MORLACO: A SAVAGE FIREBLADE-POWERED SUPERBIKE BY BOTTPOWER

[weeksy]

https://www.bikeexif.com/bottpower-honda-fireblade

[weeksy]

Yeah mostly that.. I don't greatly like it, but i massively respect the time and effort that's gone into it, along with trying something a bit different. I think it for sure would be a massive head turner at any bike meet.

[Demannu]

Not sure about using a suspended motor as a stressed member.
It's a show pony for their (and others) services.
There's no synergy, just lots of engineering cleverness.

[Count Steer]

Not sure about using a suspended motor as a stressed member.
It's a show pony for their (and others) services.
There's no synergy, just lots of engineering cleverness.

My 63 registered P&M Panther had the engine as a stressed frame member. The rocker cover bolted into the top frame component iirc. No down tube/s. It was hardly a performance/handling benefit though.

I'm glad people are still building stuff like this one, pushing the boundaries a bit. It would be a shame if it's just a show pony - having put so much engineering effort in it would be nice to know how the whole package actually performs in a competitive scenario. Do all the bits work together? Is that front suspension actually a step forward? Etc etc.

[mangocrazy]

Definitely far more interesting and worthy of investigation than 90% of the 'specials' that we see. This isn't just a collection of modern bling bolted to an old engine and frame, everything bar the motor has been made from scratch. Be very interested to see what they come up with as a follow-up, (hopefully) having learned lessons from this build.

I approve. I'd also like to ride it.

[Skub]

Looks like a stubby thing that will bite if provoked. After the initial visual shock,my sensibilities settled down and I quite like it.

Bottpower?

snigger.

[Cousin Jack]

It is different, in an interesting way. Who knows, it might even be better. Time for some different ideas, too many bikes are copies of another.

[Yorick]

I can't think of any way they could have made it worse

[KungFooBob]

I can't think of any way they could have made it worse

Half white, half orange wheels.

[Wossname]

Hmm. It looks to me as if Mr Meccano, Mr Scaffolder and a tin of KTM paint had a beer together. They had fun in an engineering sort of way tho so I’m not criticising. But can anyone explain how the front suspension works - is that a black box of magic halfway up?

[Demannu]

Not sure about using a suspended motor as a stressed member.
It's a show pony for their (and others) services.
There's no synergy, just lots of engineering cleverness.

My 63 registered P&M Panther had the engine as a stressed frame member. The rocker cover bolted into the top frame component iirc. No down tube/s. It was hardly a performance/handling benefit though.

I'm glad people are still building stuff like this one, pushing the boundaries a bit. It would be a shame if it's just a show pony - having put so much engineering effort in it would be nice to know how the whole package actually performs in a competitive scenario. Do all the bits work together? Is that front suspension actually a step forward? Etc etc.

I think you mis understand me.
Nowt wrong with using a motor as a stressed member, if it's designed that way. The 954 motor was suspended below a beam frame, so not meant to be a stressed member iyswim.

[MingtheMerciless]

I like it, always a fan of people attempting a different solution to telescopic forks, ultimately I think they're doomed to fail as tele's have had decades of fiddling and developing by the big boys with huge budgets and there is huge inertia fighting change from the norm.

[KungFooBob]

I thought the 929 and 954 were stressed members, the swingarm attached to the engine, not the frame, same with the Firestorm?

[MrLongbeard]

All kinds of wrong for me, although I do like the screen bracket

[mangocrazy]

Nowt wrong with using a motor as a stressed member, if it's designed that way. The 954 motor was suspended below a beam frame, so not meant to be a stressed member iyswim.

Agree that if you're using the engine as a fully stressed member (i.e. the motor is doing duty as the frame) then the engine must be designed to take those stresses. The motor in this arrangement is only partially stressed as there is a complete (i.e. no gaps) and fully triangulated frame from which it's hung. The only part of the frame which lacks full triangulation is the bit between the back of the cylinder head and the top crankcase mounting point, and that's the part where the motor fills in for the lack of triangulation in the frame.

I'd be perfectly happy with that arrangement, but YMMV.

[Bigjawa]

I like it, always a fan of people attempting a different solution to telescopic forks, ultimately I think they're doomed to fail as tele's have had decades of fiddling and developing by the big boys with huge budgets and there is huge inertia fighting change from the norm.

Looks like it's just a clone of the Hossack front end. BMW did it donkeys years ago. I have it in my K1200 Arseport. Works well.

That bike looks unfinished, I like it though.

[Taipan]

Hideous!

[MingtheMerciless]

I like it, always a fan of people attempting a different solution to telescopic forks, ultimately I think they're doomed to fail as tele's have had decades of fiddling and developing by the big boys with huge budgets and there is huge inertia fighting change from the norm.

Looks like it's just a clone of the Hossack front end. BMW did it donkeys years ago. I have it in my K1200 Arseport. Works well.

That bike looks unfinished, I like it though.

I have a Whyte PRST-1 MTB in the shed which has a similar front end, it was limited to 100mm of travel and was very smooth on normal XC stuff, much nicer than the telescopics of the time but would get rapidly out of shape on bigger stuff, the designers had a longer travel better damped and setup front end on the drawing board and development mules but Whyte pulled the plug before it went into production.

[The Spin Doctor]

Love it. Even the orange

[ChrisW]

I really like it, except for the nasty blue samcos.