FF One-Offs and Home Builts

Jon Watkins STV
Arthur Middleton - GPZ500
Ted Wilkins - Snowmobile engine
Hall FT500
Dodds K1
DJ Lucy VF750
Vetter
Tom Engelbach
John Ewan
John Bruce
Henry Mayhew
Booleroo
Winiecki Safety Cycle
Quonda
Japanese design study
Peter Furlong's MZ
Home Builts
Pete Lawrence
Jan Nelder
Recumbent Moped
VT750
Moped Racing

Jon Watkins - STV

Amazing KLX650 based device that has appeared in the USA. Appeared in Cycle World and MCN.

Arthur Middleton - GPZ500

Actually a GPZ400. Completely home built. Well done. artmidd@eircom.net

Ted Wilkins - Snowmobile engines

Ted Wilkins' Feet forward, snowmobile engine/CVT powered handmade project that was at Daytona last year (2000). All aluminum chassis. He says it works remarkably well- far better than he hoped (and feared) He says he hates the "scooter appearance" and is amazed/ diasappointed by the fact that it handles better than the "conventional" snowmobile-powered bike he built before. Ted also races a snowmobile-powered hillclimber that he built himself.

Michael Moore has a photo of a completely CF framed Snowmobile device also built by Ted."It is powered by a 580cc Rotax snowmobile-type engine, has a vacuum-bagged carbon-fiber monocoque frame, weighs 320 lbs, and puts out 100 bhp. Note the belt-drive countershaft is also the swing-arm pivot. Very neat bike - I'm contacting the owner for more information. Photo courtesy of Alan Lapp. 38K jpeg file"

No lack of Canadian innovation in this man!!!

Hall FT500

An FT500 with Difazio front end scratch built in Australia in the 80s.

Dodds K1

An FF built by Barry Dodds with a BMW K1 engine, plywood body and Foale style front end. This thing ran on the road and I believe it did a long distance tour to Norway only days after it was finished.

DJ Lucy VF750

Built in the late 90s, this machine is the classic cut and shut FF To make room for the rider, an extension has been built at the back of the frame which moves the swing arm pivot back 8".

Craig Vetter

I've been trying to track these bikes down for over ten years and have finally been able to get in touch with Craig who very kindly sent these photos. In the early 80s, Craig Vetter started an economy run for modified bikes on public roads. In his words "In 1982, I decided to build a "luxurious touring bike" that got good milage. this is it. Based upon a Kawasaki 250 single, it gave 125mpg. more importantly, it was the beginning of the "Craig Vetter Fuel Economy Contests" that saw mileage exceed 500mpg in real driving conditions." It turns out that he owns a Honda Helix and is quite receptive to FF ideas but is currently involved in a fairing business for Harley-Davidsons called WingJammer.

Rifle Fairings have also sent me a scan of a photo taken at the time.

The Vetter machine is very close to my ideal and shows what can be done with a conventional motorcycle design with conventional forks. If you look closely, you can just see that the fairing comes a long way back with cutouts for the riders legs in an attempt to prevent airflow seperation round the side of the machine.

Tom Engelbach

I don't know much about the bike but believe it was built in California in the late 80s. They were built by Thomas Engelbach who says there are 2*112 inch wheelbase fully enclosed ff with outrigger wheels. Both have Tony Foale front ends similar to Quantum. First bike has a 750 Honda V4 and is a completed test mule. The second has a 1100 Honda V4 and has been run at Bonneville salt flats, but is not complete.

John Ewan

John built this machine as a design study and it is currently in the Imperial College Mech.Eng. building. The underlying chassis has been run off the road and uses a Difazio centre hub front and a GPZ1100 engine. It was designed to use hydraulically powered "skids" to hold the bike up while stationary. It is one of the most elegant designs but would need a lot of work and pieces added before it could be used on the road. In particular, the shape of the windscreen would probably require a plastic due to its shape which would then create problems with scratching from wipers although there are now some materials that might deal with this. In its basic form, the design showed an exceptionally low drag coefficient of 0.25 suggesting a potential >180 mph top speed.

John Bruce

In the 80s, John Bruce built one of the first straight conversions when he modified a BSA A50 by changing the riding position, adding one of Malcolm Newell's fairings and changing very little else. Later in the 80s, he built several machines based on the Honda CB250N (below) and CB400N, including the "racer" shown here (right).

These were designed to provide a low cost entry to the FF experience. One interesting aspect was a thin fibreglass chest protector that provided a deformable area to protect the rider in a head on collision. The handlebars were behind this and there were holes on either side of the protector area to reach them. Similarly, the mirrors were inside the fairing. Inevitably, this passive safety system was tested (!) and did a good job of saving the rider from injury. This idea could easily be taken further with an air bag.

Henry Mayhew

Henry is working on a range of FFs powered by Honda C90 engines. These are sp,e early prototypes.

Booleroo

In the early 80s, Trevor Innes, an Australian living in London UK, built this from a BMW 900/6. Gordon Jennings wrote a scathing review of it in Cycle magazine. Innes had some strange ideas and justifications for the design but it received quite a lot of media attention at the time. Trevor tried for a very low CofG, "Arrow Head" aerodynamics and "suspended" suspension with anti-dive. He hoped to go into series production with a range of machines but the idea disappeared without trace. The Booleroo had a 72" wheelbase and a 10 gallon tank built into the backbone.

Winiecki

I came across this "Safety Cycle" in an old Cycle World magazine from April '86. Tadeus Carl Winiecki built this amazing machine in California. It may look weird but is bristling with safety features such as seat belts and cables to pull the seat back into position in a front on collision.

Quonda

Here's a Honda CX500 - Quasar cross built by Colin McDowell in Australia in the 80s. The mechanicals are almost completely stock.

A Japanese design study

This bike was built in the early 90s in Japan by someone inspired by Manga. It's a working design study based around a Honda CB125.

Peter Furlong's MZ

Peter Furlong (of chaincase fame) built this in the mid 80s from an ETZ250. To my knowledge it's the only MZ based FF and would make a handy little commuter.

Pete Lawrence and Jan Nelder

Many people have built variations on the FF theme in their back yard. These two were scratch built and both use the Difazio centre-hub front end. In the foreground is Pete Lawrence's Talbot engined machine. Behind it is Jan Nelder's Kawasaki single.

Pete Lawrence's Talbot

This machine was built literally in a garden shed, but shows a great deal of thought and some excellent build quality. It is based on a Talbot 1000cc car engine mated to a Moto Guzzi gearbox and rear end. The chassis consists of two large rails that run forward to a Difazio centre hub with a steering assembly that swings upwards to allow access to the engine. It is in regular use and has been taken to the Bol D'Or. It averaged 70mpg on this run and makes a superb solo grand tourer.

Jan Nelder's Kawasaki

Jan's machine uses a frame built by the well known single racers, Hejira. It must have been quite a change for them. It's powered by a Kawasaki KL600 single and uses the Difazio front end. The steering system uses a variation of Royce Creasey's design that uses a UJ and a steering stem to bring the handlebars back to the rider similar to the Fryer machine and the HiTechati. It remains unfinished due to lack of time but has been road registered and performs well. The relatively short wheelbase and direct steering made it one of the most responsive FFs.

Recumbent Moped

I don't know what this is, but the owner/builder's clearly enjoying himself!

VT750 Special

The owner (Maria Enciso) writes:- "Here are a few pictures of my project. Nothing radical in the design, but it's the only one in town. It was built around a honda vt-750 engine and has a square tube frame. I'm working on an aluminum tube frame with a wide car tire for the next project. I would like to use something besides forks for the front end."

Moped Racing

One year we even went moped racing! This was an NVT (Norton) moped with footrests mounted on the front wheel spindle and a plastic opera chair for a seat. Steering was "interesting" but we had a laugh. Here's Tudor Thomas, leading (ahem!) the pack at the BMF rally. Some other FFers were rather more succesful with an NSU Quickly based machine and competed in the whole season's races.