Newsletter NovaBike Racing Team Delft

18 April 2011

Last month was quiet tumultuous for the

NovaBike team; due to a defective clutch,

NovaBike 01 was not ready for the first race at

Assen. We didn't hang one's head; report of this

in this newsletter. You can find also a report

from the Student Expert Camp from Autodesk,

an update of the NovaBike 02 progress and a

small part about the experiences of a team

member.

We want to thank all sponsors for the financial, material and immaterial support.

Follow NovaBike also on Facebook, Twitter and

YouTube!

The next newsletter will appear on Monday the

16th of May 2011, just after the Ducati

Clubraces at Assen.

Races

The day before the first race, fate struck; the

clutch of NovaBike 01 broke down during a run

on the dyno. Bad luck because we couldn't

replace it immediately. We only have one

engine block for both bikes (we are still waiting

or the KTM 690 Duke R block to arrive) Thereby

we couldn't replace the clutch before the race

and we couldn't participate during the first race

of the season. Despite all efforts to improve

NovaBike 01 with new parts such as a fuel tank,

footsteps and a shifting system, we could not

race. But, after rain the sun returns; PMI was

willing to supply us with a new clutch which can

handle higher power output than the standard

clutch. This was places previous week and we

tested it thoroughly. Result? NovaBike 01 run

smooth and is ready to make some speed next

weekend at Spa-Francorchamps (Belgium)

This circuit is famous for being one of the most

beautiful on the planet; the integration in the

green environment and the amount of relief

make this an astonishing circuit to start the

NovaBike race season! We want to thank the

Royal Dutch Bikers Association, known as

KNMV, for their support. We are very proud of

this since they are the main organizers of our

racing class. Furthermore, we want to thank

Rev'it! for providing the whole team with

professional jackets. (incomplete team on

photo below)

Autodesk Student Expert Camp

In the last weekend of March we were invited

by Autodesk to participate in their first annual

student expert training camp. Friday we started

our 900km journey to Herrsching am Ammersee

(southern Germany). We arrived pretty late so

after a quick look around the hotel we went to

bed early. Saturday we started we sthe day with

some nice breakfast and most of all coffee.

Autodesk had provided a spot on the main

stage to showcase our bike throughout the

event. With the bike in place we gave a small

presentation about our project and how it is

linked to sustainability. To get a better feel for

the software we had presentations and hands-

on workshops throughout the day. This was

really cool since we got to see experts who had

handled real life problems with this software. In

the evening we went to the heart of Herrsching

to look for some famous German beer.

Although it wasn’t a big town we had fun and

drank some nice beers in the local bar. Sunday

morning was a bit earlier than usual because

daylight savings time had gone into effect that

night. So with a bit of a jetlag we started the

mornin again with coffee. The day continued

like the day before with presentations from

members of industry and workshops with the

new software. In the evening Autodesk and

3Dconnexion had organized a “pecha kucha”

party. A couple students had prepared these

presentations for this event. Monday morning

was a recap of the event. Some might have

enjoyed the morning less than others due to the

free beer the night before but it was a lovely

sunny day. After saying goodbye to our new

friends we packed up the bike again and went

back home to Holland. We all really enjoyed this

weekend and want to thank Autodesk for

having us at the WoodStEx 2011 - European

Student Expert Camp.

Update progress NovaBike 02

Hardware: Based upon a 50 cc scooter block,

an external starter was made. This starter can

be used for NovaBike 01 and NovaBike 02. It

accompanies a weight reduction of more than 1

kg for both bikes. Soon this starter will be

converted to bio-ethanol. The fabrication of the

2nd frame of Reynolds steel starts next week. A

new function of the CAD program Solidworks

makes it easier to fit the tubes seamless.

Bodywork: The HDPE fuel tank was welded at

BPC and is fitted with brass parts that make it

possible to get the fuel from the lowest point of

the fuel tank, this assures the engine gets fuel

even during full acceleration or braking.

Engine: An improved airbox design was made,

the airbox will be laminated and equipped with

the K&N air filter soon. The high compression

(14:1) piston is being made at PMI. Hartgers

radiators has started the production of the

custom made oil cooler, this ensures the engine

remains reliable even during long continuous

high power output.

Team member: Yoeri Sigterman

I am Yoeri Sigterman, third year student

Industrial Design Engineering and a minor

student at NovaBike. My interest in motorcycles

comes from a general interest in vehicles,

specifically fast ones and a personal project

where I’m building a street legal motorcycle.

The most important in developing a race frame

is to make sure that the driver has the right

“feeling” and therefore drives at the top of his

level. Wido Veldkamp and I started off with

figuring out the best geometry, functions,

strength and stiffness of the frame. Because

Wido is the most experienced in fabrication and

I’m specialized in modeling and optimization

our ways split coming to the end of

development. During a period of three weeks

we were able to optimize the first concept using

the software of Autodesk.

This year we decided to use a chrome

molybdenum 631 steel of the Reynolds

company. Contact with this UK based company

and the materials choice, helped by Dr. eng.

Marcel Hermans and eng. Michael Janssen from

the faculty of Mechanical Engineering, were

done by me.

Developing a race frame is something that is

based on a lot of variables: choice of engine,

suspension, rider, etc. The engine and rider

would not be changed from last year, though

the suspension is something that needed to be

changed. Not only because of the frame

engineering but also on last year racing

experience. This is why I also worked on

suspension this year, with the help from

suspension specialist Stefan Meijer, owner of

Bitubo Race Service, it has definitely worked out

very well. Thanks to his help we were able to

get in contact with engineers of the Bitubo

factory in Italy for tips in designing the new

suspension. The front suspension is generally

the same as last year, only maintenance on new

SKF seals and some bushings were made. I

designed a new link system for the rear

suspension. This is based on the Yamaha R6 of

2010, in combination with a custom XXF31

mono shock and matching spring this should

make the difference on suspensions for our

latest motorcycle, the NovaBike 02!

HartgersRadiateurenZutphen