Building a bike: legal issues?

[motorbyclist]

If i were to build a bike from the ground up, how hard would it be, how much it would cost, and what hoops would i have to jump through to make it legal?

wheels/brakes/forks/shock/instruments/engine will all be off the shelf parts, but the rest of it, like chassis, cosmetics, muffler and the rest would be well built and all CAD modelled and analysed so i can prove it's strong enough, and will likely have a qualified engineer or three endorse it.

thinking of my 4th year engineering project and making a whole bike would be good. year before last i hear there was a student who made a 500cc V-twin engine, and i hear another is/was working on a fuel injected two-stroke petrol (no oil needed in fuel, decent emmissions and economy). of course being a mechatronics student i'd be doing alot of the electrical stuff too, might go as far to make an electric commuter...


(note i'm not asking how hard it would be to build it, just how hard to get it vinned, rego'd and wof'd)

[Jantar]

I can't answer your question, but what a great engineering project.

I hope you go ahead with it, and let us all know how it turns out.

[YellowDog]

The road legal standards are pretty tough and to 'reinvent the wheel' will be difficult to get passed without tens of thousands in costs.

Rather than design a chassis, surely you would buy an already approved one?

If you go and see the guys at the AA who approve the imported bikes, before allowing them to be registered, I am sure thay will have some leaflets for you.

Sounds like an excellent project.

[robinm]

Have a look at the attached file 3-1 required docs.. on this page, it may not be as hard as suggested. It would require an engineers report though. Or you could use a steering head off an existing ( registered) bike I suppose.
Anyway, have a look at this http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/sh...ght=vin&page=2

[crazybigal]

go see a low volume cert guy.
it wont be as hard as all that, just go through the steps.

[The Pastor]

yeah its not that hard, not the easiest or cheapest, but not impossable.

[motorbyclist]

Rather than design a chassis, surely you would buy an already approved one?


Sounds like an excellent project.

answered your own question

if i didn't build one, then i'm just assembling a bike, which in no way would be something i could do for a 4th year project. i actually have to do something.

plus if i build a bike that happens to be commercially viable without simply buying an nc30 and swapping an engine (or supercharging it) would make finding a job easy wouldn't it? spent $20 on gas last week; if i went electric that'd be 20 cents. (and making an electric bike would give me a good grounding to "scale up" to a car)

[motorbyclist]

Have a look at the attached file 3-1 required docs.. on this page, it may not be as hard as suggested. It would require an engineers report though. Or you could use a steering head off an existing ( registered) bike I suppose.
Anyway, have a look at this http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/sh...ght=vin&page=2

yeah i had a look there at recomplying a bike, but thought that building a bike was going to be a different set of hoops, likely flaming ones, for me to jump through.

would this be what they refer to as a "scratch build low volume" certification?


really some info from anyone who's already done what i'm doing and gone through the process would be good, even if they built a car as it'll basically be the same thing minus seatbelts

[AllanB]

There are people out there doing this with choppers and trikes - I've see a guy in Invercargill on TM selling frames etc.

You'll need an engineers report re design etc, plus use a certified welder. It will get a low volume cert once approved.

What style are you proposing - the chopper or bobber route would be the easy way as they are not expected to be cutting edge re handling!

Man it was not that long ago that you could take the old stick welder to a few metres of chain and make your self a set of cool handlebars or sissy-bar in an afternoon...........

[motorbyclist]

easy way? pssh, sport bike all the way! and with fairings seeing as i'll be doing a paper or two on aeorodynamics (thermofluids and aero/hydro dynamics) and will then have an excuse to play in/with the wind tunnel

the university has the means to make it out of anything from steel to aluminium to wood to carbon fibre. and i'm serious about the wood part, the good has similar properties of the better grade aluminium alloys and with a bit of hat and steam can be bent into any shape, even tied in knots! (which is one reason they used it so much in WW2, along with cost and steel supply limits)

only limit is money

[Edbear]

Have a chat to Classic_Z, he's building a turbo Z1300 with ZX12R wheels and forks, Hyabusa brakes and rear shock, custom tank, seat-frame, etc. Using a basic Z1300 frame, but cut and rewelded, quite radically altered, including the steering head angle.

[Ixion]

Can be done. Not easy, but doable in the context. You need to talk BEFORE you start with a LVV certifier. There's a coiuple have posted here from time to time, give Frosty a PM he knows contact details for a dude called Alex.

[lostinflyz]

outside a cert. welder to do up the bike you should be able to get away with most things. may have to get a tech. report from a consulting engineer though.

itd be a shitload of work to do in a year though. We just did go kart designs here (UC) for a course and we didnt have to do any work on chassis engine and we had to have drawings in before 1st term break so everything could be made up. If it was me i would start with stock sections and work on a single component. Sounds like your keen to do the frame. not really mechatronic though.

either way good luck mate. im hoping to try building a toy in a year or two after i graduate and have money. Cause this is never going to be a cheap exercise.

[motorbyclist]

yeah i was thinking of doing the chassis work next year and the electric motor/controllers plus gearbox in 4th year

either that or i look into a fuel injected 2 stroke petrol that won't need oil mixing so will meet emissions standards, and the placement of the injector could help reduce fuel lost out the exhaust port

or a robot; that's pretty mechatronic

[TygerTung]

The road legal standards are pretty tough and to 'reinvent the wheel' will be difficult to get passed without tens of thousands in costs.

Rather than design a chassis, surely you would buy an already approved one?

If you go and see the guys at the AA who approve the imported bikes, before allowing them to be registered, I am sure thay will have some leaflets for you.

Sounds like an excellent project.

John Britten made his own engine, wheels, frame, fairings, pretty much everything and he did it in his own garage, himself, with the help of a few friends.

Frames arn't the most difficult thing to make if you're making them out of steel etc, the information is all out there on geometry etc.

People make frames here in New Zealand all the time in their sheds, I have a bucket racer with a custom frame made in Nelson and it goes very well thank you very much!

I don't think it is too ambitious of a project!