Chopper

[slightlybent47]

I know it's been on here before but this is one sick chopper.
This no concept bike “It’s reality”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJPTSaARlvs

[ben300]

billy lane originated that design about ten years ago...


it is a truly wild design, an is an engineering masterpiece

[yellowzo3]

Originally posted by ben300
billy lane originated that design about ten years ago...


it is a truly wild design, an is an engineering masterpiece

The guy riding that bike claims to have originated it also. His name is Mike (dont know his last name) and he owns Amen Motorcycles. He built the Hubless bike in early 2004. I believe Billy finished his in 2002 so he wins :p but unbeknownst to them, they were probably working on the bikes at the same time.

Mike and Billy went against each other in a Biker Build Off episode years ago on Discovery Channel. I'm guessing that's the reason they paired them against one another.

Biker build off should have stayed on the air. It was really a great show and I watched every one of them multiple times. I talked to a guy from Discovery and he didn't seem to positive on having a show like that come back anytime. :(

[450rJam]

neither designed it, they been playing with hubless wheels since the 80's

as cool as they look no one seems to be able to produce them for the public

in 89 some dude did them on a car

[NacsMXer]

Originally posted by ben300
billy lane originated that design about ten years ago...


it is a truly wild design, an is an engineering masterpiece

Here is Billy on the design. Pretty cool stuff..

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[yellowzo3]

Thanks for the vid Nacs. Some awesome stuff there!

I guess there are a few reasons why they don't sell them to the public though:

-Cost (obviously). Billy said $10,000 bearing? Idk if it was that much but I'm sure the entire setup is at least $25,000 (You'd need a frame, the wheel, the bearing, giant sprocket, tire, all the nickel and dime stuff, and the labor to have it done). I know Matt Hotch spent an insane amount of money on the back wheel for the V-Lux and it wasn't even hubless. I'm sure there's people with the money to have it done, but it's probably not profitable enough to put all of the parts into production. Imagine walking into the shop and asking how much it'd be to have it done... "Oh you want the hubless setup? Nice choice! We can do it for around $20,000." lol

-Exclusivity. If anyone had access to this setup the wow factor and feeling of having one of the only ones would be gone.

-Reliability/Liability. I'm guessing if something went wrong it would cost a ridiculous amount of money to fix and I doubt anyone anywhere has parts on the shelf to fix it. And if something does go wrong would the builder be responsible? It's not a conventional drive design so who's to say how reliable it actually is in the long run. I'm sure a bunch of other factors affect the setups durability as well.

[ben300]

Originally posted by yellowzo3
The guy riding that bike claims to have originated it also. His name is Mike (dont know his last name) and he owns Amen Motorcycles. He built the Hubless bike in early 2004. I believe Billy finished his in 2002 so he wins :p but unbeknownst to them, they were probably working on the bikes at the same time.

Mike and Billy went against each other in a Biker Build Off episode years ago on Discovery Channel. I'm guessing that's the reason they paired them against one another.

Biker build off should have stayed on the air. It was really a great show and I watched every one of them multiple times. I talked to a guy from Discovery and he didn't seem to positive on having a show like that come back anytime. :(


i personally thought build or bust was better than biker build off. biker build off was cool because you had the big dogs of the industry competing against each other, but build or bust pitted average joes against each other...problem was, half the a holes on that show lied during their application process about their skills and couldnt finish the bikes.

[yellowzo3]

Originally posted by ben300
i personally thought build or bust was better than biker build off. biker build off was cool because you had the big dogs of the industry competing against each other, but build or bust pitted average joes against each other...problem was, half the a holes on that show lied during their application process about their skills and couldnt finish the bikes.

You got that right! Only a few of the guys had all of the skills necessary to build a bike start to finish during that time. I'd bet they could all finish it on their own if they had unlimited time though (or another week, you know what i mean lol). Some of the bikes on that show were awesome though. But yeah I do remember them flashing back to their interviews and stuff when they got hung up on something they supposedly knew how to do.

The reason I liked Biker Build Off better was because I could watch someone with the skills to do whatever they wanted on the bike in the amount of time they had. It was just a show about building the actual bikes. Once in a while the builders would share a tip or two with the viewers and it was pretty informative. They had builders representing all different styles of bikes and it was the perfect show for me to watch.

Build or Bust was like a game show and you had to watch guys struggle to figure out what they were doing and then at the end they made you watch them try and start the bike for 10 minutes. It was hard to watch because there was a chance that the bike wouldn't be finished at the end of the show and you'd never see it fully complete. More annoying than anything.

However it would be nice to have ANY bike show back on tv as they've all been taken off the air. Well, anything BUT American Chopper. That show went down the tubes after the first season.

[TNT]

Interesting but did anyone catch how the rear shock is mounted?

[aDviSol2y]

Originally posted by TNT
Interesting but did anyone catch how the rear shock is mounted?

It's called a hardtail....

[TNT]

Too bad they can’t figure a way to add a shock to help dampen some of the radial loads out, must be a killer on the back and spine.

First off as some of you may be able to understand, the best place to react or take out a rotating mass load is at its center not it's perimeter, solid steel axles w/hub/roller bearing assembly are very effective vs this design of dumping that load into a frame and alot of ball bearings(more moving parts & cost).

The further you get away from the center(CG) the more moment arm (lever) bending(wheel) you have to react. That’s why the center axle/ hub is more effective than this and why over time this design will not sustain the cyclic loads or be as reliable. Best they can do is add a lot of bearing material, frame, weight, etc, to equate the design to conventional period.

[yellowzo3]

WHOA WTF... Biker Build Off reruns are back on! Episodes are at 1pm and 2pm eastern time. What are the chances of that :p ..They haven't been aired for years as far as I know. Awesome!

If any of you caught the show today with Mike and Chica, Mike's son actually had a really nice Raptor 700 setup for MX and used to post a bunch on YFZCentral.