A teeth chattering greeting to you, dear friends.
It has been a murderously harsh winter. Relentless, unyielding, stultifying. Still grappling with a state of being cryogenically crestfallen. Most of the progress could only be made indoors, the garage was inhospitable in the extreme. So, did continue to plod on in the development of a long mused upon part - an alloy barrel specifically designed for the V twin.
As you've probably gathered, the V twin has high cams, an unavoidable and favorable design configuration decision. This prevents the presence of the handy little tappet adjustment window and cover in the crankcase. I'd been toying with the idea of making a custom alloy barrel for a while anyway, the winter hastened that project...albeit rather slowly :-) and what's more, the first customer's bike will be getting a pair of these!
This new barrel design locates the tappet adjustment window where the pushrod tunnels used to be, allowing the same easy access. Stock barrels used on the v twin work perfectly well but tappet adjustment must be made via the rocker covers.
As we all know, the superior heat dissipation properties of aluminum alloy along with a substantial weight savings has dictated its use in just about every modern air-cooled engine for decades. This barrel will save roughly 8 lbs each, or 16lbs in the twin.
Monday was spent at the foundry with very promising results, 4 were poured successfully but couldn't be cooled, cleaned and blasted while I was there. Awaiting a UPS box in a couple of days, will be posting pics of the molding and castings soon!
Pricing is ready to be posted finally after some extremely intense discussions with colleagues, things went back and forth quite a while but I suppose it is time to just put it out there and see how it goes or one can mull on this very tricky subject indefinitely and no progress will be made.
It has been a murderously harsh winter. Relentless, unyielding, stultifying. Still grappling with a state of being cryogenically crestfallen. Most of the progress could only be made indoors, the garage was inhospitable in the extreme. So, did continue to plod on in the development of a long mused upon part - an alloy barrel specifically designed for the V twin.
As you've probably gathered, the V twin has high cams, an unavoidable and favorable design configuration decision. This prevents the presence of the handy little tappet adjustment window and cover in the crankcase. I'd been toying with the idea of making a custom alloy barrel for a while anyway, the winter hastened that project...albeit rather slowly :-) and what's more, the first customer's bike will be getting a pair of these!
This new barrel design locates the tappet adjustment window where the pushrod tunnels used to be, allowing the same easy access. Stock barrels used on the v twin work perfectly well but tappet adjustment must be made via the rocker covers.
As we all know, the superior heat dissipation properties of aluminum alloy along with a substantial weight savings has dictated its use in just about every modern air-cooled engine for decades. This barrel will save roughly 8 lbs each, or 16lbs in the twin.
Monday was spent at the foundry with very promising results, 4 were poured successfully but couldn't be cooled, cleaned and blasted while I was there. Awaiting a UPS box in a couple of days, will be posting pics of the molding and castings soon!
Pricing is ready to be posted finally after some extremely intense discussions with colleagues, things went back and forth quite a while but I suppose it is time to just put it out there and see how it goes or one can mull on this very tricky subject indefinitely and no progress will be made.
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