As you know, this is a side project, something that we do in our “free time”. This year we are resolved to finish it and I think that we are in the right path to do it.
The trick is to dedicate everyday a little while and do it in a consistent way. Every day.
Right now the bike looks like this:
We mounted silicone hoses, we made 2 carbon fiber beams to hold the radiator in place, we mounted new footpegs, clutch lever, throttle.
We also printed an airbox prototype, which fits well in the bike.
Regarding the fuel tank, we have arrived at an agreement with Pyrotect, a company from the USA specialized in building FIA approved custom fuel cells for racing cars mainly. These cells have a bladder which contains the fuel. The bladder is inside a carcass that can be made in aluminum or carbon fiber. Next image shows an example of a car fuel cell, with an aluminum box and the bladder that fits inside.
Pyrotect will make a custom bladder for the Morlaco and we will make the outer carcass with the same shape that the fueltank has in the renders.
The bladder offers a super high safety level against any impact and also we eliminate any fuel leak possibility due to cracks. We think that this technology will allow us to increase a lot the safety level of our fuel tanks with respect to a conventional tank made out of steel or aluminum sheet metal.
This is a solution that we are going to develop in this Morlaco prototype and that we want to apply in every new motorbike that we design in the future.
These days we are also working in the Morlaco “head” design.
We already have the Ermax windscreen that we are going to mount on the bike:
We also have the headlights, from Denali. They are very light and compact, with led technology.
We also have the tachometer, from Speedhut. We like it because it looks very racy and it is very simple and light.
To hold all these elements in their position, we are thinking about making a 3D printed stay bracket, which probably will have a quite organic shape. The idea is to design it using topologic optimization software from Altair.
Rémy Roland, the industrial design student that spent several months doing his internship with us designing an electric concept bike for racing in Pikes Peak, is drawing sketches to give us ideas about how this part could look. At the same time, he is providing also some ideas for the front fender.
We didn’t decide yet how the final design is going to be, we are working on it right now.
This stay bracket can be a very good opportunity to use a Lattice structure. Lattices are intricate structures that use the minimum of material to fill a volume whilst still providing structural rigidity. This kind of structures can be formed by repetitive cells and 3D printing is the ideal technology to build them.
The interesting point about Lattice structures is that it is possible to adjust the density of the cells inside of the part, in this way the part can be denser in those areas where there is more tension and less dense in those areas with less tension. This allows creating a very optimized part regarding weight/stiffness. Next image shows a sectioned femur prosthesis (image courtesy of Betatype, http://www.betaty.pe/services/ ).
We are having a lot of fun with this project. We keep moving forward and for sure that we will show you new advances in a few weeks! 🙂
Hi David,
I just want to say that I am a fan since day one (few years ago now… we are not getting any younger, hey…!!) and I admire your work that is not only always impeccable but is also always creative, beautiful, classy and ingenious.
I just wish that one day I will be able to afford some of it…!! The day it happens I will happily become a sponsor!!
Hello Stephanie, thank you very much for your kind comment, it is very much appreciated. 🙂
Fortunately, I work with a small team of very talented people, that’s why you find the work creative, beautiful, classy and ingenious. 🙂
We are very excited especially about the new projects that we will make in the next years, I hope that we can improve in many ways.