The "Juice Cafe" Racer
From start to Ton up!

3/22/11 Update:  So, how is that diet coming along?

Today the racer was brought into the main garage for a weight check.
This is the first time since we added all of the operational equipment
that we have had a chance to see if all of our parts were going to be
light enough. We are shooting for a total weight of 350 pounds.

Front 150 lb, back 160lb. Total of 310lb.

The bike still has a pound or two of useless brackets and such.
The fiberglass and headlight are not 40 pounds so I think
we are looking good…so far.

The foot pegs were moved …. again. The neighborhood ride
was comfortable so I think we may have it right, for now.  

 I also started looking at the mounting system for the fiberglass tank
and seat. We should have photos of it all mounted by this weekend.

38 days and counting!

 

3/23/11 update: Bartender, what do I owe on the tab?

Me, a saws-all, and the rest of the useless tabs met their match.

Tonight I actually got a lot done. First off I finally cut off all the useless
tabs and mounts as everything that can be mounted, has been. The bolt
that held on the rear cross member was shortened. Before it held all sorts
of things and now it is 1 ½ inches shorter as all it does now is hold up the
cross member. A wood seat mount (yes wood like in the old days) was
made so I have something to rest the fiberglass bubble piece and my butt on.
I swapped out the 12 tooth front gear (4.5 ratio) for a 13 tooth gear
(4.1 ratio) to try to settle the bike down and all it did was make it faster.
It did remove the jerkiness of the first 5 miles per hour.
The rest of the acceleration was hold on to your seat fun.

I am in big troooooooouble!

Yes officer ….I really was doing science…just really fast science.

37 days and counting

 

3/24/11 Update: Keeping that motor clean.

Tonight a motor shield was fabricated using an old plastic fender.
I want to really keep the look of the old racer and this does that job.
Also the seat and wood platform were mounted to the chassis. No
more sliding off during hard acceleration! It was also trimmed to fit
the tank and the look of this racer is starting to come together.

I spent an hour trying to get the tail light to look right, but finally
stopped with nothing mounted. I am going to take look at some of
the other bikes and see if there is a happy medium of function
and looking period correct.

It may be easier said than done. :)

36 days and counting.

3/25/11 Update. We have lights!!!! (Brake lights anyway)

Today the brake/running light and license plate holder were wired
up and mounted. I have a “flasher” unit that flashes the brake light 4
times before it goes solid. I have seen much less panic stops from the
local auto drivers since I installed theses units on the Orange Juiced bike
and Harley. All I need is the head light mounted and it will be 100% legal!

 I also had the pleasure of going to the DMV to swap the license plate
over to the new café racer.  The bike had another run through the
neighborhood today as well. It gets stronger every day……  :)

35 Days and counting!

 

3/26/11 Update: Is that a tiger in your tank?

I finally got the “fake” fuel tank bolted down….sort of. Instead of using
bolts we used industrial …….Velcro. The tank is a thin, but strong,
fiberglass cover for all the electronics of this racer. The Industrial
Velcro will hold it very well and provide that little bit of flex so the
fiberglass does not crack under the stress of riding on the local roads. The mounting surface is aluminum plate so it has a wide area to hold on to.

   We received our application to the car/bike show today. This is the one
we are setting our goal of having the project done by, April 30th. They
only allow 250 entries so we had to receive approval to be in this charity
show (one of our favorite). Since it is a technical college (and I am an
alumnus) we were hoping that would help us to be granted a spot.

I guess they thought so too.

34 days and counting

 

3/27/11 Update: Battery balance runs.

One thing with Headway batteries you need to do is make some small
runs to balance them and make them “happy”. Until all the rain we
really needed came today I ran the bike through the neighborhood
until the system got to about 50%. Most of the battery pack was already balanced, but since we added more cells it still is a needed procedure.
If not an untimely death of a cell or two will happen.

If nothing else it was fun to ride the bike before the final tear down
for paint and such. That will be in the next week or two so I should be
able to do some more balancing. That way when it is complete, I can
just ride and ride and ride!

33 Days and counting.

3/28/11 Update: I see the light! (Almost)

Today we received the light “bucket” for the headlight that is supposed
to be glued into the back of the inside of the racing fairing. Since this will
also be a street bike we will make brackets (Photo later in the week) to
hold this in and bolt it to the fairing. That way we can change the light
and not be too destructive about it.

I was hoping to get all of this started, but it was 47 degrees (where did
spring go?) raining heavily (2” in 1 ½ hour!) and not the best weather to
be doing fiberglass work in an unheated garage. Instead I started to do
some cleaning of the aluminum rims and such.

Even with all the dreary weather, it was still a productive evening!

 

32 days and counting!

 

3/29/11 Update: This glass is kicking my …..

You would think that with the fiberglass seat and tank mounting going
so easily that the fairing would be the same….not so.  This racing faring
has some very tight clearances around the handle bars as it should.
It is very well made and I do not want to cut any of it up unless I
have to. I will do some more work on it this weekend.

I did get the fine tuning of the controller done as well as a good twenty
miles on the GPS odometer today.  Until we do the “Ton up” runs I will
run it in extended range mode. It is programmed with just enough Amps
to keep the EV smile on my face, but still have usable range. The locals
have also started to notice the Café racer. Two of them made a stop by
the house to take a look.  So far, thumbs up!

31 days and counting!

Page 6!