Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

!MOTOIICYCLES GO SPACEABE ~ r.:J -J ~ U By Terry Pratt "We're not looIdng at today. We know about today's motorcycles, tIley're all obsolete. We're trytng to build parts for tomorrow's motorcycle." Manny Harriman of Tablock Industries and Brian Littler a motorcycle ideaman from England have taken a long hard look at tile motorcycle and decided tbat tile best way to design a better one was to tbrow out all*tIle -old ideas and start wltll a clean sheet of paper. The Tahlock-Littler operation seems to be in tile right cl1mate to effect major cba.Dges in motorcycle concepts. They are located in Soutllern Callforn1a wh1ch has long been a center of Space age engineering anI! related industrial technological innovations. "Application of today's technology to motorcycles has been very slow, Manny explains, "The motorcycle of 1970100ks essentlally like tile motorcycle of 1907." The motorcycle industry is very far behind otller technology oriented fields and wltll tile motorcycle business stab1l1z1ng because of-·tIle year around demand for mach1nes it's time to catch uP, he says. The pair has plans for a revolutionary road going suPeJ'-bike tbat resembles present day bikes onJy in tbat it has two wheels. Tbe productiOll at tbat bike is st1ll a few years in tile future but some of tile compOllents tbat wU1 go into it are being manufactured and are ava1lable today. Their fresh approach to tile design of a motorcycle is. taken wltll safel;y as one of tile main objectives. Already, Governmental committees are being formed to study the problems of motorcycle tratflc safel;y and consumer crusader Ralph Nader is inVolved so it is obYlously important tbat tile motorcycle industry be armed wltll deslps tbat wU1 meet fortbcoming federal safel;y regulations. Both Harriman and Littler feel tbat safel;y should be one of tile design criteria and built right into tile mach1ne. As Manny puts it, "When you're tb1nklng in tile old concpets you're just adding on." Since tile motorcycle was to be redesigned from tile ground uP tile first tblng to go was tile built uP wire wheel. An article in a recent CYCLE NEWS issue previewed tile one piece cast magnesium wheels tbat are being hunt to fit Honda'S four cyllnder CB 750. The new wheels au much lighter and lbat ls eSPeclslly important because wheels are unsprung weight and critical to handling. Perhaps even more slgnlflcant however Manny Harriman, a master of manu- facturing technique. is tile fact tbat tile wheels are very rlg1d and el1m1nate tile fiex assoclsted con- ventional bike wheels. After hearing an engineer's description of how a motorcycle's wheels, forks, swlogarm and even frame twists and fiexes as we ride down tile tra1llt makes one. wonder how a present day hike stays togetller at all. The rider works a lot harder too. Every subtle fiex in a bike'S running gear necessitates a correction of some kind from tile rider. Most of us make tile tiny weight changes or arm movements subconsciously but imagine how much tIley hold back a competition rider who is approachJbg tile mechan1cal l1mits in handllng. The one piece wheel makes tubeless tires practical for motorcycles -and American tire manufacturers are now looking into tile market for an 18 inch tubeless racHal tire. The next item on tile redesign list was tile forks. Here tile answer came directly from tile American space effort and tIlere has perhaps never been a greater producer of advanced technology tban tile Man on tile Moon project. Harriman and Littler are tooling uPto produce for sale forks tbat don't have springs but instead use aolio-pneumatic accumulator exactly like tile same one used in tile shock absorbing legs of tile ) LEM or moon lander. In fact, much of tile hardware ls to be bu1lt by tile same company tbat had tile space contract. Doesn't lbat put back into tile 20tb Century. Another area of 1nVestlptlon has been tile drive cha1n. The old metal roller cha1n has served us well and ls a fairly eff1e1ent power transmitter. But it's not wltllout its shorteomlngs. Tbe modern replacement, according to Harriman and L1ttIer wU1 be a loolbed belt and alloy sprockets wltll rounded undulations instead of teeth. When sudden power ls applied to a convent1onal roller cha1n all tile pull is passed aIooc from one tiny The .power pUls~ drive b~1t and its. toothed pulley is a long overdue replacement for the metal roller chain, according to Hamman and Littler. ThiS pulley IS mounted on a cast alloy wheel designed to give a motorcycle needed rigidity. Brian Littler, Tablock·s motorcycle idea man. piece of metal to tile next unt1l for one 1nstaDt all tile torque at tile eng1De is being borne by one pointed loolb on tile rear sprocket. RellsbWl;y and wear are becoming real drawbacks wltll cha1n dJ1veD SuPeJ'-bikes not to mention problems wltll lubrication and adjustment. Tbe Power Pulse drive belt is closely related to tile gUmer belt and ls bu1lt by tile UD1Royal Corporation. Tab10ek has received tile license for appl1eat1on to motorcycles and already some major manufacturers have acknowledged its potent1al. The Honda Motor Corporation ls working wltll tIle--Tabioek people to protol;ype a belt driven CB 750. Norton of England ls working wltll tile belt as a possible solution to a primary drive need. The belt is bullt wltb fiberglass cords in rubber and lubrleat10n and wear problems wU1 be a tblng of tile past we are told. Anotber blg advantage is tbat tile power transmission wU1 be instantaneous and sixpully teetll wU1 be sharing tile power at all times. The -protol;ype pulleys are huilt of alum1n1um but Littler says lbat tIley can be east in Phenol1c, a plastic impregnated w1tb resin. Tbe Phenolic pulley would need a metal backing plate to bolt to tile wheel but tbat purpose could be served by a super light d1se brake tbat ls being tested by Littler. other space age accessories lbat wU1 be ava1lable in tile very near future include a cadmium battery wltll a built in charger lbat gives many times tile cranking power of present lead batteries, a strobe light fitted to tile front forks to make damn sure that your presence ls announced before you blast into a crowded 1ntersecUon, spee1al m1n1ature 19n1tions and a host of otber products lbat would some day all go into Littler's dream bike complete wltll a one piece forged trame, fuel cell gas tank, semi kneeling r1d1ng position, and many otller safety and performance features. Littler and Harriman hope to sell tbe1r products to botll tile 1ndusl;y and to tile reta1l market to raise ellOllgh mOlley to go ahead wltll development and produet101l d tile completed SuPer-bike. Littler studied engineering in England and was techn1cal editor of a motorcycle newspaper in Soutll Africa. He expIa1ns lbat, "I couldn't do all tile ideas I wanted to try in Europe because of tile technology. In the U.S., people in tile space industry or automobile engineers just give me lnformatiOll lbat took a lot of technical .investlgation. They don't see motorcycling as a treat as tIley might toward a competing company." .Manny Harriman ls hacked uP by 33 years experience as a tool and die maker and designer. He began Tahlock several years agn to hu1ld sprockets for go karts. He was all tooled uP when tile motorcycle boom hit and made bolt on motorcycle sprockets a stock shelf item. Brian Littler. says tbat when he has an idea for sometblng Manny can be counted on to know tile quickest most efficient technique to produce it. Harriman claims lbat tile source of most of his ideas come from ordinary riders who come to him wltll questions like, "Why don't tIley••• ?"

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