VOL. 53 ISSUE 34 AUGUST 30, 2016 P97
THE ART OF ADJUSTMENT
"W
e can adjust the
wheelbase depend-
ing on where we want to
move the CG to. Aerody-
namically, it's important to
have the CG ahead of the
CP [center of pressure], but
not too far. If you throw an
arrow backwards, the CP
is ahead of the CG, and it
wants to turn around. If you
YouTube some of those
streamliner crashes, you
can tell that this is exactly
what they wanted to do. For
the chassis rigidity, we have
billet aluminum swingarms
front and rear, each ma-
chined out of a single block
of metal in a C-channel,
then with a plate welded on
to box it in, making a very
strong but light component.
Then we have three Öhlins
shocks up front, and a
couple out back. Those are
regular TTX36's tuned for
us by Öhlins. We're grateful
for their help with that. The
Triumph's got twin-stick
hub-center steering, again
for the rigidity. I went to the
Barber Museum and spent
a lot of time there looking
at the Bimota Tesi, and it's
totally the right way for us
to do this. We use about
50° of caster angle, and we
have a pushrod from each
side going to a stick on
either side there, so when
the rider pushes forward on
one lever it goes in an arc
this way instead of that way,
but then it's the opposite
way on the other side.
"Brembo didn't want to
release a Formula 1 carbon-
carbon brake to us; instead,
they wanted to supply us
with a superbike metal
brake. Well, that's designed
to stop a 400-pound bike
at 200 mph, whereas our
complete weight fully-fueled
ready to race is close to
2000 pounds with driver,
going at 400 mph, mean-
ing we'd melt that thing
instantly! So instead we
have a single rear carbon-
carbon brake from the drag
racing industry which runs
very hot, around 2000°F,
but then it disperses that
immediately. This is from
a company in California,
which also makes Space
Shuttle brakes, so they're
used to absorbing a lot of
energy!
"We have aircraft grips
on the Streamliner, because
they have a number of con-
trols on them. So you have
a twist throttle on the right,
with a brake lever there too,
then we have a clutch on
the left, plus push buttons
for shift up and shift down,
while also on the left side
we have a switch for moving
the landing gear jockey
wheels up or down. Those
go up at about 20mph, and
return on slowdown at the
same speed."
(Left) Hub center steering
is similar to the Bimota
Tesi. (Below) Twin Öhlins
TTX-36 shocks hold the
back-end in place. A trio of
Öhlins are used up front.
