05/23/09
The frame
The goal is to loose weight everywhere without sacrificing the design. An original Laverda frame weights about 24 kgs, a space frame replica about 15, the LV00 frame might be lighter yet... This means that some high-tech metals have to be used. Probably the frame will be in 2 parts, a tubular 15CDV6 steel treillis on the front and a sort of omega box in machined aluminium, aircraft quality, to the rear. Of course the 15CDV6 steel cannot be bent so the original design will have to be modified a bit...
The project have been stopped for one year and half due to many problems, so we have now to redesign everything. The initial studies will be our reference, the final result will have to get close to them, at least for the main concept.
Our 3D images maker is gone (found a new job and has no time anymore to work on the project) so we have to use ourselves softwares like Autocad and Solidworks. Not as good as the high-tech 3D software used before, but they should be sufficient to help us.
3 comments
you state that 15CDV6 tube can't be bent. That is not my understanding. So far as I am aware 15CDV6 tube in the heat treated state can be rolled or bent with radii greater than 2.5 times the thickness.
alternatively, as 15CDV6 is also available as sheet, perhaps a boxed frame structure? The stuff welds really well, even to other steel grades.
Paul LeClair
on 11/15/09 at 09:12
I'm not myself expert in metals, just trusting my friend and partner who is building the frame (François who built the incredible Snaeffel sidecar), my real parts of the job are the engine and the whole design of course. I'm sure he had good reasons to recommend to not bend the tubes, not sure exactly which ones, but I know he learnt a lot about metals while building the sidecar frame which is really complex.
Seeing the result on the sidecar, reaching 200 kph and being able to remove the hands from the handlebar, the sidecar continuing to run straight ahead (did you tested a sidecar already? this is really a scary experience!), I'm confident about his skills!
However, I'll see with him why he recommended to not bend the 15CDV6 and will let you know his thoughts here.
BTW, did you know that there is another radical Laverda project currently ready to be built by Rob North?
Cheers
on 04/05/10 at 21:17
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