BOTT 1000 Morlaco: moving forward

If you follow us in our Social Networks you already know that these days we are working again on our side project, the BOTT 1000 MORLACO.

This is a project that we started in 2002 and that for several reasons it has been in pause mode for a long time.
In 2013 we published some renders that showed a redesign regarding aesthetics, and now we are working to finish the bike. The final result should be something like this:

Some days ago we disassembled the bike in less than one minute: 😛

The frame paint was in a very bad condition, so we removed it and we made a small modification adding 2 small extra tubes in the “steering head” area. I write it between quotation marks because in this bike the steering head is in the fork.
In the Morlaco, that area only receives the forces that the rider applies to the clip-ons. We noticed that if you tried to twist the clip-ons in a vertical way (so pushing one upwards and the other one downwards) you could feel a small flexion, so we reinforced that area welding two extra tubes to the frame (arrow orange in next picture) to make it stiffer.

We made a pool in our Facebook and Instagram asking people if we should paint the frame orange or black. Orange won by far (and that was also our favorite choice). Later on, we also did a paint test to chose between matt and glossy and we finally choose matt, because we think that it gives a more elegant touch. Next photos show the frame already powder coated in matt orange.

And here you have the front fork:

We also black anodized all the CNC aluminium parts. Next photos show both front suspension A-arms.

We also powder coated the Honda CBR 954 swingarm in black.

In our renders, we located the Super-B lithium battery on the left side of the bike, very close to the engine.
These days we also worked on the battery box design, and we made a 3D printed prototype. The plate that supports the battery has also a button to start the bike and several fuses. In this way, we minimize the cables because it is not necessary to run a cable to the clip-ons area.

The 3D printed part over the battery allows to guide the cables and it also isolates the battery terminals avoiding that anything that could drop over the battery (a tool, for example) could cause a short-circuit.
Anyway I would like to improve this part adding two caps, to avoid that the terminals can get wet in rain conditions.

Next step will be to build a 3D printed airbox.

Stay tuned! 🙂