The Elf Endurance and GP bikes of the 1980s, ridden particularly by Ron Haslam were technically revolutionary. Some of the technology actually made it to road bikes....
And now for something completely different
- Thread starter highbury731
- Start date
Thats not a hub centre steering machine. Difazio have a FIXED swinging arm at both ends steering is via rods to the triangle of tubes that turn the wheel the steering head is inside the wheel
This is what my BMW will look like - except it wont have a fairing I don't intend to hide its ugliness I still have hydraulics, a bit of wiring and paint to do but unfortunately (or fortunately) I have another Vincent to build first
This is what my BMW will look like - except it wont have a fairing I don't intend to hide its ugliness I still have hydraulics, a bit of wiring and paint to do but unfortunately (or fortunately) I have another Vincent to build first
The one and only!!
In the early '90s I did development work on a Tony Foale centre hub bike, built around a Yamaha RD350LC engine. It was a Parker type front end similar to a Yamaha GTS1000. No pics, sadly.
The Mead and Tomkinson endurance race bikes (powered by Kawasaki 1000 fours) were an interesting development from the Difazio. Instead of a kingpin inside the front hub, there is a ball joint. The side carriers for the brake calipers of a Difazio become part of the suspension, with a ball joint at the top and an upper wishbone above the tyre. It greatly lowers the stress on the lower wishbone, and give more consistent steering rake. If I remember correctly, Difazios have way too much trail, the M+T system cures that.
The Mead and Tomkinson endurance race bikes (powered by Kawasaki 1000 fours) were an interesting development from the Difazio. Instead of a kingpin inside the front hub, there is a ball joint. The side carriers for the brake calipers of a Difazio become part of the suspension, with a ball joint at the top and an upper wishbone above the tyre. It greatly lowers the stress on the lower wishbone, and give more consistent steering rake. If I remember correctly, Difazios have way too much trail, the M+T system cures that.
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This is Tony Foales YouTube channel, he's not appreciated enough IMHO.
https://www.youtube.com/@MotoChassisByTonyFoale
It would have been great if his career had coincided with the new Triumph brand or something like that to get proper money behind what he was trying to do.
https://www.youtube.com/@MotoChassisByTonyFoale
It would have been great if his career had coincided with the new Triumph brand or something like that to get proper money behind what he was trying to do.
The structure of the Q2 in that picture is very similar to the machine I worked on, including the fabricated box section steel members running under the engine to tie the front and rear suspension arms together.
