Table of contents

• BMW HP4 Race and Ducati Superleggera Do carbon structures work?
• Supersport motorcycles with carbon frames

manufacturer

11 pictures

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BMW caused quite a stir with the presentation of the HP4 Race at EICMA 2016. We have that “Carbon bike” a little closer and draw a comparison to the Superleggera from Ducati.

manufacturer

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1: Brake caliper – while the new Superleggera is equipped with high-quality M50 calipers, the HP4 Race prototype features the finest Brembo stoppers in Superbike World Championship quality. 2: Fork – The fork alone costs as much as a beautifully made hobby superbike complete. The HP4 Race project manager Christian Gonschor was once head of the chassis for the BMW Superbike World Championship team. This is how you get to the noble parts.

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3: Steering head – variable fork offset! In this way, the steering head angle and thus the steering behavior can be changed significantly. 4: Frame – At first glance, the HP4 Race frame does not differ significantly from the current S 1000 RR bridge frame made of cast aluminum. 5: Tank – The normal steel tank of the S 1000 RR sits under the carbon cover of the HP4-Racer. That could possibly be made of titanium on the Nobel racer like on the new Honda Fireblade SP. Carbon tanks are tricky because material joints can leak very easily and tanks should therefore be made from one piece. The lightweight component of the frame in the total weight of the HP4 should be correspondingly high.

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7: Seat / rear – If you had a close look at the rear and the substructure of the hump, you recognized the height adjustment for the one-piece rear carbon part.

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6: Engine – When standing still, there is relatively little that can be said about the engine of the HP4 Race. However, if the prototype ever turns into something like a production bike – in whatever edition – the Munich-based company should give the four-cylinder significantly more than 200 hp. 8: Shock absorber – Like the fork, the TTX Ohlins shock absorber of the HP4 Race is at the very highest racing level of the Superbike World Championship.

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9: Swingarm – In contrast to the Ducati Superleggera, whose relatively short single-sided swingarm is made of carbon, the HP4 Race has an aluminum swingarm like the S 1000 RR. 10: Wheels – wheels made of carbon are particularly delicate because the forces acting and the risk of breakage in the event of the slightest damage to the material are particularly high. Such bikes are forbidden in racing.

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Compared to a series chassis of the S 1000 RR, there are a few details on the HP4 Race frame that make it stand out. Most noticeable are the large side profiles with the engine mounting points. You are not sitting exactly where the series points are. This indicates a frame that differs in geometry. In addition, thread inserts are visible everywhere, and various edge transitions show that individual parts come together.

www.factstudio.de

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As early as 2012, Carbon-Sigl from Loitzendorf in Bavaria put a Panigale with carbon frame parts in the box of the PS-TunerGP. At that time, however, it was still an 1199.

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Even then, the weight of the monocoque dropped by one kilo. With the rear frame, which was also designed in-house, the tank, the wheels and the peripherals, the Sigl-Ducati weighed a sensational 171.5 kilos with a full tank. However, the motorcycle was not completely unproblematic in terms of handling. The tuning of the chassis was very complex, which was certainly due to the stiff chassis. Whether the 1299 Superleggera does better?

jkuenstle.de

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In any case, the monocoque from 3C Carbon contains the most exclusive engineering, which can undercut the counterpart of the first 1199 Superleggera made of magnesium in terms of weight.

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Particularly tricky: wheels made of carbon.

motorcycles

Carbon-BMW HP4 Race and Ducati Superleggera

BMW HP4 Race and Ducati Superleggera
Do carbon structures work?

Content of

BMW showed the prototype BMW HP4 Race with carbon frame at EICMA, Ducati presented the Superleggera. But how suitable and how safe is the light material carbon for load-bearing structures on motorcycles?

Uwe Seitz

07/12/2016

Supersport motorcycles with carbon frames

Before the launch of its Superleggera with a carbon frame and carbon swing arm, Ducati had drummed vigorously and distributed information up to a price of 80,000 euros; BMW, on the other hand, had the presentation of the HP4 Race with carbon frame kept completely secret. No details about the prototype on display could be found at the BMW stand either. We now know: 80,000 euros are also due for the HP4 Race. Nevertheless, the same question arises for both high-end super sports cars: does carbon really offer decisive advantages as a frame material? Low weight and high rigidity alone make neither fast nor happy.

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Super athlete

BMW HP4 Race model presentation

171 kilograms, 215 hp, 750 pieces

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Super athlete

Ducati 1299 Superleggera (2017)

Street legal supersport rocket

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technology & future

Background Ducati 1199 Superleggera

65,000 euro super sports car sold out

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Images: BMW HP4 Race and Ducati Superleggera

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Karsten Jarschke, head of the 3C-Carbon-Group, indicates the difficulties that this material can cause: “The production of a carbon fiber frame requires a lot of experience in the treatment and processing of the fibers and in the joining processes as well as an infinite number of calculations and tests, for which the corresponding programs are first required.”

Why BMW and Ducati Still wanting to make this effort and being able to justify it is obvious: The relatively small carbon frame of the Ducati Superleggera weighs 1.7 kg less than the frame of one “normal” Panigale. With the larger BMW frame, using carbon as a material is sure to save significantly more weight.

And even if the construction of a carbon frame is stable and reliable: after a fall, which of course has to be taken into account in racing supersport motorcycles, the search for damage in a carbon frame is much more difficult than with a metal chassis that is easy to see.

You can buy the 4-page article on this topic as a PDF download (see below).

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