Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

. N N '" s: M .... '" LO > '" :; 31 w z W ..J U > U A test crash wi t h a nd wi t ho ut air bags. In a 3 0 MPH test cra sh wi th ai rbag (le ft ), the anthropomo rphic test d ummy " di ed" . In a simil ar crash w ith a n a irba g (ce nte r a nd right frames), the du mmy (if he co uld have walked) wo uld have walked awa y w it h no inj uri es. had p ho to copies of a re cent "Cycle G u ide " Yam ah a TX 650 road test, which co ncl ude d th at th e Yamaha TX 650 is unsa fe. The , DOT p eople ar e loo kin g into th is, an d it will be interesting to see how Yamaha reacts. A Ground Clearance Standard Ho we ver. n o t onl y Yamaha groun d cI e a ra n ce p ro b l e ms ar e b ei ng in ve s t iga t e d . Buchanan ex plained, " What we are go ing to d o is ask the man ufacturers for eac h . b y m o del . what the ground cleara nce is with th e sus p ensi o n fully co mp res sed : how far yo u can lean it ov er b efo re so me thi n g othe r th an tir e touches, wh at to uc hes, an d what is the safety im p lication wh en this th in g touch es. Also what th e m an u factu re r feels would be ad equate min imum b ank ang le. When we ge t this in forma ti o n , we ' ll use it a lon g wit h in p u ts fro m o ur Mul tid isip lin ar y Crash Teams an d our o wn personal expe rie nce to possib ly d raft a standard saying that an y m o torcycle m anu factu red use d on th e st re e t m us t ha ve at least a ce rta in m in imum bank an gle . Then this rul e would go o u t fo r co m m en t to th e public an d co nce rne d p ersons." T he DOT h as data in di cating that early Kawasaki 5 00's are , also suffe ring fro m p o o r clearan ce w hich ca uses accide nts. T his data wa s gath ere d b y team s co llec ting information o n a nd inves tiga ti ng ac cidents all over th e co un try . That Nasty Gas Cap A n investigation of Ho nda gas caps was instit uted in mid- 19 72 by t he DOT, Ho nda was aware o f the cap opening in crashes p ro blem befo re then, howeve r, as th ey in corporated a d o ub le la tc h syste m in to their gas ca ps befo re the jnvestigat io n got started. Bu chanan exp resse d th e po sit ion leading to the inv est igation. " We ha ve expressed co nc e rn abo ut gas filler ca ps be ing righ t up on top of th e gas tank wh e re in an impact perso ns will slide up o n the gas ta nk an d possib ly in cur groi n i nj u ries u n ne cessar ily . We h ave advocated over th e year s that so me th in g be d o ne to either sh ield o r recess gas tan k ca ps." Bischoff ex plained th e so urce of thei r c onc e rn. uWe h ad two in p u ts, t he Mul tidisci plinar y Acci de nt Teams out in vesti gatin g accidents, a nd they sh owed the groin inj uries in actual m otorcycle acci de nts ca used by steering d ampner kn obs, gas caps, an d so fo rth; an d also the first year of o ur dy namic testing , in 19 70, showed th at fiberglass and pl ast ic ta nks ruptu red , and fille r caps on the tanks we te sted t hen all opene d up and sprayed fu el. T h at information was sent o ut to the m anufacturers in 19 7 1. We're see i ng n ow that almost all the manu factu rers have c h an ged th eir gas caps, Before , so me lik e Kaw asaki had, yo u co ul d j ust run yo ur h and ove r th e tan k and yo u activated that b u tton, so if you slid up o n th e tank at al l, it was su re you 'd open up th e tank right on yours elf. All t he manu facturers tha t I've see n have redesign ed their gas ca ps du rin g th e las t co up le of years." T he ' co m p an ies still h ave a lon g wa y to go in • pre ven tin g gas cap groin inj u ries in · accide nts. An o th er are a of DO T investigations co n ce rn s co n tro l p lacement an d desi gn . One c on tro l ch an ge they a re lo o kin g in to is a p ro gressive throttle to ward agai ns t c rashes ca use d b y no vice rid e rs getting to o much thro ttl e t o o fa st, an d falling o ff t hei r m oun t. The DOT owns a Ho nda 350 with wh ich th ey have been experime n ting alo ng those lin es. But of all th e DOT activi ties, th e least unders to od, m o st m ist rusted, and mo st c on tro versia l is th e air bag testi" g pro gram . All th e peopl e involved adm it e x tre me do ubt about the feasib ility of t he a ir ba g use d on a motorcy cle .. .before the tests we re con d uc te d . The tests we re so success ful that everyone be came an air bag co n vert. After seei ng a 1000 fra me pe r second movie of test crashes with and . witho ut air b ags, I openly ad mit to being a fanatical ai r bag supporter . T h e damn things wo rk ! Air Bags Actually Work! A 16 0 po u nd du m my lo ad ed wit h electron ic inst ru me n ts is used as th e rider in the test crashes. A rela tivel y in conspicu o us air bag is m oun te d on the gas ta nk of th e tes t ma chine equip pe d with an air bag. A cy lin de r of gas st ored at abou t 25 0 0 PSI is co mpartme nted into th e gas tan k of the ma ch ine . In th e co n tro l crash, a bike wit hout an air b ag is crashed into a parke d car. and the d u m m y se nso rs indicate tha t th e ' helme t wearing ride r woul d have di ed in the 30 MP H head-on impact. Nex t the air bag equip pe d m achine is crash ed in to a car at 3 0 MP H. A n im p act se nso r trigger s the bag in fla ti on , an d within 25 milliseconds (25/ 1000 of a seco nd) the Lshape d b ag is full y d ep lo yed and inflated wit h eig ht cu b ic feet o f gas at o ne half PSI. T he d u m m y rid er does n o t even start t o m o ve forward on the m achin e un til 35 o r 40 milliseconds a fte r im pact.i.the bag is fully in front of h im be fore he star ts to mo ve forward o n t he bi ke . T he bag reacts agai ns t the car h ood an d keep s th e rid er on the m o torcycle , a H on da 750 . The date co llec t ed indicated th at he would have walked away fro m the cra sh . It's pretty im p ressive : fro m fat al to walkin g away in the sa me c rash , the differen ce being m ade by an air b ag! O f co u rse, the p resent air bags are hi ghly e xperimental in t he ir use o n mo to rcy cles . But due to the h igh degree o f amazing success so fa r, th e DOT has aw arded a con tr act to t he University of Denver to co n d uc t 2 7 more air bag cra sh tes ts ' in various co n figu rat ion s, head-o n , right a n gle , slide out, etc. Bischo ff thinks that th e L-shaped bag will work in all co n figu ra tio ns of a ccidents ...front he a d-on ; passenger co m p ar tm en t , rear fe nder, b ac k, front fender... reactin g with th ose various ' car surfaces . He , lo o ks forward to the d ay th at p yrotechnic in fla t ion syste ms allow a total air bag system size close to a m an ' s fist. T hen it could be put on a m o t o rcy cle a n d not even be n otic ed. A ir b ags probabl y will never b e seen on smalle r bikes, bu t ce rta in ly will have a place on long-life roadburners of th e fut ure . That is be cause o f t he co st co ns idera tio n. 1 can har d ly wait. Other ways of Saving Your Life Wh ile the ai r b ag is wait ing o n tech n o logy to bring it to a state of feas i b ility i n a p p l ic a t i o n s to • mo to rcy cles, every aspect of t he DOT Experi me ntal Safety Mo torcy cle (near term ) are feasible a nd availab le right n ow . T he ES M program , which Bischoff m an ages, h as awarde d co n trac ts with the AM F A dvance Systems Labo rato ry to study twelve ES M areas : - An ti-loc k b rakes - Cons p icu it y - I mpro ved t ra ction ti res - Im p ro ved head lam p system - Win dsh ield - Side im p ac t p rotec tio n - Dy n amic tire fail ure - Re a r vision - Secu ri ty system - Fuel sy ste m - F lexib le fenders - C o n t r o l c a b le st r eng th an d reli abili ty All th e st udy areas have e mp hasis on r------~------------------, I Crashworthiness: . I ; Extended Front End Theory I I ' . I I I CONVENTIONAL I I I I I I ,./ I I I I I I I I Impact R ider Knees Impact Object Crotch Rips Open Gas Cap Rider Goes Airborne I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I Center of Gravity EXTENDED I I Tangible Energy Center of Gravity Absorbing M a t~ Impact I . Forks Absorb Energy Rider Impaets Tangible Energy Absorb ing Mate rial DIAGRAM A ~--------------~---------- J find ing out wh at is n eed ed an d c ould be imp rov ed . an d cost . Every ca tegory of the st ud y con tacts refl ect s t he co st awareness a nd co nce rn displayed by Bischoff. T he stud ies wi ll fin d o ut j us wh at an ESM sh o ul d be , sta rting with the prelim inary investigatio n are as o u tlin ed abo ve . Harl ey -David so n , AMF co usin to the Lab d oin g th e research , h as a full y operative an ti-Io ck b rake sy ste m righ t no w. In fa c t , th e co mp an y is co ns idering p roduction in one o r two ye ars. T he sys te m is suc h that y o u can hammer on the di scs as hard as yo u wan t, an d will stop in the sho rtest po ssib le di st an ce with a bsolu te ly n o ch ance o f ski d o r lo ckin g of th e fro n t wh eel. It is im p ossib le to lo ck th e wheel using the sy stem, even on o ily glare ice. Such a system would make it po ssibl e fo r a ny ride r to d ive in to a blind co me r, gra b a fistful of fro n t brak e. hit lo o se gravel , and st ill n o t crash du e to fr on t wheel lo ckage! T he sys te m uses a hydraulic pump co ns ta n t l y pr o du cin g h yd r aulic p ress ure. When y ou h it t he m aster cy lin de r , instead o f go in g t o the b ra ke, th e p ressure the le ve r generates goes to a sen sing d evi ce, telling it h ow bad you wa n t to stop. T he sen sin g d evice monito rs the pressure t o the d isc fro m th e cons tan t so urce o f pressu re, con tr oi s th at pressure, read s wh eel RPM an d w he el lo ad. an d adjusts pressu re fro m th e h y d aulic pressu re so u rce to th e d isc accordi n gly. If feeds the di sc as muc h pressu re as i t will ta ke under any co nd it ion wi th out lo cking. It never ge ts unsta ble. All the p ar ts for the . sy st e m are c urren tly in p r o d u cti on b y Kelse y -Ha yes. Si nce an es tima te d 10% of mo t o rcy cle accidents are ca use d by braking instabili ti es , utilization of the sys te m o n pro du c tion m achines would be very wo rth while . T he system th at goes in to producti on wi ll p ro bably be a fro n t wh eel on ly sys te m , sin ce 70% of m otorcy cle stopp ing power is on the fr on t end, an d sin ce the sm all u n it co st (co mpared to cars ) o f mo t orcy cles ma kes th em co st cri t ical . T he DOT w an ts the c heapest possib le sys te m fo r use on th e ES M. The DOT Is Bikers After a day a t t he DOT , th e dudes in sid e th e b uild ing filli ng u p an e n tire Wash in gt on blo ck d o n ot c o me o ff as being c razy o r o u t of to uc h at all. Wh y is th at so? T hey all ride m o to rcycl es, m an y h avin g been trai ned b y a DOT program th at rate s an " A ". Buch an an sports m o torcy cle boots on th e job, and rid es a Hond a 750. Bisc hoff is the number tw o Expert m o to cro sse r in Distri ct 7 o n a Honda Elins o re , a ti tl e he h as hel d (wi th o u t his ne w bike) fo r tw o years. He has ridden e very production street m o t orcy cle so ld in the U.S. o ver 500cc in a ki nd of DOT safety co m p a riso n test, a nd has sh re dd ed tires and b lown h ydraul ic di sc brake seals in repea ted on e plu s G panic stops at a local air base runwa y. He rid es a H onda 5 00 on th e stree t. He makes it quite clear that he d o es n o t wan t t o see moto rcy cles be co me so me th ing bi zarre or e x t inc t, and is ve ry excited abou t th e p oten tial o f th e ESM p ro gram. Buc han an su ms it al l up very well . " We recogn ize th at we are subj ect to critici sm , but w e would lik e to feel th at th e criticis m is based on fact. We feel we do kn ow so methin g abou t m otorcycl es. Many of us ar e m oto rcy cle e nth usias ts . . We w ant o u r wo rk to con t rib u te to th e safety of m o to rcy cl in g without pla cin g un n ece ssary restric ti ons o n th e spo rt or the in d ustry."

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