Extended Carbon Fiber beak.....Help me design it....

[ebrabaek]

Originally Posted by dendrophobe

I guess I was one of those who asked about it to begin with.

I'd definitely agree with your idea of reusing the stock beak extension; that was exactly what I was envisioning. I'd suggest not following the same angle as the stock beak, it's probably a bit too steep. I think that if it were five inches longer on that angle, it would end up too close to the tire.

I think that some kind of ribbing underneath, or some other way to add rigidity, would be nice for the extended length. A beak isn't heavy, but it would probably help.

You could be right..... I just got home last night...... On a/c unit to install....and assemble one dining room table and 6 chairs..... The beak is third on the list......

Erling

[ebrabaek]

Originally Posted by Trout

You've seen this one?

This should be another cool project! Can't wait to see what you come up with!

I don`t think this is much longer than stock....... and ....umm.....the designer should umm.....walk the plank.....imho....

Erling

[ebrabaek]

Originally Posted by AdvWolf

What if you use the pink foam board to mill out the specs of the beek and then vaccuum form the tooling (foam board) out of a more flexable plastic.

RCBI- will allow you to rent a student for $40-50/ an hour tools included. All the cool thing that we want to really build with. Anyway if we got enough riders to pull the money together we could probably pull this off for pretty cheap. The more riders in the pool the cheaper the cost. 3-D modeling with one of the trace guns. I could take my beek to them right on the bike or take it off and they should have the model done by the first hour- $ 50. Customize to specs length/ distance. (3-D Modeling) send it to the milling machine to make the tool. (2-3 hr. tops if that) Then it is the option of carbon fiber or plastic vaccum or injection. If you get what I mean.

http://rcbi.org/wmspage.cfm?parm1=30

That is all good......but I will be done with 5 of those before the first guy arrives........ Ok.... this could be a great idea for some folks..... But for me...it`s overkill, and I`d rather put that money to work somewhere else..... If I was making an oversize fuel tank that had to fit the inside of a sub frame..... then it might be a different story.....

Erling

[ebrabaek]

Originally Posted by YetiGS

That thing is FUGLY.



What I've been envisioning, and it sounds exactly like what you're talking about Erling, is something similar to the beak on the HP2 Enduro, just shaped consistently with teh 800GS beak.

REALLY, looking forward to this.

Yeppers Scott...... I only have 3 concerns.....
1: The stock beak is under my suspicion of being a catalyst in creating a lot of turbulence on the 8GS. Will a larger beak make this worse..... Not necessarily...but it could....and I don`t wan`t any more... Only one way to find out.

2: How to make a longer unit....without breaking the nice stock look.....Only one way to find out....

3: The mount for the beak is string enough to handle an extra 5-6 inches.... Only one way to find out..

Erling

[dendrophobe]

Originally Posted by ebrabaek

3: The mount for the beak is string enough to handle an extra 5-6 inches.... Only one way to find out..

If you're referring to the bolts themselves, they'll be plenty strong enough. The Touratech HID/fog lights use those bolts to mount to as well, and there's zero problem even on very rough offroad.

[ebrabaek]

Originally Posted by dendrophobe

If you're referring to the bolts themselves, they'll be plenty strong enough. The Touratech HID/fog lights use those bolts to mount to as well, and there's zero problem even on very rough offroad.

More the plastic.... There are a lot of plastic on this bike used as structural members..... adding 5-6 inches....might make it flop around.....or perhaps....crack the "structural plastic" the beak mounts to....

Erling

[YetiGS]

Originally Posted by ebrabaek

More the plastic.... There are a lot of plastic on this bike used as structural members..... adding 5-6 inches....might make it flop around.....or perhaps....crack the "structural plastic" the beak mounts to....

Erling

Is there a way to reinforce the beak? The HP2 uses an external beak support but I'd prefer not to do that...

[ebrabaek]

Originally Posted by YetiGS

Is there a way to reinforce the beak? The HP2 uses an external beak support but I'd prefer not to do that...

Yes. And that would be simple to do...... But the more I look at this....( looking in the garage while getting tools for the table assembly...).... I see that it would next to impossible to make a new beak....and reuse the black plastic......Very complex lines and angles..... but now leaning towards.....making a new front plastic.....longer off course....and reuse the stock painted beak...... Some serious design went into the stock beak....and it will be hard to break the lines...... well....ehh... successfully...

Erling

[Captain Beardylocks]

Originally Posted by ebrabaek

Yes. And that would be simple to do...... But the more I look at this....( looking in the garage while getting tools for the table assembly...).... I see that it would next to impossible to make a new beak....and reuse the black plastic......Very complex lines and angles..... but now leaning towards.....making a new front plastic.....longer off course....and reuse the stock painted beak...... Some serious design went into the stock beak....and it will be hard to break the lines...... well....ehh... successfully...

Erling

That was what I had in my head when I fist looked into this thread... taking the stock black front piece and glue foam (of something) onto the front which you could carve into whatever shape you want, and then use the whole thing as a mold that you can do the layups over.


personally, i kinda like the fugly beak on the first page. It seems like the recurve on the front would block a lot of dirt and debris from getting flung forward and ending up on the headlight/helmet while the shorter overall length would be better for vibration issues

[GeckoRider]

The pictured beak would be "too much" in my book, but would fit in to the name I have given mine (see sig). Which ever option (full part replacement, just the black bit) you come up with that is solid and looks decent I'd be interested in just from an aesthetics side (beauty in the eye, etc) along with a functional side as secondary.

Looking forward to what you come up with.

[lmclamore]

Please forgive this stupid question...on a bike with a fender, What is the "beak" for precisely?

[ebrabaek]

Originally Posted by lmclamore

Please forgive this stupid question...on a bike with a fender, What is the "beak" for precisely?

To create turbulence on the rider.....



Erling

[AdvWolf]

Originally Posted by ebrabaek

Yes. And that would be simple to do...... But the more I look at this....( looking in the garage while getting tools for the table assembly...).... I see that it would next to impossible to make a new beak....and reuse the black plastic......Very complex lines and angles..... but now leaning towards.....making a new front plastic.....longer off course....and reuse the stock painted beak...... Some serious design went into the stock beak....and it will be hard to break the lines...... well....ehh... successfully...

Erling

That is what I was thinking with the whole tooling and vacuumed formed plastic beak. BUT will be interested to see the final product. I will just lurk along the way.

[soyanarchisto]

It will be interesting to see how you can extend the plastic tip much without risking it getting too close to the tire on full compression. If you change the angle at that point its gonna look pretty funky.

If anyone can pull it off, you can!

[Ceri JC]

Originally Posted by MSH

I am sure it will end up looking something like this.



They seem to always resemble Spy vs. Spy.

Me and a mate always say the front of his KTM 690SM looks like Spy vs Spy. If I was to get one, I'd get a white one, just for the comedy value of the contrast with his black one.


EDIT: I have been looking at the new G650GS the past couple of weekends. On that, the beak rotates with the front end, rather than staying "straight on" the way larger GSes do. I wonder if with a more upright angled beak (like the F8's) and with an extension on it, you could just ditch the lower fender entirely. Modding the F8's to operate in this way would be rather tricky, but not impossible. The only thing I wouldn't like about it would be the aesthetics when the bike isn't going in a straight line (IE every time it is parked with the steering lock on/cornering), but I'd be prepared to sacrifice that for the functionality.