Rigid Girdraulics?

[davidd]

if it was any good I would have thought Patrick Godet would have tried it on his fabulous Isle of Man Grey Flashes, would it have got him the first Vincent 100mph lap, he was very very close to it.

I do think that is a good standard. Patrick was very aggressive about lightening the new Flash and it weighed approximately 267 lbs. dry. Of course, when racing, the object is often not to advertise that fact. Much of the lightening is obvious, but one would rather have a technical inspection where the inspector would find the lightening "elegant" even if it aggressive. The through holes make a statement that is better suited to public shows rather than racing.

It turns out that Jeff Decker did a version of this type of blade lightening on an early custom Vincent. I would suspect it might be a throw back to Robert Sharf's work.

Often these mods are not necessarily dangerous, but they enlarge the roster of items that may fail during a crash.

David

 

[litnman]

Went fast but couldn't stop quickly.

 

[Whiteshadow15]

I do think that is a good standard. Patrick was very aggressive about lightening the new Flash and it weighed approximately 267 lbs. dry. Of course, when racing, the object is often not to advertise that fact. Much of the lightening is obvious, but one would rather have a technical inspection where the inspector would find the lightening "elegant" even if it aggressive. The through holes make a statement that is better suited to public shows rather than racing.

It turns out that Jeff Decker did a version of this type of blade lightening on an early custom Vincent. I would suspect it might be a throw back to Robert Sharf's work.
View attachment 28587
Often these mods are not necessarily dangerous, but they enlarge the roster of items that may fail during a crash.

David

My initial thought was that it would make sense for someone concerned with saving weight for the dragstrip, everything else outside of that and a show bike seems like it wouldn't be worth it.

Out of curiosity I will weigh the blades and compare with an unmodified set, by feel alone there is a significant difference despite not being drilled as aggressively as some of these other examples.

 

[Chris Launders]

I have often wondered if they would actually be stiffer with most of the centre section taken out so they looked similar to conventional girders and would be triangulated instead of one solid piece, but I wouldn't want to sacrifice a pair to find out. Surely one of you clever computer modelers could work it out.

 

[Vincent Brake]

Nothing wrong at an accident with those drilled blades.
As it creates more of a crash zone, rather than a sudden stop. Shaking your heart out.

And yes, its more due to the fact i dont like exxess weight.
So drilled quite a few items:
Gear, kick, and brake levers also.

So if anyone has a such a set and doesnt trust them.
I am happy to pay a price, when ive done some finite element cad calculations on them.

Cheers

 

[greg brillus]

Milled slots reduce the weight far better and safer than multiple drilled holes. Look far better as well..........

 

[davidd]

It is often difficult to understand the reasoning behind the mods. The holes may work well, although I think that modern engineers might suggest puting the drill away. A very heavy part of the fork is the steel springs and spring boxes. They would do much better in a box.

In the end, I like the Grey Flash milled forks!

David

 

[stu spalding]

So what's wrong with fighting shy of a couple of fish suppers?!!! Cheers, Stu.

 

[Chris Launders]

That would only affect your sprung weight, not your unsprung.

 

[vibrac]

I had a rule with the Comet each season I would start with a lighter bike than the previous season (after 30 years it was getting silly but not silly enough to drill my Girdralics)) a task made harder by the health and safety weight adders. covered primarys,sharks tooth guard ,105db silencers, 500cc catch bottle,and this year a crankcase catch tank, still not a worry since the ACU 'encouraged' old racers