Janus Motorcycles

www.janusmotorcycles.com

The Paragon...

Here is a sneak preview of what I was doing in the few moments I wasn't working on my thesis this semester. MLM's Devin Biek and I have set out to design and build a custom moped frame from the 19" wheels and swing-arm up to the polished aluminum tank and seat. Oh, and the pedal shaft... Our inspiration comes from 60's & 70's 50cc GP racers with a flavour of 20's and 30's record breakers. Don't mind those EBR's they're just on there for the mock up. More to come in good time...

Design Precedents:

Early Triumph racers

'65 Honda 50cc GP racer

The 1937 Excelsior "Manxman"

Italian 50cc racers

The famous supercharged Zenith "Super Kim"

60's Minarelli 50cc GP racer

Ivan Wicksteed's Brooklands record breaking supercharged Triumph Speed Twin

60's & 70's GP racers

Harley Davidson board track racers

I love this shot. And those handlebars...

Hobbit Performance Exhaust

Just got finished mocking up one of the MLM "Cali" pipes I built with Devin to my Honda Hobbit yesterday. I fashioned my own header flange (who needs machinists anyway?) and figured out a rather ingenious rear hanger supported of the bottom of the sub-frame. Pictures to follow. 

In the meantime here she is:

Since this photograph was taken I have mounted the old headlight off my Puchavus to the front forks, installed a different carb and purchased the 21mm intake for the bigger 21mm PHBG I will be getting to go along with the new pipe.  Lets just hope the Chinese clone bottom end I'm running holds out...

82-year-old grandfather Ted Fenwick wins opening race of the Isle of Man TT fortnight

From the York Press

Monday 7th June 2010

ANYBODY who thought the world of high-powered motorbike racing is a young man’s game should try telling that to Ted Fenwick.

The 82-year-old grandfather from York left his rivals trailing in his wake when he led from start to finish to win the opening race of the Isle of Man TT fortnight, one of the biggest events in the sport’s calendar.

Mr Fenwick, from Heworth, York, beat competitors a quarter of his age on his 250cc Ducati, which he first rode 28 years ago. He triumphed in the Pre-TT Classis on the island’s Billown circuit for the third time, having finished runner-up in both of the previous two years.

Having caught the motorbiking bug as a teenager and with 58 years of racing, plus his share of broken bones, under his belt, he has no plans to retire just yet.

He said: “I just enjoy riding the bike and I enjoy competing, because I get a real thrill from the speed of it.

“A lot of the people I race against are much younger and probably more fearless, but it doesn’t really matter, although when I started racing I never thought I would still be doing it now.

“I’ve been in hospital with things like a fractured pelvis and I broke my neck, arm and back in 1968, but I haven’t had a serious injury since 1972 and I’ll keep racing as long as I keep getting up in the morning.”

Mr Fenwick insists his success and longevity is a team effort between him and his friend Geoff Shaw, who is in charge of preparing the bike for events, and said: “I couldn’t do it without him.

“My wife Margaret is also very supportive, although she would still be pleased if I stopped racing. But while I wouldn’t say I’ve got better with age, I’ve definitely become more careful.”

The Pre-TT Classic races are run by the Southern 100 Motorcycle Racing Club, whose secretary, George Peach, said: “For a man of Ted’s age to still be competing and winning is absolutely amazing.

“He doesn’t look in his eighties and he certainly doesn’t act it. He’s a superb rider, he thoroughly deserved to win and everybody was delighted for him.”


Thanks to the Vintagent for the tip...

73.8 mph Moped

Tony Simoni's 74 mph Moped from rafter on Vimeo.

I did a post on this bike a couple of months ago.

Whiskey Business 3

Our trailer minus suspension and with chunks out of the tire:

Motion Left camper in Louisville

Rally point on the long ride:

Idling on Story Avenue

After the long ride:

The Bandits raffle bike


...And its happy winner, Bengry from the Guns.


Long exposure shot of the fireworks over Louisville during Thunder, which I still done't quite understand...


Nate Bandit Welding a scissor jack onto our axle; it worked great all the way back to Goshen!


Max Mojo's loaner after he T-boned a car that cut him off; one of three bad accidents of the rally. Amazingly he was walking around the next day.


Blk Blk's bikes...
 


Some of the more interesting bikes of the rally:

Briton Bee's Modified Pinto frame with 15mm Bing, 65cc Polini and Motion Left Pipe hit 61mph a week before the rally:

Briton Bee's completely custom Gitane w/Motion Left Pipe

Internette, Julian's amazing neon pink and yellow powder-coated Motobecane/Honda

Hobbits were out in full force led by the Hobbit evangelist Peter, now of the Guns.


Motobecane with matching knee guards:


The infamous reverse triped:


More triped fun:


Shaw-built maxi with exhaust pipe crossbar:


And my favorite bike of the weekend belonging to one of the Hot'n Readys

Motomatic Watercooled Vespa/.....

Text and pictures courtesy Motomatic

 

Major Components
Vespa Grande: Frame & integrated Gas Tank
Honda Hobbit: Cases & Rear Wheel
Derbi Variant (Flat Reed): Crank, Clutch, Variator (TJT), Metrakit cylinder kit
Motomatic Exhaust: Destroyer
Motomatic Sub frame: Built by Nate out of thin walled 4130 steel tubing made to match a typical moped wheelbase of 44”.
Rear Shocks: Honda XR 75
Front Forks: Pit bike forks (last race used EBR race forks)
Front Wheel: 17” rim with a Motobecane hub with a pit bike disc affixed.
Rear Wheel: 16” rim with Honda Hobbit hub and GSXR 750 disc brake affixed.
Motomatic Powder Coating: Thank you Mike Rafter
Carburetor: OKO 21mm (changed to a 24mm)
Ignition: HP1 Puch ignition

The Assembly:
In addition to the assembly of these key parts much effort was put into how to get these parts to work together.
• The sub frame had to be offset to ensure the drive belt was aligned
• A special reed cage manifold was made to squeeze the largest reed cage (Gilardoni) within the stock mounting stud pattern and yet still have the reed pedal close as possible to the crank case and also direct flow directly into the transfer ports.
• The rear Honda Hobbit torque driver was modified so it can match the variation (movement) of the Derbi Variant Variator.
• The HPI ignition needed the taper re-machined for a good fit, the hobbit cases needed to be machined to fit the seals and Puch stator plate, and a stator plate base needed to be machined. 10 hours spent here.
• A custom seat had to be supported and fabricated. (Thanks to Nate)
• The 70cc Metrakit kit needed slight modification of the stud holes and small amount of epoxy was used on the cases to match the stock Metrakit base gasket shape. Also, a 1mm base gasket was used to keep 1mm clearance between the piston and head.

Road speed test with stock rear gears 69 MPH
Road speed test with Malossi rear gears 73.8 MPH

For more information and pictures check out the Motomatic post

Motion Left's Youngest Mechanic

Dealing only in pink and pastel blues and purples, she is seen here adding here distinctive touch to yet another of Motion Left's custom builds.

Monster Moped

And I thought the Puchavus was original...

I spotted this fantastic creation right out front of the ghetto Martin's in South Bend a few weeks ago while he was filling it up at the pump. I pulled over and talked to him for a bit about the bike: 10hp lawn mower engine, Schwinn bicycle headset, mountain bike forks with what looks like maybe a Honda Express front fender, totally custom frame with a very interesting custom rear suspension. He said it would really go, which I can believe, but said he had it geared low for bottom end.

This wasn't just some drop-out either, he had a nice sort of chopper style pudding bowl helmet and leather gloves, and obviously new how to handle a welder. He was eager for me to snap a couple of photo's and told some bystanders to get out of the picture.

Needless to say, I was very impressed. You never know what you'll find, even in South Bend...

Extending the Puchavus Frame

The latest modification to the original Batavus Starflight frame has been to cut the frame in half and extend it by 5 1/2 inches (other changes were the loss of the rear rack, wiring loops, all the old engine mounts and the bottom of the current swing arm mount). I had originally thought this would be not enough, but am glad I didn't go any further. It's pretty long now... I plan on having this running for Whiskey Business if I can make it. I will probably not have had the time or funds to build the E50 by that time so I'm putting my attention into getting the ZA50 it top shape by then and have a seat figured out for the Puchavus's new lengthy configuration. The old seat doesn't really fit any more...

The cut frame:

Grinding the old crassbar welds off:

The insert for the extended section. Two pieces of pipe with holes through the outer to allow welding between the two for extra rigidity.

The frame welded back together and ground smooth with new angled crossbar.
Poor man's powder-coat...

The frame being reassembled. This is when I really started noticing how long it is...

With swing arm, bars and engine:

Possible Negrini tank? It's longer and narrower than the old tank, and very pretty. It's just not finished at all, so I would have to have take care of that. The old tank is so unique with its polished steel and clear powdercoat, but to go through that whole process again with the Negrini tank.. Ughh.

The frame is now longer than that of a Magnum, and has 16" wheels compared to a Magnum's 17" wheels. In other words, it looks long. At least I have enough room to run a front fender without taking off my sparkpug boot! I wonder how the handling will be affected.

Up next, replacing the old pucks with MLM performance pucks before I destroy my drive gear teeth again, new drive chain, new cables, new seat, cutting and angling the Simonini, and a possible new tank.