whent to bike museum on Sunday

[azguzzirep]

Hi all,

Last Sunday I went with a group of 16 from the Goppingen moto guzzi club to this museum. It's too cold and wet to ride, so we caravaned it.

http://www.zweirad-museum.de/zweirad-museum/das-zweirad-museum.html
first click on "motorrader" then up in the corner "wieder"

After that, we went here for a cold one and some good schwaibish grub!

http://www.neckarsulmer-brauhaus.de/

Tom

[jas67]

Looks neat, and a place to visit if I'm every in that region of Germany.

I took a quick look through the pics, and came across the one of the Kettenkrad:


I've always wondered the point or effectiveness of the motorcycle front wheel on a tracked vehicle.
Does it even do anything?   I would think that the only way to steer this thing would be with differential speed of the tracks.

[RANDM]

Looks like a good day to me, luck to you.
Seeing the Horex stand reminded me - anyone know
how the Horex V6 they released a couple of years ago
Was accepted/sold? Didn't hear much more than the fact
of it's existence over here in Oz.

Maurie.

[Wayne Orwig]

I've always wondered the point or effectiveness of the motorcycle front wheel on a tracked vehicle.
Does it even do anything?   I would think that the only way to steer this thing would be with differential speed of the tracks.

About like doing a trike conversion. It doesn't lean any more, might as well add a couple wheels up front too, and a convertible top.

[LeRoy]

Looks like a good day to me, luck to you.
Seeing the Horex stand reminded me - anyone know
how the Horex V6 they released a couple of years ago
Was accepted/sold? Didn't hear much more than the fact
of it's existence over here in Oz.

Maurie.

This is a slight hijack, but the modern Horex company with the VR6 went bankrupt at least once. The engine didn't deliver its originally promised power and the company's costs exceeded its revenue while deliveries were also slower than expected. That being said, another financier picked up the pieces and they seem to be up and running again reportedly with some re-engineering to the powertrain and bike parts. How long this lasts is anyone's guess. Good luck to them though.

http://www.horex.com/vr6/

[LeRoy]

Hi all,

Last Sunday I went with a group of 16 from the Goppingen moto guzzi club to this museum. It's too cold and wet to ride, so we caravaned it.

http://www.zweirad-museum.de/zweirad-museum/das-zweirad-museum.html

The Deutsches Zweirad - und NSU - Museum is well worth the time for any motorcycle enthusiast visiting or traveling in that part of Germany. Several years ago I went there with a film crew. We had arranged with the museum staff to let us in on a Saturday morning before it opened to the public. We filmed a video tour of the whole museum for the use of Audi of America (Audi AG has a large plant in Neckarsulm). I'll have to dig that out and see if there is a way to make it available for other audiences.

[leafman60]

That's a very nice museum! Very well done.  Beautiful and significant machines.

Regarding the Horex V6, I've kinda/sorta followed that and, yes, it's supposedly back on life support. The source of fascination for me is the engine. The cylinder banks are put in a V configuration at barely enough angle (15 degrees) to allow them to squeeze the cylinder bores together offsetting around each other in order to reduce the length of the motor.

I always wondered why gizmo-prone BMW didn't employ this tactic when designing their current straight 6.  It allows for a 6-cylinder engine with an overall length similar to a straight-4.

http://www.cycleworld.com/2013/08/30/2014-horex-vr6-classic-first-look-review-photos/

http://www.gizmag.com/horex-vr6-motorcycle-2015/38210/

I think one of the greatest drawbacks of this new Horex and perhaps the explanation for its poor sales is the original design. It looks odd. The bodywork doesn't go with the engine.

[LeRoy]

Regarding the Horex V6, ...

I always wondered why gizmo-prone BMW didn't employ this tactic when designing their current straight 6.  It allows for a 6-cylinder engine with an overall length similar to a straight-4.

There's one clear and fundamental reason BMW didn't do a VR6: Volkswagen did it first. That being said, the "not invented here" syndrome didn't stop Daimler Benz from buying VW VR6 engines for use in their V-class van that Daimler Benz sold in many European markets.

[pikipiki]

Interested by the Kettenkrad I have tried to find out about the steering.
It seems there is no conventional diff but a bevel drive kind of affair to a short axle with a clutch/brake either side. The default position is the clutch brakes are engaged so output to both tracks is the same. Steering is achieved by releasing one of the brakes so one side looses drive.
You may ask why the front wheel then?
The answer - Well this kind of drive was used on some ww1 tanks and its was found to be very inefficient because a lot of power was lost making small steering adjustments. There are two solutions to this problem.
1) Start again with a more sophisticated and expensive and heavy design.
2) Fit a front wheel or front wheels that can provide the kind of steering input to guide a straight path without running of the road. At around 5 degrees of steering the steering mechanism will start to release one of the clutch/brakes.
Brakes for stopping are entirely separate.
On very rough ground the front steering wheel or wheels can be removed they just in the way but for driving down heavily rutted forrest tracks and tackling the odd high gradient incline that wound stop even the best modern 4x4 the half track is an excellent design.