Bimota Forum

[brian]

Thanks for the update a Gav. It’s coming along nicely.

I imagine you can expect a visit from 2bims now that you’ve mentioned PIES!
_________________
'99 DB4 #104, '96 SB6 #1165, '94 DB2 J #652, '99 DB4 #088, '08 VTX1800, '93 ZXR750R M1, '95 ZXR750, '95 ZXR750 Race Bike, '94 CBR400rr NC29 Race Bike, '94 CB250, '49 BSA C10 250, '61 BSA A10 650, '89 ZXR750, '91 Ducati 851

[Gavin944888]

Good morning Ladies and Gents,

The bike went from the workshop straight to RUPE'S REWIRES near Peterborough where Rupe designed a loom and got it working all in 24-36 hours....well working electrically anyway.
He even produced a schematic drawing for Guido to finish off the Zeeltronic fitment.

The bike left the UK yesteday is in Germany as we speak.
The rest as they say is down to FRP and GUIDO.....but I must confess his to do list was a bit longer than I wanted.

I was unable to finalize the servo or throttle cables as parts arrived the day before it left and the tank to frame spacer was left off sitting on a work bench

This meant the tank can not be bolted down properly or it crimps the the loom and wires.

But other than this ...I hope to being hearing things from the Eiffel area of Germany ...soon.

Everything will now be on hold until the bike is back......report soon


regards


Gavin
The Scottish Engineer.
_________________
On an Island in the River Thames!

Cagiva Elefant 888/955 & adventure sidecar
Cagiva Elefant 999r engined
Cagiva BIMOTA Motard Concept
BIMOTA DB9 (with DB11 rear-end)
BIMOTA DB7-11 VLX MULE (build coming to an end)
BIMOTA DB11 VLX Supercharger

[2bims]

Eagerly awaiting reports....and the soulful YouTube clip of FrankenMonster Shark Squalo Supercity chinkychenko (Thats Italian for 500...cinqocuento…..like the fiat 500)….

[Gavin944888]

Hello...ladies and gentlemen.

A quick update on the Cagiva Bimota thingy.

FRP (Guido) in Germany has the bike and the body work is left to me to sort out.

Fleabay sourced some Supercity fairings and they arrived smeeling of weed and cider.

These were cleaned and sent off the GRP moulders after certain things had been prepped.




I had decided to cut and shut the fairings where they met the new larger tank.....hence ends being cut....and ending up looking a bit odd.




[img]IMAG0848 by bear (as in animal ..not gay idol), on Flickr[/img]



Once this was done the moulds were ready to be fabricated at the GRP shop near the workshop....these moulds include the end sections....it will become clear.




[img]IMAG0847 by bear (as in animal ..not gay idol), on Flickr[/img]




These end sections are added to the tank under the seat and then extended to the front main section of the fairing.




[img]IMAG0843 by bear (as in animal ..not gay idol), on Flickr[/img]



The image here is of the mould...there were 4 in total and these allowed the GRP sections to be made.




[img]IMAG0846 by bear (as in animal ..not gay idol), on Flickr[/img]



The image above is the ABS original side fairings next to the GRP ones.



[img]IMAG0845 by bear (as in animal ..not gay idol), on Flickr[/img]



Finally... we have GRP side sections which can be cut/shut and 'grp-ped' back together again on the bike once it is back from Germany.

There will be many gaps but these can be filled in with flat GRP sheet....then shaped with body filler before an other set of moulds are made for the final fit.

I am glad that it is only the front fairings which need modifying as I loving this as much as wiring....and I hate wiring.

GRPing the seat base unit was bad enough...getting itchy and scratchy for no good reason other than to get it prepped for the upholsterier.


Now I have to cut the side fairings at the 'crease' where the side extends down and mount both onto the front fairing mount and the lower section onto the alloy tank.

This should create a triangular gap which can be filled.

It is easier to fill gaps on a GRP item rather than on a ABS item....nothing really sticks to the ABS.

there is enough to keep me busy until the bike comes back.....I still have to design the cockpit area....and the head lights... and .... and


More next time


regards
Gavin
The Scottish Engineer
_________________
On an Island in the River Thames!

Cagiva Elefant 888/955 & adventure sidecar
Cagiva Elefant 999r engined
Cagiva BIMOTA Motard Concept
BIMOTA DB9 (with DB11 rear-end)
BIMOTA DB7-11 VLX MULE (build coming to an end)
BIMOTA DB11 VLX Supercharger

[Gavin944888]

Morning men and women of the mystic Bimota 2 stroke engine.

Got an update from Germany.

I was planning to go to an Cagiva Elefant Treffen in the Nurbergring area WeekEnd 28-31st Aug....only to discover that it was 14kms from Guido's workshop.

So, I contacted Guido and explained my plans and included the pick up of the mis match of Bimota nad Cagiva components.....lovingly referred to as the V Due Cagiva Bimota thingy.

Covid has reduced all foreign trips and this looks like it will be no exception.

In the meantime and untill I figure round restricted movements...here are sopme images from Guido's workshop.

[img]2020-08-17 14.59.35 (002) by bear (as in animal ..not gay idol), on Flickr[/img]



Thats one of the bike on the bench.....it seems to go forward...you have to go backwards!



[img]2020-08-17 14.30.00 (002) by bear (as in animal ..not gay idol), on Flickr[/img]



I had asked for the 2 areas of concern in my optinion to be investigated.

Namely the layshaft end float problem and the retaining cap countersunk screws.

Some of you who have changed oil may have noticed some small screw heads in the oil and wondered why the bike is a pig to start.

Investigations point to a retaing top hat plate held in place by M4 countersunkl screws.....these are somethings NOT loctited in place.




[img]2020-08-17 14.31.03 (002) by bear (as in animal ..not gay idol), on Flickr[/img]




The offender....the top hat shaped retaining plate and the countersunk bolts to be loctited.

The other issue relates to float on the layshaft which allows a gear to move forth and back.....the retaining mented had been altered at least twice by the factory and Piero.


Shaft movement and the non locited screw issues, cause the gears to shift slightly and the teeth are broken off like a pub fight in Glasgow.



[img]2020-08-17 14.26.04 (002) by bear (as in animal ..not gay idol), on Flickr[/img]



Here you can just see under the alloy coolant pipe a retaining plate with 2 ears (only 1 ear is on show and the bolt is the shiney countersunk socket fixing type) in which fixing bolts are inseted.

This is the latest factory and Piero method of fixing float and is also the method VDue on Facebook (based in France).... carries out on all non modified bikes.



[img]2020-08-17 14.30.29 (002) by bear (as in animal ..not gay idol), on Flickr[/img]




It is a simple enough procedure unless you have to modify the cases to accept the shaft retaining boss bit to get to it all.....but....here you can see what is needed.




[img]2020-08-17 14.30.00 (002) by bear (as in animal ..not gay idol), on Flickr[/img]




And finally once it is all done it can be reassembled and the work on general setting up can commence......




[img]2020-08-17 14.29.37 (002) by bear (as in animal ..not gay idol), on Flickr[/img]




According to Guido....they start testing on Friday....giving them a full 14 days before collection to iron out any other issues....carb settings, powervalve motor location

....I bet they hate where I put it....and any other things needed to get it running.

It is booked in at Rupes Rewires on week commencing 28th Sept by which time I am hoping the body-work and any other issues will be done to a fair state to allow full rewire.


In the meantime......I have to arrange collection....and deliver to Gent for the suspension dyno and rear shock fabrication before heading on to the Hook of Holland for its crossing back to the UK.

More updates to follow......and genrerally as they happen


regards

Gavin
The Scottish Engineer.
_________________
On an Island in the River Thames!

Cagiva Elefant 888/955 & adventure sidecar
Cagiva Elefant 999r engined
Cagiva BIMOTA Motard Concept
BIMOTA DB9 (with DB11 rear-end)
BIMOTA DB7-11 VLX MULE (build coming to an end)
BIMOTA DB11 VLX Supercharger

[2bims]

Its good to see youve got some progress....and the modification of the 2 bolt shaft fixing with the milled crankcase

What I do see that I've not seen before....and possibly put in by Guido? because beside the photo there is a pair of circlip spanners....is a big fat circlip holding the sprag fly bearing in place...and then the plate is bolted over the top of that....Whats the purpose for this?

[Gavin944888]

2Bims.........Guido and I spoke about this.

It is one of his things....a bit like VDue in France...everyone has a take on what should have been done...and how to improve on standard.

I can see the sense from an engineering veiw and it makes the cover ...just that...a cover. Those M4 countersunks are limited in strength.

I am willing to paint the engine PINK...if it means it will last longer and not implode.

At 6.5K for an engine not only do I want it to work...I want it gift wrapped.

regards

Gavin
The Scottish Engineer
_________________
On an Island in the River Thames!

Cagiva Elefant 888/955 & adventure sidecar
Cagiva Elefant 999r engined
Cagiva BIMOTA Motard Concept
BIMOTA DB9 (with DB11 rear-end)
BIMOTA DB7-11 VLX MULE (build coming to an end)
BIMOTA DB11 VLX Supercharger

[Gavin944888]

Right ...said Fred,

The V Due was to be picked up on the weekend of 31st Aug....however:

The VDue engined Cagiva Bimota thing was re assembled by Guido and a Dyno run caused a coolant leak.

Like a urine stain on a pensioner.....view the witness marks.....they are PINK.



[img]2020-08-21 12.46.51 by bear (as in animal ..not gay idol), on Flickr[/img]



So..... my wee bike had to be taken outside and left to cool down prior to the radiator coming off and handed to Hans the Welder... down the road.

You can see the indicators and dash, although all temporary...they are fully operational, including the world famous race Scitsui tacho....straight out of Sheffield, not Crompton....where men roam the streets looking for work...not drugs




[img]2020-08-21 12.44.32 by bear (as in animal ..not gay idol), on Flickr[/img]







The next bit gets messy......the bike came back from Hans the Welder and was re loaded onto the the Dyno.....all bolts were then torqued up by Tork the Fitter and off it ran.




[img]2020-08-31 13.30.01 (002) by bear (as in animal ..not gay idol), on Flickr[/img]



2 good runs on the Dyno then ...............the power slowly but surely started to drop.




[img]2020-08-31 14.37.37 (002) by bear (as in animal ..not gay idol), on Flickr[/img]



The rear wheel spacer welded itself via friction to the chain slider adjuster.

Some where in the mix either a spacer moved or collapsed or bit by bit bearings, spacers and assemblies, moved from free running to binding after a 100 newtons were applied by Torque master.

Fundamental repairs were carried out and the bike is ready for collection, although a new chain slider unit is needed....pass that number for Piero..would you please.


The bike will be collected next week after the spacers etc have been re fitted and it scheduled back into Rupe's Rewires on 28th Sept.


Between now and then....the dash has to be finalized and the headlights welded and mounted.

Same with the side-stand assembly and the new stainless steel suspension rod...longer and shinier than the machined mild steel item.

The battery box has to be fabricated and the body work readied and prepped for final fit.....before finishing and paint


Its getting there and should be complete by year end......2020


More to follow

regards

Gavin
The Scottish Engineer
_________________
On an Island in the River Thames!

Cagiva Elefant 888/955 & adventure sidecar
Cagiva Elefant 999r engined
Cagiva BIMOTA Motard Concept
BIMOTA DB9 (with DB11 rear-end)
BIMOTA DB7-11 VLX MULE (build coming to an end)
BIMOTA DB11 VLX Supercharger

[2bims]

I am a little perplexed with the above.....I'm at a loss as to how the bent piece could have bent to a right angle...as the rear wheel spindle goes right through it and threads into the other end of the chain slider/adjuster......so how can be be like that?.....or has knocking a fused spindle out caused this to happen to bend into such a weird tortured end piece?

[Gavin944888]

2Bims......don’t ask me!

I swallowed a ring pull on Friday whilst finishing off an Irn Bru and didn’t notice until I felt it hit my flappy thing on my stomach/wind pipe interface thingy after a belch!

BTW.......after a panicky research on tintinnet....I discovered that I would not die from it.

Relieved....I had another can

Gavin
_________________
On an Island in the River Thames!

Cagiva Elefant 888/955 & adventure sidecar
Cagiva Elefant 999r engined
Cagiva BIMOTA Motard Concept
BIMOTA DB9 (with DB11 rear-end)
BIMOTA DB7-11 VLX MULE (build coming to an end)
BIMOTA DB11 VLX Supercharger

[Weed]

Did the axle start to back out & they not notice it?

[brian]

oooo' that's ugly. A mere hickup though, the bike is coming along nicely
_________________
'99 DB4 #104, '96 SB6 #1165, '94 DB2 J #652, '99 DB4 #088, '08 VTX1800, '93 ZXR750R M1, '95 ZXR750, '95 ZXR750 Race Bike, '94 CBR400rr NC29 Race Bike, '94 CB250, '49 BSA C10 250, '61 BSA A10 650, '89 ZXR750, '91 Ducati 851

[Gavin944888]

Hhhmmm...YES very ugly.

I am back and after the isolation back out and about....back fixing issues.

The trip to FRP and Guido was eventful and the snagging list reads as follows.

Fuel Tank wont fit now there are extra pipes to the coolant system....cut and re-weld tank.

Exhaust covers EVERYTHING with toxic black oily mess.....make and fit new gaskets.

Suspension rocker arm needs extra clearance to operate to full potential.

Radiator potentially too small.....bike needs to cool down after 3 dyno runs.

Inspect electric fan, sensors and or water pump.

Other than this we had approx 90 horsepower at the clutch.

Guido indicated that it was about 3-4 or 5 horses down on a really good V Due engine but also pointed out that the engine is tight and the clutch has yet to settle down after road use.

Here is the bike as I arrived at Guido's......he had machined a new rear wheel spacer and sourced and fitted a new chain adjuster...all to a very high standard.

Machined tolerances are great until you calculate incremental and absolute..............if everything is Xmm plus or minus but machined minus...when 5 items ate bolted up...it can be 1mm too small.

This is what happened....they Torqued everything up....somethings moved by a midges' dick (an old glaswegain engineering term)...something got hot..something started to bind.



[img]IMG_0014 by bear (as in animal ..not gay idol), on Flickr[/img]




But the Tony Green PIPES are right up there with the best DYNO runs on mid-range as the engine stands.


So we have food for thought.....plenty as it happens.

Now that Guido has inspected and changed all the things that he does not like in the V Due engine it is time to run in after the new wiring has joined all the dots.


Here are some images of what was down once back in the work shop.


First thing to tackle was the side-stand as the bike has no stand and I got fed up looking for a wall to lean it against.




[img]IMG_0005 by bear (as in animal ..not gay idol), on Flickr[/img]




Brian...raised some question about the side-stand pipe diiameter but I think it is just fine

Probably just a photo or bad photo representation.




[img]IMG_0019 by bear (as in animal ..not gay idol), on Flickr[/img]




[img]IMG_0020 by bear (as in animal ..not gay idol), on Flickr[/img]


And here is the finished article and it needs no alterations to the DUCATI OEM stand



[img]IMG_0021 by bear (as in animal ..not gay idol), on Flickr[/img]



Later....I will fit a roller chain support to the underside of the chain....but not now.




More to follow

Gavin
The Scottish Engineer
_________________
On an Island in the River Thames!

Cagiva Elefant 888/955 & adventure sidecar
Cagiva Elefant 999r engined
Cagiva BIMOTA Motard Concept
BIMOTA DB9 (with DB11 rear-end)
BIMOTA DB7-11 VLX MULE (build coming to an end)
BIMOTA DB11 VLX Supercharger

[Gavin944888]

Now that Guido has worked his magic....it was time to sit down and talk engineering.

The water pump as you will recall from previous posts raised a question or two with me....I had even mentioned changing over to an electric unit.


[img]IMG_0025 by bear (as in animal ..not gay idol), on Flickr[/img]




Guido agreed and showed his answers to a 500BC pump design and how to use it on a VDue......might solve the potential heating issues.

OKAY....we are on the same wave length....this is good.....next up the radiator....again consensus...blimey.... I almost German.


[img]IMAG0660 by bear (as in animal ..not gay idol), on Flickr[/img]



Buoyed with understanding that our solutions to problems are similar...I load up the van and head to Belgium.


In Belgium, there is a guy who used to be with HYPER PRO but now had his own company...BM Suspension.

He has built many a unit for my various projects and I even sent him the DB9 Extreme Tech to sort out.


We got the bike out....set it up...took out....the shock....put in... the shock and realized that in order to get the maximum BONG for my BUCK, I needed to re machine the Suspension Rocker.

Suitably deflated, I headed for Hook of Holland for the ferry and the journey home.


I get on the boat after a 21 euro Chinese special and once in the cabin fall asleep before we set sail.

Rock and Roll

regards

Gavin
The Scottish Engineer
_________________
On an Island in the River Thames!

Cagiva Elefant 888/955 & adventure sidecar
Cagiva Elefant 999r engined
Cagiva BIMOTA Motard Concept
BIMOTA DB9 (with DB11 rear-end)
BIMOTA DB7-11 VLX MULE (build coming to an end)
BIMOTA DB11 VLX Supercharger

[Gavin944888]

So..............it is just over 2 weeks since returning from FRP and BM Suspension and most of the snagging has been carried out.

If we start off with the Tank....it was refitted minus the offending section to accommodate the new hose bump at the top of the engine.


Then the suspension rocker which had to be relieved to allow more travel for the new shock.



Here is the rocker arm as first fitted.





[img]IMAG0594 by bear (as in animal ..not gay idol), on Flickr[/img]




Next up..............newly cut and re-welded.





[img]IMG_0045 by bear (as in animal ..not gay idol), on Flickr[/img]




Again but from a different angle showing the cut section.




[img]IMG_0046 by bear (as in animal ..not gay idol), on Flickr[/img]


The unit once back from the electro platers EPC Action in Basildon.



[img]IMG_0056 by bear (as in animal ..not gay idol), on Flickr[/img]


Got to give them a plug.....sorry!




[img]IMG_0055 by bear (as in animal ..not gay idol), on Flickr[/img]




Plating and anodizers to the Aerospace and prototype industries.

The plating is better than the images show....do not ask me why...there is no slag on the unit.




[img]IMG_0057 by bear (as in animal ..not gay idol), on Flickr[/img]




More coming up.


regards

Gavin
The Scottish Engineer.
_________________
On an Island in the River Thames!

Cagiva Elefant 888/955 & adventure sidecar
Cagiva Elefant 999r engined
Cagiva BIMOTA Motard Concept
BIMOTA DB9 (with DB11 rear-end)
BIMOTA DB7-11 VLX MULE (build coming to an end)
BIMOTA DB11 VLX Supercharger