Tubbing complete !

The last sections of the tubbing have now been laid and this entry is being written with the background din of the vacuum pump from the garage. A photo of the initial layer of CF and foam is below. The carbon is covered by a layer of peel ply, followed by a layer of breather blanket which allows air to flow, and absorbs excess resin. A mylar bag covers everything, and the yellow tacky tape forms the air tight seal. The hose at the top of the frame leads to a vacuum pump, which happily ticks away until the resin goes off.

New members, new builder, news...

Firstly, congratulations to Peter Heal, the current OzHPV treasurer who successfully crossed the continent from Perth to Sydney, without any outside assistance, in a remarkable 11 days & 20 or so hours. A truly amazing performance. He rode a Velokraft VK2. More on his ride soon.

Pete has also made quite a few recumbent bikes, under the Lizard name, over the years. So, he has agreed to help the team by make the from sub frame. We'll supply him with drawings & materials, and he'll TIG weld it all up for us. If you've ever seen a Lizard bike, you'll know why I'm rapt he's going to do some work for us.
And once Whoops is all running, we may just have another rider who's interested in having a crack at the 24hr record. SO, stay tuned for NAMES...

Whoops adds a TICK...

As of Aug 2009, Whoops has gained a full time team member & added his initials to the team. So, welcome Mick Donovan, to the Whoops team. Where did the TICK come from, I hear you ask wordlessly through the ether... TIm & miCK.
Mick & I are going to build one bike between the 2 of us, which halves each of our costs, and ensures we are both work in the same direction. Our goals are:
90kmh for the flying 200m (Mick is much faster than me, so it is HIS goal)
65km in an hour (that's my goal)
There will be 2 events during 2010 for which we will have the bike prepared. I'll advise dates once the venue & dates are confirmed.
We have commenced work on a tub bike, but vac bagging in some 4mm foam & carbon fibre to Micks existing lower shell, so make it rigid enough to negate the need for a full length frame. Pics next week.

What a Weekend

Easter 2009 may go down as the beginning of Australia's speed bike era. 1 world & 2 Australian records were broken.
I completely failed to break any records, but my time in Whoops was valuable & I established that the records are well within reach, if I can get my bike to hold together!
More soon....

Easter 2009

This Easter, 2009 (April 10-13) will see a Varnyle of speedbikes assemble at Lang lang for a crack at the 2 long standing Australian speed records.
Trisled are working on a new head in version of their Black Betty bike. I have a new chassis under way with a new fairing to come soon. Pete Heal from Canberra will be coming down to try & break the unfaired 1hr record. Mick Donovan is working on a Kyle clone with me. Tim Corbett will be bringing his trike along for a crack at the 1 & 6 hour distance records.
Stay Tuned...

5 Kyles & no Records!
SO, another 3 months gone, and A LOT OF SHED TIME LATER, and what do I have to show for it all?
But the biggest piece of news in this time was seeing my son, 12 yr old Jack, having his first ride in a speed bike, but riding using a PERISCOPE! You can just see his helmet behind the top mirror & below the normal bubble cover. Eyes are well below the top of the fairing, but the mirrors shift the image to that level. This is BIG news for others making speed bikes, as it showas the possibilities of reducing bubble height significantl;y, whilst enabling excellent stereo vision (required for best balance). This was a very exciting development.
This ride was accomplised at the Holden proving grounds, along with 4 other copies of the Kyle speed bike. We were trying to break 2 long standing Australian records, but came up short in both. So they stand: 89.8kmh for a flying 200m, and 58.3 km for 1 hour. Something to aim for next summer!

During this time I also made a trike version of Whoops for a kids Human Powered Vehicle (HPV) endurance event in Wonthaggi, Victoria. A team of 10 riders rode Tri Whoops for 16 hours. Slowly. I added quite a few safety features (rules require them) late in the building of the bike, which relly hurt it's speed. So, in short it was slow as a slug, or, as we ended up calling it, slow as a Carrot on Wheels!
Time for a break now from my shed. I have a wife who needs my attemtion for a while, so my bikes can survive without me for a month or so, and then I'll get into making them fast!

Where did those last 3 months go?

So, Whoops is now being cut up to fit over my new vehicle... a TILTING Trike. You see the prototype here. At rest, the rear wheels are locked in the vertical position. Once moving, you unlock the rear end & ride it like a 2 wheeler. I'm cutting 30cm of the Whoops fairing (race rules) as well as removing the rear wheel cover (no longer required). It's really fun to ride... stable at rest, dynamic at speed. I'll add a 70tooth chainring & realy crank it up. More soon.