufacturer produces over 1,000,000 units of vehicles of various kinds per year, almost all for domestic use. They are subject to strict production requirements and inspections for compliance with safety standards which are as high, perhaps higher, than they are here for vehicles used on the road. These should not be confused with the factories that make the cheap pocketbikes. They are not regulated because their products are considered toys. It is not even relevant to use the term quality when referring to them because they are wretched, unreliable and unsafe. We have all seen them so there is no need to further preach to the choir.
I'm excited to hear the performace review of this bike so keep the review going and the pics coming!
Exhaust pipe max. belly dimension is 10-1/8". Note the spiral spring-like winding to protect the fuel line exiting the tank and the hose-clamped coupler.
Exhaust pipe max. belly dimension is 10-1/8". Note the spiral spring-like winding to protect the fuel line exiting the tank and the hose-clamped coupler.
I'm liking this bike more and more with every pic. The welds on the aluminum main frame are beautiful, that's either skill or robot there. That's making me feel alot better about the aluminum frame. The rest of it looks great as well, good construction from what I can tell through the pics. Keep'em coming.
Why yes it is! I'll be ordering a upgraded clutch Monday. Still thinking over which Carb to go with Dell'orto 17.5 or the BadAzz 17mm
Back on topic is the polished frame going to be standard or did you just do thet bike?
Yes the polished frame is standard. I might also point out that all fasteners are Grade 8, stainless steel, not the junky crap that strips as soon as you put a dirver to. The larger fairings screws are chrome stainless steel. Also all bolts and screws have retaining nuts unless they terminate in a threaded connection in which case lock washers are used. The bike and everything you see on it is stock. In other words, what you sees is what you gets.
jl give me two weeks i have the stock clutches being reshoed with ferodo green material which should work better with the lower quality material they use on the stock drum
I'll be ordering a upgraded clutch Monday. Still thinking over which Carb to go with Dell'orto 17.5 or the BadAzz 17mm
