Other bikes: The Metiss

I started writing this blog in 2007. Bottpower was not a company yet, at that time it just was my hobby.
During some years, besides writing about Bottpower projects, I used to write also about other motorbike related subjects that I found interesting: other bikes, movies or documentaries, books, technology, races, etc.
Once Bottpower became a company I stopped writing about those subjects and the posts were focused on Bottpower projects. But the truth is that a lot of times I would like to write about other motorbike related subjects. So, from now on, from time to time I will write posts not directly related with Bottpower.

This post will be the first one of this new stage of the blog, which I would like to be more flexible and a little bit more personal. As always, comments and suggestions are welcomed.

As some of you already know, I combine my work in Bottpower with another work in the races, where I am data and race engineer. In 2014 I am working with the QMMF (Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation) team. This year among other things I am working in the EWC (Endurance World Championship). Last week we had the first round of the championship, the legendary 24 hours race called Bol d’Or, in Magny Cours, France.
I have been eight years working on the races, but this has been my first endurance race. Most of the people who has experience in endurance races use to say that it is a discipline that has something special, that gets you hooked to it, and after this first experience I start thinking that they are right. I liked it a lot, it is a very different way of understanding motorbike racing, in which strategy and team work are very important. But today I don’t want to write about endurance, today I will write about a motorbike with a Funny Front End (FFE).

To be in Magny Cours allowed me to watch closely the Metiss, one of the very few fork-less bikes that is racing in a world championship nowadays. The bike was designed by Jean-Bertrand Bruneau, a dentist that is really passionate about mechanical design. The Metiss team was just a couple of boxes away from ours, so it was easy for me to take some photos with my mobile phone.

The night before the races, most of the teams use to simulate pit stops, to practice wheel changes. Top teams can change both wheels and fill the tank with fuel in less than 12 seconds. The Metiss guys where practicing wheel changes and I recorded them doing it. In the video you can see that they changed both wheels in around 16 seconds, which is nod bad at all.

The day before the race there is also a pit-walk, during which the fans can watch the bikes and talk with the riders which in most cases sign autographs. I went to their box and the 3 French riders (Enmanuel Cheron, Alexandre Ayer and Fabrice Holub) signed a poster for me. Now I have another FFE poster to hang next to my beloved Britten posters. 🙂

In the race they did really well, finishing in the top ten. A great result for a private team, with a different bike, racing against official teams with much bigger budgets. From here I want to show my respect for this team, their bike and give them congratulations for their great work.