Bear in mind this is a full grown, 100+ horse, all day comfy, canyon carving, 100 mph cruising motorcylce.
The Evil Twin (pun intended) comes standard:
Note to the stubby legged (Nate!) - watch the end sequence and you will see Charlie doin' a triple one cheek stop. That's someone who's really determined to ride an Adventure.
Thursday, January 03, 2008
Gary's Hot Pants
The discussion at hand is on the achievement of spacesuit like environmental control for the motorcyclist. The tried and true method is to use high resistance wire for a heating element throughout the garments worn by the rider, but Gary has an interesting take on the whole problem which would probably in the end be more comfortable, allow for defrogging the visor, and ramp up the geek factor about 1000 times.
Honda Goldwings and Kawasaki Concours have used a passive version of this for years placing the rider at the mercy of mother nature's capricious fancy and Sir Isaac Newton's laws to mix warm and ambient air in whatever temperature and ratio happen to occur.
A "boxer" type motor ("pancake" for you non-German speaking types) lends itself well to this type of setup as the "jugs" and exhaust headers are out in the airstream ready to be tapped. A system utilizing this air stream would be ideal in the following ways:
1) Airflow increases with speed as does heat production and rider heat requirement.
2) Positive pressure within garments would work to prohibit cold air infiltration.
3) Ducted air would eliminate fogged visor in all conditions.
Initially, the problems I see are as follows:
1) Materials have to be used that can withstand the temperature; that of the heated air passing through them and at the physical connection to the part upstream and therefore hotter.
2) Lightwieght and low bulk distribution throughout the garment attached. Perhaps not that big a deal as heat will naturally pass from the leading surfaces to the following.
3) Flexibilty of attachment must allow rider mobility in the "cockpit" to control motorcyle, mount and dismount,easily.
Why not just harness the heat from the pipes? A heatbox fabricated from a cylinder of some sort placed over a section of the exhaust pipe and ducted through flexible hose into a small junction box which could be equipped with a small dc fan of some sort. The hose from the "junction box" could lead into a jacket fitted with a small connector on the bottom seam which would allow access to the interior of the garment. Some sort of small diameter tubing or piping could be used to flow the heat wherever needed.
Gary | Email | Homepage | 01.03.08 - 3:35 am |
Honda Goldwings and Kawasaki Concours have used a passive version of this for years placing the rider at the mercy of mother nature's capricious fancy and Sir Isaac Newton's laws to mix warm and ambient air in whatever temperature and ratio happen to occur.
A "boxer" type motor ("pancake" for you non-German speaking types) lends itself well to this type of setup as the "jugs" and exhaust headers are out in the airstream ready to be tapped. A system utilizing this air stream would be ideal in the following ways:
1) Airflow increases with speed as does heat production and rider heat requirement.
2) Positive pressure within garments would work to prohibit cold air infiltration.
3) Ducted air would eliminate fogged visor in all conditions.
Initially, the problems I see are as follows:
1) Materials have to be used that can withstand the temperature; that of the heated air passing through them and at the physical connection to the part upstream and therefore hotter.
2) Lightwieght and low bulk distribution throughout the garment attached. Perhaps not that big a deal as heat will naturally pass from the leading surfaces to the following.
3) Flexibilty of attachment must allow rider mobility in the "cockpit" to control motorcyle, mount and dismount,easily.
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