April 28

Geometry comparison, rear wheel fairing and canopy bubble.

(click for bigger)

You can see in the image above, that the positions are very, very similar. I need to move the bottom bracket back about 1/2″ on the M5 to exactly equal the foot position of CriticalPower, but other than that, my body shouldn’t know the difference between the two bikes.

I ordered these slick rubber channels from Wicks Aircraft and one of them worked perfect on the canopy bubble to nicely seal and smoothen the transition between the PETG canopy bubble and the main body fairing.

I added an aluminum hook to the tail of the canopy bubble. This hook fits into a slot in CriticalPower frame and secures the rear of the canopy.

Here is the completed rear wheel fairing.

The carbon tabs slide into slots cut into the bottom of the frame and are held tightly with two aluminum bolts that go through the frame. Like this:

The main body fairing shells slip under the wheel fairing and fit very tight – nice and smooth. I actually had bought the rubber mouldings to help seal up the transition between the wheel fairing and the main fairing, but they fit together pretty tightly, so that won’t be required.

Here is the new TODO list:

1. Communications! – The Chatterbox GMRS-X1motorcycle two-way radio systems from HelmetCom. is almost installed. I have figured out a way to use my 12 volt lithium polymer batteries to power both the iPod nano and the Chatterbox two way radio. This would possibly eliminate any need for a battery change for the entire 24 hours – no photos yet.
2. Nutrition / hydration fillers – I’m changing this. What I think would be better is for the pit crew to be able to completely remove the bags from the canopy hole and replace them with two fresh bags.
3. Fairing ribs – Done.
4. CHAIN GUIDES!!! – Done
5. New clincher wheels – I found a RENN 650 rear clincher on Ebay and the same seller was offering a 700 HED 3 carbon rim front wheel so I bought them both. I’ll simply add my carbon wheel discs to the HED, and the RENN should be good to go.
6. Fairing paint and polish – The fairing shells are at Bob the painter. He thinks it’ll be done by next Friday.
7. Rear wheel fairing – done.
8. New Canopy bubble – Almost there. I need to make one with thicker PETG. Or maybe not.
9. Canopy bubble nose lifter – I need to invent something to lift the front of the bubble up about 1/4″ to allow the airflow to evaporate any condensation that may build up on the inside of the canopy. The was a problem in Alabama when it got cold at night and we had to cut a large hole in the front of the bubble.

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