Motorcycle Frame Design

[Hotwheels]

Hi

Does anybody know what type of loads and how to analyse these loads on a motorcycle frame during cornering, acceleration etc and how to design the frame around these loading cases. Also what other aspects besides loading go into designing the frame.

Any recommendations of websites or books that cover these topics will also be a great help.

 

[Messugga]

One could use basic mechanical engineering principals in order to calculate loads on a frame. As for the sort of values you're going to look at, no idea.
All I know is that I've been told not to worry too much about the finer details of a design and focus more on aesthetics with the prostreet chopper I'm building's frame, as long as I make use of the correct materials.
For reference, the motor that's going into it churns out around 115bhp with buckets of torque. Mild steel tubing is apparently more than enough to cope with it but if you want something a bit stronger look at carbon-steel or even stainless.
The latter is quite difficult to weld and requires more specialised equipment to work with.

I would think besides the loads, center of gravity as well as mass would be quite important with a performance bike. Your suspension layout would also depend on your frame design so that's another thing to keep in mind.

 

[bdt]

Decent starting point here: http://tinyurl.com/nk2ne4

 

[Palimino]

Hi

Does anybody know what type of loads and how to analyse these loads on a motorcycle frame during cornering, acceleration etc and how to design the frame around these loading cases. Also what other aspects besides loading go into designing the frame.

Any recommendations of websites or books that cover these topics will also be a great help.

If you are trying to build a homebrew frame and 2nd guess the regular manufacturers – don’t. They have had close-on 100 years, oodles of money, serious scientific inputs, racing feedback and cut-throat competition to refine their products. If you just want to put a gigantic motor in a frame and ride it like a motorcycle and you don’t need superior handling, good mechanical engineering principles will be sufficient.