And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
As an engineer, I’ve always been fond of the Moto Guzzi design. If form follows function, they’ve seemed to have a slightly skewed view of how to embody the function in a new form. It also takes part in a favorite pseudo explanation when I turn up somewhere with a new injury. I simply say that I received the injury while in Baja trying out for the Moto Guzzi factory team and dumped one of their big bikes in a mesquite bush. I, of course, blame it all on team management for putting a 68-year old fat man on their bike in the first place. Feel free to adopt this ruse when needing such a rationale. It beats muttering that I was injured in a bar fight, however unlikely that may be.
Using the engine as a structural member is a lot older than that. The Vincent Black Shadow of 1949? used the engine as the backbone, with an upper frame bolted to the forward cylinder that held the steering head doubling as the oil tank. In 1981? Yamaha introduced the Virago with the V-twin as a stressed member. I had a 920R, the sport-tourer version with enclosed chain drive and Krauser hard bags. Al_in_Ottawa
That Guzzi engine and trans package was not originally a stressed member, but employed a full frame. It was not a very good frame design. The rear swingarm was also pathetic. I raced an 850 LeMans in the 80's, and it took a fair bit of bracing to give me the precise handling I needed.
That engineering will keep your legs warm in winter.
ReplyDeleteAs an engineer, I’ve always been fond of the Moto Guzzi design. If form follows function, they’ve seemed to have a slightly skewed view of how to embody the function in a new form. It also takes part in a favorite pseudo explanation when I turn up somewhere with a new injury. I simply say that I received the injury while in Baja trying out for the Moto Guzzi factory team and dumped one of their big bikes in a mesquite bush. I, of course, blame it all on team management for putting a 68-year old fat man on their bike in the first place. Feel free to adopt this ruse when needing such a rationale. It beats muttering that I was injured in a bar fight, however unlikely that may be.
ReplyDeleteThe engine is a stressed member and isn’t cradled within a frame.Kawasaki did the same when they came out with the ZX12R back in 2000.
ReplyDeleteUsing the engine as a structural member is a lot older than that. The Vincent Black Shadow of 1949? used the engine as the backbone, with an upper frame bolted to the forward cylinder that held the steering head doubling as the oil tank. In 1981? Yamaha introduced the Virago with the V-twin as a stressed member. I had a 920R, the sport-tourer version with enclosed chain drive and Krauser hard bags.
DeleteAl_in_Ottawa
That Guzzi engine and trans package was not originally a stressed member, but employed a full frame. It was not a very good frame design. The rear swingarm was also pathetic. I raced an 850 LeMans in the 80's, and it took a fair bit of bracing to give me the precise handling I needed.
DeleteUsing the engine as a structural member: a lot of old tractors were built that way. Don’t know about new ones. Design trade-offs.
ReplyDelete