A little off topic...

I know this isn't about New Zealand, but all day I have been browsing ideas for an electric motorcycle. I plan to create one as a senior project. Above is an old honda rc racer, these racers were potent in the mid 60's on honda's racing team which created a firm ground in honda's sales, and strong racing history. (Not to mention shook the british motorcycle industry!) The lightweight tubular frame is one of my options for the E Bike, although I am considering a monocoque carbon fiber chassis.

Quickly done in MS Paint, ive added the components to the old photo. The motor can be conveniently placed where the oil tank and air filter once were, although caution mounting the motor underneath the seat may create a vibrational experience similar or worse than a brit bike! Access to the motor for removal is quite convenient. The batteries could be placed where the engine once was, and I beleive six 12-volt batteries could be easily done. A removable sub frame could provide extra stability/support and for easy removal of the batteries

The electrical components (controller, relays, DC-DC converter etc) would be placed where the gas tank used to be. I would try to mock the red rectangular gas tank of the cafe racer below which would hide all the electronics. For a corny thing i could put a voltmeter where the gas tank cap was haha.
I would try to use a similar composite fairing to decrease drag, and hide the ugly batteries.

Rather than that flat looking (and uncomfortable-looking) seat i would replace it with a bench seat similar to my Triumph's


The large sproket in the rear would also be a freewheel clutch, the reason for when coasting the rear wheel would not have to turn the electric motor. It has been reported by one diy-er he extended his range of his electric motorcycle by over 25%!

Anyway, i've got a few pages of notes, but the project should be exciting if it ever does go through. With my connections of the solar car team I could experiment (and use?) old equipment from previous years. (how about that $30,000 custom lithium battery pack? that would be nice.) The main goal is to create an E Bike using some ideas to save on weight, rolling resistance and drag keeping to all small details, having a functional commuter bike with easy maintanence, all while keeping a classy look .

A quick post!

Well, another quick and miscellaneous post together my thoughts!


It's Wednesday the 14th and a beautiful day in Christchurch! The winter weather is suitable enough for a long sleeve shirt and a light leather jacket.

Cooking a french au jus roast sandwiches in the slow cooker, should be quite delicious. Onion soup, beer, beef stock, and a rump roast is all thats needed (I added a few diced vegetables due to my mother mentality engraved in the back of my head)

Last night I saw the show Waiting For Godot in the city, and it was great! I fell asleep during some of the second act, actually make that 80% of the second act. But what I saw i absolutely loved. I was standing next to Ian Mckellen in the lobby while picking up my tickets, although i didnt realize once the lady at the counter pointed out this fact.

Let me spin you a strong yarn (let's have a serious conversation)

Wandering the city at night is a pleasurable experience, the restaurants look like great eateries, and the grounds of the city are so nice! I can't wait to see this gorgeous city in the summer. I also noticed that everyone here has a sort of, higher intelligence level overall than back in the states. At the theatre noone was rude and took any flash photography, and all that was needed to remind people to turn off their cell phones was an annoying ring over the PA system. People here are rather quiet in this conservative time, but when spoken to they have a humorous, courteous and light-hearted manner about them.

oh, I came here for school, right.

Electricity and magnetism is a great course, but they jump quickly into the meat of the course, and i have quite a bit of physics to relearn rather quickly.

quantum mechanics dove straight into wave interference and Braggs interference in electron penetration, which I learned quite a bit off the bat.

I joined a lot of clubs!!!!

Ski and Snowboard club

Tramping (Hiking Club)

Motosoc (motorsports club with dirt biking, 4wd and car racing activities, not to mention a great network to join for findind a motorcycle over hear!)

Engineers Without Borders

SEAL Club (Super Exciting And Lovable, which hosts strange events like wear a suit and go to a laser tag, disco on ice, and has a great shirt that says I heart Seal Clubbing. haha)

Bussoc (a bus that goes from bar to bar to see the city)

Sinnerman (musical theatre, although i probably wont take part, just see a bunch of music and theatre shows.)



Anyway, off to the kayaking club BBQ, i wanted to join but im just going to join in on a weekend trip sometime later this semester



so much for a quick post.

Temple Basin!

What a great weekend!

I decided to tag along with the ski and snowboard club as we took a 2.5 hour drive into the mountains to Temple Basin Park. Unbeleivable views. I saw a Kea also! they known aso ne of the world's smartest birds, and only about 5000 live in the world, mainly in the alpine regions of the South Island. They are known to go into cars or houses, rummage around for food, but often find curious objects, play with them and then leave. They are green with red under there wings, and make interesting calls.




Due to the poor snow conditions a few friends and myself decided to hike around for about 3-4 hours. Fantastic views, I hope to make a short video of the clips and pictures I took while up on the mountain. The sun is terribly strong. You NEED to have sunscreen, especially this Irish-skinned lad your reading about.

On the way down, I decided to slide down the mountain, which was amazing! The second try on a more narrow pass I had a real close call to a rock at the bottom of the slope. Last second before i was able to jump over it, PHEW! I was recording at the time, and dug my camera into the ice and snow in order to steer me out of the way. I thought the camera was destroyed but suprisingly a quick dry and my Canon was back in order!

After a long tiring walk we made it back to the lodge, and celebrated for the rest of the night! With the ski club and employees of the lodge we enjoyed some dancing (with DJ, lights and equipment) drinking games, sliding down the stairs on our snowboaards, enjoying the osuthern hemispheres stars (I saw the southern cross!) and shooting stars, and slapping the goon!
(Goon is a bag or box wine which everytime you drink, you must slap it, because you have to "beat the goon before it beats you"

Anyway, great views, great new friends and some great pictures to soon follow!