Post-Race Update, Photo Gallery and Video

Extreme lack of updates there as we worked like mad to prep for the race. We're still catching up on everything, but check out the TreMoto Pikes Peak Flickr Gallery and the teaser video below.

First Ride Testing & Teaser

TreMoto have ridden the 3Z1 in three test sessions. These are a couple of spy shots from the maiden shakedown run. Initially we have run with conservative lean stops set at about 35 degrees to prove out geometry etc but continued testing this afternoon will allow us to increase our angle towards the 50 degree design target. We have also made some ride height adjustments but brakes, engine etc check out ok. Last night we stayed in Oklahoma City with Michael Ryan from USAF and did some more skipad-style testing in an undisclosed parking lot.

Also, if you haven't seen it check out the new YouTube video below. It truly was an herculean effort to get the trike built in time. Thanks again to Rob McIver, Dave Smith, Jeffrey Ferguson and Joey Trussel for making it happen! See you in Colorado Springs tonight.

On Three Wheels

First ride test is delayed until Saturday June 18 due to lack to time/money. Determination still outweighs problems on the triple beam, and Pikes Peak is "for sure". 

Unfortunately the 4-1 system and the Ti footpegs will have to wait. We'll be running stock parts instead. That won't stop us from going fast.

As you can see this is not a final assembly but we are "very close". Day jobs, ugh, why can't we build trikes full time!?

Lean angle setting is very conservative. We'll trim down the bump stops to allow maximum performance. From all appearances, the final product matches the 3D model. Steering angle is significantly greater than the original Monstrosity 620 as is lean angle. We also have less roll-steer effect and less on-center roll resistance. All this should combine for a much more nimble machine with significantly greater maximum cornering. Increased trail should make for greater high speed and braking stability as well. All this is theory of course, but with the trike on it's wheels we are very confident.

Just one last bit of eye candy. Stay tuned for wheelies, jump and other stunts.

No parts, just lean angle

Here is a quick mockup/clearance check on the arms etc. Everything looks to match the 3D model so the lean stops contact properly and the packaging is going to be tight in the proper way. "More than 45 degrees" for certain. Uprights are represented above by rear pullrods, so the parallelism is messed up. Impatiently waiting for:

These are almost ready for T-pin assembly. The calipers fit up beautifully, as much as anything I'm excited as anything just to lay into these and carry the back tire...

Waiting on bodywork, exhaust, gears, bolts, machine work, steering bits etc. Everything is supposed to be here by the weekend. Pikes Peak is so on... 

-Eddie

Write Code to Metal or... Real Artists Ship

Control arms are completed and installed. Big thanks for Flex-Form for pulling through on the spring and Scott at Laeger Racing for pulling though on all the steering bits The spring won't get final assembly until the uprights are done and we can get on the wheels for a ride-height check. Thanks to the guys at Soupy's we have plenty of ride height adjustment in the back. In the front we can go 60mm or so.

Joey Trussel at Southern Machining has been saving my life this week, writing DXF code to metal. This is a rough mill on the two uprights, still a lot of detail work to go but you can get the idea of the shape for the big radial brakes and the highly adjustable steering geometry. We will run a quick parametric steering test on a skidpad next weekend and dial it in. Steering flag height will also be adjustable.

 

 Trunkfull of bits, but still looking for a few more. We should be on the wheels and running this weekend. Real artists ship.

Race Readier

Upper control arms are complete, lowers are very close. Leaf spring is in UPS. Upright design is complete, so next weekend I will be living at the machinists' and driving up to Olive Branch to complete the lower arms. Also we will be begging at University of Mississippi for a remade spring clamp. Maths show that our 125mph-top speed gearing will work well, allowing us to mostly utilize 3rd gear for much of the lower part of the course. We are tight on time but still confident, as we have a parametric test plan and the ability to run through it in only a few days time. It's go time and I'm ready to ride.

Still lacking some bracing at the upright-end and the spring pickup

It's a big weekend for racing so I'm off to the Indy 500. Don't forget the Monaco GP on Speed TV!

TreMoto are still Vaporware

We're T minus 37 days and still vaporware. But that's ok cause we got:

6061   This foot x foot billet will make both the uprights, both outer spring-end pacmen and some other misc bits. My machinist's assistant asked if we were going to make the race. If it's in my hands we will!

Some minor hop-up mods. We'll be running K&N quad-pods, a Dynojet Power Commander (for altitude adjustment) and a 4-1 ZX9-style exhaust. It should make 125hp at sea level, but at 14k feet that wheezes to about 82hp.

Center rocker fitup check. It's tight in critical areas, as it should be with any optimized design. We will undoubtedly be fitgeting around with spacers and fasteners to get it all working optimally,  initial impression we have our design targets quite close. When will flex-form.com bring the leaf spring? Where are the tie rods? These things keep us up at night, so at least there's no worry about the mountain!

We also have 430mm of rubber on the road. Know of any bikes that can say that?

All right, enough trash talk, Lots of items still to cross off the whiteboard and control arms to build...

Weekend Update

The 3Z1 isn't done yet, but the race is in 6 weeks. Fortunately the Monstrosity 620 is running great, so I'm able to get in some seat time. The 12.2 mile run doesn't have much elevation change, but the pavement/dirt mix is comparable to Pikes Peak.

The center rocker is almost done. Machining a big chunk like this can be tricky with a small 3-axis machine but it came out pretty well. We'll get the bearings and dampers assembled next week.

 

Most of the Laeger Pro-Trax parts came in last week, so the upright spec is almost finalized. We'll order the materials and finish up the prints today.

Reassembly in Progress

The engine, EFI, cooling system and rear suspension are in place. UPS owes us a lot of goodies and we should have a lot of bespoke parts headed our way. Hang tight, we'll be riding in a month. That means some sick new YouTube videos and some knee dragging action shots. Ok enough of that, back to the drawing board (or 37" CAD screen) to put the final details on the uprights before we send them to Southern Machining.

Hubs, Frame and Leaf Spring Testing

 Hubs are done. Bearings are not shown, but they have been installed. I only had three wheel studs, so the others are on order. The rotors also bolted right up with the original Z1000 bolts so no issues there. The ZX10 rotors do a nice job of filling out the wheels and should be more than sufficient for some nice nose wheelies. Plus, the Aprillia wheels look sweet in orange.

The frame is also done. We just went back with black for simplicity, although the orange looks good in electronic.The engine will go back in this week, so it will be nice to finally be in the "reassembly" stagee. All systems go for ride testing in June.

 Our friends at the University of Mississippi have completed some destructive tests on a few of our old Flex-Form springs. We had hoped to test these in an MTS rig, but leaf springs are a bit oddball so we ended up testing these on a hydraulic ram rig. Special thanks to James McPhail in the machine shop for setting it up; James also worked on the Monstrosity project, machining our hubs and center rocker, among other parts.

The guys from senior design also preformed some FEA wizardry, simulating various clamp designs to optimize for refuced stress concentrations. Changes in the design resulted in about 30% lower maximum stress concentration as well as increased maximum wheel travel. Thanks to Jeremy, Dan and Thomas for their excellent work on this project.

Keep Poundin'

Yes, we're still here, and yes, we've been working hard. Flex-form has us a composite leaf spring on the way, thanks to the excellent work of our guys at the University of Mississippi Department of Mechanical Engineering. Laeger Racing also has our ProTrax parts on the way so hoepfully the UPS gods will smile on us soon... in the meantime:

Hubs are machined! It's a nice change to see 3D models turned into engineering drawings, .dxf files and finally into tangible 6061 chunks. Thanks to Joey at Southern Machining for the excellent work on these parts.

Upper control arm design is completed, and the jig is almost ready. We've got a few more waterjet brackets to pick up from Valley Racks (thanks Brad) and these will be ready for fabrication this weekend. We'll also be adding the final steering head braces and the seat mounts. If the schedule holds, we'll be painting the frame Monday and reinstalling the motor, rear suspension, etc next week. Much more to come.

Progress is Made

Recently, TreMoto have been building trikes... The frame is almost complete. We still have a lot of suspension bits to build of course, and there are never enough hours in the day. Generally, though, we are on course to complete the build in May. This should leave ample time for test and tune prior to PPIHC.

This week we'll be finalizing the seat mounts, orange-ing up the front wheels and sending the wheel hubs to machining. Very excite...

Jigsaws Falling Into Place

Graphics are in. This will allow us to design the number panels and bodywork, saving some room for sponsor logos (tremotollc@gmail.com to be one).  This trike is gonna be bright and wild.

Mockup of the frame with some suspension components. We'll have it all jigged and welded up over the weekend. If all goes well it will be ready for powdercoat next week, although we also have to make the seat mounts and add lugs below the foootpegs for the lower cradle. Things are moving along quite quickly.

In other news, Jeremy and Dan have completed some destructive testing on the composite leaf spring as well as some nice FEA. They have designed a new spring clamp that allows for more wheel travel and reduced stress concentrations.We'll finalalize the spec next week and have parts in early May.

Finally, I'll throw a reccomendation to read scarbsf1.com for any technically minded vehicle dynamics enthusiasts... Maybe not too many people, but try Spring-less rear suspension in F1 for a few insights on how TreMoto suspension deisgn dovetails with modern F1 philosophy.

Frame Design ++

 

 So here's the rest of the frame. Bulkheads 1 and 4 now have double brakes and will be TIG'd to 1&3 for additional rigidity. Testing with Monstrosity showed that this was the primary area for flex. Materials are all 4130 of various diameter and thickness.

Special thanks to Brad & Janet at Valley Racks in Elliot Mississippi for their excellent waterjet services. They're cutting our parts first thing next week. Waterjet cutting allows us very precise tolerances, and the whole thing practically snaps together. With an artisan like Jeff on the torch, this frame should spring to life next weekend.

In other news, the orange braided brake lines are here and graphics are on the way from DeCal Works! We'll be designing the RM250-style side number panels around them once the mounts for the 'monoposto' are complete. Ergos are going to be rather pro-quad once the titanium footpegs are mounted. Stay tuned...

Got Billets?

I I I I I I I got em...

Five-29

We just received word today that TreMoto's entry to the 89th running of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb has been accepted! Eddie Smith will be racing the #529 TreMoto 3Z1 to the clouds.

Steering Fabrication

TreMoto fabricator Jeff Ferguson welds up the 3Z1's adjustable height steering stem. The new design will give us significantly more flexibility to tune our steering ratio to work more optimally at high lean angle. Laeger's Performance has agreed to supply us with a custom spec'd Protrax-style steering system that will allow us to achieve greater steering lock at lean angle than available on Monstrosity. All this means more grip, more lean angle and more control.

Steering head modifications are also nearly complete. Final bulkhead design will be finalized this week, resulting in a significantly stiffer structure than the previous designs. All the 4130 is already here, so its off the to waterjet, the press brake and the jig. We should have the frame ready for reassembly in the next two weeks.

Sneak Peak

Work in progress...

PS, we are officially entered for the race. Lots of news yet to come.

New Year, New Plan: 3Z1

The TreMoto crew worked really hard in 2009 building the Monstrosity620.blogspot.com project. In 2010 we iterated the design, and attended events like Daytona's famous Bike Week, the USGP at Laguna Seca. We logged thousands on miles of testing on racetracks, on some of America's most epic roads (CA Hwy 1 and the Dragon's Tail of US129) and on some dirt roads that are best the best kept secrets of Mississippi and Oregon. Everywhere we rode, we had double-takes, gawkers and photo ops.

For a first attempt, the Monstrosity was a resounding success. But between all the knee dragging, dirt tracking, and feet-up burnouts, we learned a thing or two about proper design and dynamics in leaning three wheeled vehicles.
How do you top a leaning three-wheeled Ducati?

Why do you want a 1000cc inline 4 streetfighting trike capable of 150mph? Wheelies. Jumps. Other stunts. maybe a race?TreMoto's 3Z1 will be based on a Kawasaki Z1000, but equipped with the latest generation patent-pending Leaning Vehicle Suspension System. At 50 degrees of maximum lean angle, 3Z1 will be capable of 1.2G lateral acceleration. See you on the mountain...

PPIHC.com