Part 7: making the body

Finally we start making the body of the Monsterbike. I still hope to make it as fully enclosed as possible. Reason: The work on my Secma F16 goes better than expected. Soon the first real products of my firm will be there.  :)

Robin Vellekoop helped me by making the frame for the BMW C1 screen. Using the screen as test to see where the screen should be was muuuuuch easier than using the heavy screen.

Once the roof was roufly shaped it was time to see how high it should be. They need to wear of helmet in the UK. So ...i wanted to keep that i might to make Paul Blezard able to use it during a looong testride in the UK. :)

Me testing the height of the roof. The seat here has no cushion yet. But ... i intent to shape my own seat later out of special foam with the same height.

We made sure that all the parts were properly fixed and ...we made some testrides. Yihaaa!

Sietse Van Doorn testing the Monsterbike. Sietse has experience with recumbent bikes, but none with moterbikes. But ...go see the video! We even had a test pilot with NO EXPERIENCE at all. No recumbent bikes, no motorbikes! :)

The result of the test show that none had any problems with the high position of the feet. All thought that the driver was in a very relaxed position. So ...it was like i wanted it to be.

We really found a way to create panels really quick and in a week time we had this half side made.

We create half a body and mirror later the other side. Robin is action.

At this moment we thought about this styling for the windows and doors. But ...i am not yet pleased. I will work some more on that styling. And help is very very welcome.

At this moment i am ready thinking about style. The looks might kill a good project. So ...it needs to be gooooood.

Here is already a new idea.

I changed a bit the door. It now has a solid underside. If i reinforce that area good, it wil give protection to the drivers feet if he might fall when having such feet on the ground. The black part is ...just black. It is a part that is painted in contrast. I made it black here. But ...that will be pretty difficult if the rest of the body is in carbon. So ...it might become "poison green". That will make that the Monsterbike will be very visible in traffic. Oh yes ...nearly forgot. I am going to try to place the mirrors INSIDE the cockpit. Cedric Lynch did it like that. Might work for me too.

This drawing looks nice, was easy to cut too, but ...euh ... just watch the video.

Time to make the mould. This is a task that takes a looooong time.

Making one side very nice, so we can use templates of it to create the mirror part.

The making of one side is easy. Making the mirror side is hell. But finally we are getting near the end of the positive mould makinig. Just need to sand the shape to super smooth condition to be sure that the carbon will detach afterwards.

Here you see the mirror side. The hole around the front wheel was needed to remove some braking tubes. It will be closed again. 

It was my goal to avoid making another egg-looking design. And i guess ...i did succeed. I like the lines in this design.

 The Monsterbike is getting its carbon skin. Not really easy to do with a positive mould, but ...we will fix it. Once we have the skin we will need to dismount the positive mould, make a good edition of the shaping directly about the scooter frame and fix the skin to the frame using very sturdy carbon parts. I am looking forward for the next weeks. Will be fun.