Dinner conversation will be M/Cycle Design.

[Strika]

I am in for an interesting evening. I have Tim Cameron,a very well known Australian motorcycle designer, coming over for dinner and staying the night. Some of you will know of him, he has designed loads of bikes for concepts etc., as well as cars and other stuff. So, should be an interesting chat! I'll let you know the outcomes tomorrow.



This is some of his stuff if interested.... http://www.timcamerondesign.com.au/news.html

[hoffy]

is that Born Green ??

[Phil]

Ablative Design, thats the one thing I remember from when he came into the palatial Ride Rage studio years ago.

Tim even gave it a mention in our review of the sensational MV 920 Brutale this week

[Gosling1]

that name rings a bell.......did he do a TT500 concept bike with a trellis frame and Difazio front-end ??

[Strika]

Have a look at his website Gos, most of his work is on there. But, he's staying again tonight, so I'll ask him.

It was a bloody interesting night. We didn't talk much about design, we talked all about bikes Riding them mostly. Not so much about different bikes, but about riding with buddies who are of similar pace where everyone is almost in synch with each other. We talked about the roads we have ridden and rides we have been on. He owns a Z1000!!! Yep, a late model one, not an original Zed from the 70's or 80's. By the looks of some pics, he rides it as the manufacturer intended.

We also talked and looked at a new concept he has come up with. Farking insanely cool, but unfortunately, I am not allowed to discuss what it is. It's very secretive in order to protect his intellectual property. But, when he has the designs registered, I will happily share it with you all, which won't be too far in the future. But I was blown away by it. Truly gobsmacked. He had the computer generated pics on presentation cards for a presentation he is doing today with it. I hope it gets traction and goes ahead as it just sooooo cool.

He also talked about the J-rex which he did. The story goes, he did it as a styling concept. Some guy who builds all sorts of custom bikes in the U.S. saw it and asked could he build it? The interesting thing was, that he Tim had done no mechanical or engineering design for it. In reality it was just a styling concept. So it was a difficult and often frustrating task to convert the original designs into mechanicals that work. Tim said when he first sighted the finished bike in the Flesh, that he was amazed at how much detail the guy had gone into to make it as close to the original design as possible. A guy in Qld bought one and when he caught up with him he actually rode the bike. He said that was one of the coolest things he had ever done. Taking his concept and seeing it all the way through to a real, live actual working motorcycle. OK, it's not my cup of tea as a bike to own or ride, but as a styling concept, it's pretty fucking awesome I think.

Anyways, we talked to god knows what time this morning and I am knackered today. We will see what other delights Tim might reveal tonight. It's been well worth having him stay.

[born green]

is that Born Green ??

No not BG, im no design wizz, hell i prob cant even spell the word, fuck im just a old hack who's not not as fast as i thort i used to be...
Hell ive never even wore a tyre to the edge, let alone design one that could/ would /should,

And im sure as hell not spending a night alone with marty god only knows what could happen, hell were still waiting for that guinea pig to make a reappearance

[Gosling1]

thanks Marty - I will check his website out....

heh you should ask him if he has seen any of the articles on the girder-forked R1 that Laurie Smith has built - you would have seen the articles on here ? As only the second person to ride that bike after Laurie - all I wanted to do was take it to a track for a better/more thorough flogging what a bike. Your mate Tim would be impressed with what Laurie has done I reckon ....

[Strika]

Yeah, we talked about Laurie's R1 last night. He hasn't seen anything on it yet, only what he's heard. He can see how it would work, he likes Telelever and the new one they have. Even not objectionable to A hub Centre steerer. He thinks with all those though, the problem is building in a similar feel so that riders have more confidence in it. They all tend to lose front end feel as the set ups are so well engineered they lose the flex of a conventional set up, or at least flex in a different manner.

I'd love you to get the thing to a track and work out how to make it go fast. I'd love to hear firstly what it's like, then what you did to fine tune it and then what sort of difference in times you would be on a conventional R1 of similar ilk. That would be interesting. I'd love to see it work.....like race fast work. Telescopic forks are so 1900's. I'd love to see something else work. I loved the telelever on the BMW I had. At least for the road. I never tracked it for some strange reason????? But on the road, it was sublime in the way it just stuck over braking bumps and how late you could brake and turn it. For a big bike, the front end was incredibly stable yet it held a line at full lean. Ask Hoffy about our trip up to Waterfall way. Those front ends stick plenty good once you get used to them. Once again,..... we are talking road speeds, not race track speeds.

However Tim is more of a stylist than an engineer. He's the guy who draws something that shows how it should look before the commercial realities of building a motorcycle or car come into it. I think that is why he is so chuffed with the J-Rex. The guy who built it stayed very close to his original drawings. He showed me a pic of the real deal lined up next to a pic of the design concept and there is fuck all difference between the two. It's the closest I have ever seen from concept to reality. Pretty cool stuff I thought. I am hoping he will open up his laptop again tonight and show me a little more. He has thousands of designs of various things. But all jokes aside, we sat, had some food, he and Paul the other guest had a few bourbons, I had a few scoobs, we talked bikes and he's the sort of guy you can chat with all night. Happy to talk, happy to listen. Knows what he's on about too which makes it easier to talk bikes He knows a shit load about chassis dynamics too. He shared some interesting things with me last night about how a frame works. He doesn't profess to be anything but an avid reader on the subject. He says he leaves the magic stuff to the suspension and chassis guys. Even more of a black art than engine tuning he reckons

[Wattie]

Damian Cudlin? Or was it Alex rode it at Wakefield park. It was in rapid mag I think.

[Phil]

Damian Cudlin? Or was it Alex rode it at Wakefield park. It was in rapid mag I think.

Alex and Rennie too on the day. Tim, Jase, Col and I were there on the same day

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