Check out this head turner! Can't wait to see some action videos! more info here: http://news.drive.com.au/drive/motor-news/caterham-bikes-revealed-20131106-2x0zw.html
Cool concept, but if this is a prototype for show or not the production welds on the frame around the gas filler look like a 7 year old did them. Or maybe a 5 year old. Sorry to all 7 year olds learning to weld from there parents. I don't want to offend any up and coming young welders. Seriously, I've taught kids younger than 7 who could weld better than that.
I especially like the gouge in the tube left by the guys grind wheel that was left in the tubing next to the left side of the gas cap when he or she was back gouging out the shitty undercut welds to redo that area. Even after that was done the weld still looks like bird crap. They made no attempt to repair this before painting. Unbelievable! Look at the welds further back on the same side below the seat. Part of the welds in that area are 2 passes, 1 on top of another below and only 1 pass above. I would get fired or would be embarrassed to leave that crap on a project. Hire some tube fabrication specialists/fitters that know what the hell they are doing. Or your product will die before production models get out on the showroom floor. This is just my opinion! The bike looks heavy and maybe alot of fun in the right situations (Fun) but undercut welds break and ultimately lead you to your local weld shop for repairs, trust me. By the way when those undercut shitty welds fail. They just happen to be structural and also involve the fuel system,(ie) fuel tank you usually have a bonfire to signal for help out on the trail. Great sport. I suggest you might want to bring a along a fire extinguisher and a spare camel pack hydration system or install a race car type fire suppression system as the first upgrade.
like the look yes the weldings rubbish but if they just supplied the bits people wouldnt buy one. i would of though shaft drive would of been better and add to the monster look. i also would not fancy changing a tube on the side of a road
Inflate them with expansion foam and call it a day, like they do with contractors rental heavy equipment.
I know. I'm sorry. It should have been a one picture post hidden in your goofy thread. .... I really like it but i'm still trying to figure out its purpose. I mean, where would this bike work better than a conventional dirt bike? Maybe an extended swingarm and this could be the hill climbing king??? Any thoughts?
main purpose its to intimidate people infront so you can overtake! i mean if you saw that in your rearview mirror apart from thinking how did i get on the set of the new batman movie you would be laying bricks. also it looks like if you did have a head on you could just get back on the bike an go on your merry way! if those welds hold up that is.
I hear that! Especially if it really roosts and the pounds of debree flying at you, if it was able to really spin that humungous rear meatball of a tire. It looks like it could do some damage! I don't know whats up with the passenger pegs? Unless you're going mud bogging with your Redneck girlfriend. Or if not that maybe her cuter sister and you don't want your girlfriend to be able to follow you in your side by side or quad to get to where you want to take her or something! just a thought. This is great stuff. I think the Bicycle parked in front of it on the 2nd,7th and 8th picture looks cool. Not the 1 in the 6th picture with the phony V-Twin engine thats supposed to look like an old board tracker. If your going to go to all that trouble you might as well put a real engine in it.
Rich man's Rokon. They will most likely all sit in climate controlled garages next to Porsche Panamera Turbos and Range Rover HSEs
I was excited when I read that Caterham was going to have some bikes at the show. But now I am very dissappointed with what they presented. Caterham cars are track weapons, very light, basic and capable. I was hoping for something along those lines. Instead they displayed something brute force and ignorance created. It does look cool though. I agree with the previous poster, in that the mountainbike looking thing has some potential. Now im just waiting to see what lotus has to offer
It's just an attention grabber - but what the hell were they thinking with such dreadful workmanship - the welding, as others have pointed out. Not the way to get real, appreciative attention. Seriously, I think I could get a bloke with about 1 hours welding, with a contaminated tungsten, and crap like argoshield mixes to do better welding. Just dreadful stuff, especially on a showbike. The bicycles - once again, promo crap, that is there for attention. Though, you'll get a few fools that might buy them - the Fat / Balloon Tyre mob do tend to go for style over substance. By the way, I make real MTB frames, I know what I'm writing about. I makes me wonder if the Caterham cars are that badly put together? I've always read of them being quite the thing. They are supposed to be getting into Moto 2, I think? Crap like this doesn't bode well for them. I know Brough Superior are supposed to be getting into Moto 2, as well. Now the Brough(s) at EICMA were a bit 'weird' to those not aware of Broughs from the very distant past - it was to be expected, with their efforts to bring the old with the new - but they were gorgeously engineered things, that had me , as an Engineer, drooling.
Thanks for agreeing with me on the garbage welding. I am a metal fabricator and happen to teach welding to United States Border Patrol Agents. Primarily to fortify the US / Mexico Border. As you said I could get a guy to lay better welds down in about an hours worth of training with a portable Miller wire feeder running some NR 211 innershield wire, with no shielding gas. Out doors in the wind. Easily. The welding on these show bikes is a total joke.
being a boilermaker that was the first thing i noticed , glad it wasn't just me , someone needs to leave the welding to someone else
