Some clips from old TV programmes about FF's and some films of ourselves in action.

Hope you like them.

Voyagers Going Mobile

Voyager news item

Voyager Top Gear test

Design Matters

FF history

Beaulieu Ride 2003

ComfortTMAX

I am a Mortgage Broker based in The Forest of Dean. In my youth I rode a Lambretta Scooter until I was 22 years of age. At age 62 I have returned to scooterring by purchasing a new Honda Silverwing in June 2005. Before I took delivery of the Silverwing I undertook refresher training. I have since taken things steady and now am getting to grips with the bike. The enjoyment derived is tremendous. I attended Peter Billington's open day and was quite impressed with his comfortmax. I would like to say that I am an all weather biker but I may winterise the bike when the road salt appears.

Low CoG limitations reply. This is a reply to David Botting's paper with my comments inserted.

Please find attached a written article covering some of the less favourable aspects of low CG design. The article is in part written as a reply to the theories put forward by Royce Creasey in 'Feet First - The Physics'.

Acceleration
The average sports-tourer has nowhere near the amount of power to make wheelies a serious disadvantage. It is only over a very narrow rev range, between 500 - 1000rpm, at peak power and in first gear that such bikes are able to lift the front wheel from the ground (not the same as continuing a wheelie).

This = just a split second. Provided that a modicum of skill and throttle restraint is applied in first gear, the front wheel can easily be kept on the floor without serious loss of acceleration, and who needs to accelerate THAT hard anyway? It is wildly unlikely that a ‘looping’ situation would occur without the direct intention of a wheelie.

3-in-line STV: A prototype to test the concept, built mid 2002.

Made from a Suzuki 80 step through (free) and a couple of 10” scooter wheels (20 euro). The idea is to test if any of the supposed benefits can be achieved, and what problems there might be in applying these. Middleton Link is a solution to a bump steer problem in this concept.

Benefits are: increased contact patch to unsprung mass ratio, increased contact patch to tyre width ratio, effectively reduced unsprung mass for a given contact patch area, contact with the road with at least one steered wheel on sharp bumps, second tyre running in drier road surface under straight line braking conditions, lower propensity to front wheel traction loss in cornering, potentially lower frontal area and un-steered suspension. Actual mass of the complete system is less than a single Kawasaki GPZ500S 16” front wheel and tyre.

The 2005 Quasar outing will take place in Hastings over the week-end on September 10th/11th. The format will be similar to previous years with us meeting up on St Leonards sea-front on Saturday afternoon from around 4:30pm onwards and moving on to Bo Peep pub for supper. There will be a ride-out on Sunday morning and we'll finish up at the Six Bells at Chiddingly for a late lunch.

All Quasar owners, Quasar enthusiasts, or owners of other Feet-first machinery are invited to join us.

It will be a long slow process, but I'm going to try to document the building of my FF machine on this page.

The machine will be built round a folded aerolam tub, with a cradle under and partly round the engine, continuing into a triangular cross-section box containing the fuel tank and carrying the seat, sweeping up at the rear into a backrest bulkhead, with the swinging arm pivoting at the back of the central box. A tunnel will be formed through the box containing an extension drive shaft. The machine will be about 10 inches longer than standard.

The first two drawings attached show the Hossack style front fork, and the main aerolam spar of the fork as a developed sheet ready to be cut. The drawings are all but finished, and will shortly be going for quotation for NC milling with an old client who has machines capable of cutting the job. It is possible to cut four sets of uprights from an 8x4 sheet of material, so I will have three spare sets that I may offer to the group.

Conspicuity of PTWs

20th. Nov 2000

Introduction.

It is clear that PTWs are involved in a disproportionate number of accidents where other vehicle operators fail to see them coming and turn into their path. This has serious consequences for the PTW user due to the poor safety performance of current PTWs.

I have been involved in developing better PTWs, seeking to improve comfort, handling, economy and safety, for twenty five years. In the course of this development I have become aware of several factors, which influence conspicuity, that I believe will be of interest to investigators of this subject. I have also considered nightime conspicuity and propose a specific experiment. I refer in the text to vehicles shown on the front page of my website.