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Red Rocket: 2012 Red Derbi GPR

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Berkeley
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Re: Red Rocket: 2012 Red Derbi GPR

Post by Berkeley » Mon Sep 17, 2018 1:21 pm

cool will do!! i saw another post you did ages ago whilst looking for a stage 6 caliper online .. I think on there you fitted an AJP in the end.

I wish the standard AJP that i have would look a bit better , may just paint it red? I saw a derbi 05 cailiper online in black that looks nice but does the same thing.

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Saying that i havnet come across any brembo calipers online .. ill check Kurvey out again.
will for sure start with the acs unit
thanks again.
Last edited by Berkeley on Tue Sep 18, 2018 12:00 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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toratora
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Red Rocket: Experiments in Stopping

Post by toratora » Mon Sep 17, 2018 7:39 pm

The first replacement caliper I tried for the DRP was a Stage6. It was very nicely made, however the mounting bolts were something like one size smaller. Because of this I decided not to use it. Sure I could have done some sort of insert on the fork, or drilled out the caliper, but none of the available mounting options seemed less than janky, and the one part of the bike that should never be janky is the brakes. I ended up giving it to a friend that rides a scooter because Stage6 made an adapter for his scooter. Most experiments don't work out, but you still have to try. ;)

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toratora
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Red Rocket: GPR in the Derbi Factory

Post by toratora » Wed Sep 26, 2018 1:39 pm

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GPR in the Derbi Factory
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toratora
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Red Derbi GPR: QuadLock

Post by toratora » Sun Dec 02, 2018 6:39 pm

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System
One of the planned systems for this bike was the control center. I figured I would need multiple iPhones, and the drone controller to be able to control the various cameras, the drone, and the gimbals.

After much research it became rather obvious that I would need a mounting bar, and a three phone mounts. This would allow me to array the phones on the bar, and the drone controller would be mounted via a Ram Mount ball that attached to the front tank mount.

QuadLock
I decided to go with the QuadLock mounting system, because it is extremely robust. The phones can be mounted in various orientations, the system includes an excellent case for the phone, there are quite a number of different mounting solutions, and the mounts have a high degree of customization.

The QuadLock allows easy mounting and dismounting of the phone to the bike. Of the other systems I came across doing a one handed gloved operation seemed way too difficult, and yet with the QuadLock it is totally doable—with a little practice.

Colors
Another subtle thing that I like about the QuadLock is that they had just introduced different colored release tabs. The blue ones are nice, but with red they totally matched the bike. Since I had worked so hard to have a strong color theme with the bike this small feature was truly appreciated.

Interuption
Because of how things went down I didn’t have a chance to realize this system in Japan during this adventure. The drone mount did arrive late, but that was no matter since the schedule had slipped, however it didn't come complete with all of the parts rendering it temporarily useless. So I ended up just setting the mounting bar up with two phone mounts. This would be sufficient for what I was going to be able to do at the time.

Positives
So while the system wasn’t fully realized it was tested to the point of knowing it was going to work. The mounting bar is actually for a bicycle setup, but because the Derbi employs a top triple with openings I was able to mount it on the triple making a perfect mounting area for the phones. It is a little tricky getting at the key, but not too difficult.

Power
Power to the phones was supplied by a system of USB converters. These were directly connected to the battery, although they should have been engineered to go through a relay, and that’s something that I will eventually upgrade.

The converters will over time drain the battery so it is best to have them switched off when the bike is not in use. If it is being ridden everyday then it’s not really an issue as the battery is being charged up frequently.

Propagation
Back here in the States I finally had a chance to work on this system again. This time the system is much simpler. Just one phone, and the drone controller. Thus only one QuadLock was necessary for this test.

QuadLocking
Again, for the QuadLock mounting I took advantage of the opening in the top triple. There was no room anywhere else on the bike to mount the QuadLock such that the phone wouldn't collied with something else. But even mounted on the triple was tricky, because of the closeness to the body work, and the drone controller.

Ram Mount
The first instance was the QuadLock mount, and the Ram mount ball fastening the tank. These could be set such that there would be a collision. This was solved by relocating the QuadLock—which was the only solution because the Ram mount ball had only one possible mounting location.

Drone Controller
The initial placement of the drone controller was offset to the left. This didn’t work out as it conflicted with the phone. Placing the controller off to the right however created enough space for everything to be manageable. Since the mounting was worked out, and proper, it was time for a test run.

Out in the Wild
I took the system up a local corner with nice foliage, and some open space. The open space is a requirement for the drone. It is far too easy to place the drone in harms way, and that needed to be mitigated.

The placement of the controller, and the phone didn’t seem to pose an issue for connecting with the drone. There’s always the possibility that the antennas of the controller wont be able to make a proper connection to the drone due to orientation, and the construction of the motorcycle.

Since they communicate via WiFi there pretty much needs to be a clear line of sight pathway to the drone from the front of the controller. The testing went well, and from the various test video I was able to assemble a short video.

Issues
Most of the things I tested had some issues. There were a few times I had to dismount from the bike, and fly the drone in. This would have been much easier if the drone controller had a QuadLock adapter.

To free up the Ram mount requires some disassembly, and that takes time—time where the drone could have found a new friend in a bush or tree, and while friendships are important some of them can be unhealthy.

QuadLock just recently introduced a Ram mount, and they have a universal adapter that could possibly be mounted to the drone controller. I’ll have to investigate these opportunities, because the current system isn’t quite optimal.

Current State
The solutions are coming together, and I have full confidence that with a little refinement this will develop into a nice working system.

Please excuse the quality of the video. I employed a new editor for this one, and I didn’t get the export variables correct for YouTube. The editor though is amazing, and I’ll be reporting on it in the future.
. https://youtu.be/UKC_zVWhnVQ
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toratora
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Red Rocket: Japan Kills Bikes

Post by toratora » Fri Feb 22, 2019 9:39 am

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Today this ad popped up in my feed. At first glance one might think wow a nice bike for under $300. But then you start looking at the photos, and the real story starts to unfold—Japan kills bikes.

The paint has nearly flaked off of the wheels, the swing arm, and is also coming off the fork sliding tubes. The aluminum parts like the triples and rear sets are covered in crust due to oxidation. The bars, and bar ends have completely rusted out.

To wheel the bike around they were forced to remove the red calipers as they were no doubt frozen onto the rusted out discs. The rear sprocket has suffered the same fate, as has the swing arm spindle, fasteners, side stand, et. al.

We cannot see the engine in these photos, but it too no doubt suffers from massive oxidation. And while it’s easy to miss due to the other atrocities the entire bodywork has faded due to sun damage.

Seeing these photos brought rushing back like a hammer the nightmare I had to deal with last year when the bike I received wasn’t the bike that I had bought. It wasn’t as bad as this one, but it suffered many of the same issues, and required a massive amount of effort. I was told, and I’m not joking here, by numerous people that the condition of the bike I received was a ten on a scale of ten!

If sun damage, and oxidation is such a consistent state that the population believes that is normal for a bike to suffer in this way such that an obviously damaged bike is still considered a ten what would a bike like this rate? This bike is nearly dead. Yeah it could be brought back, much in the same way I put effort into the machine I received. But the costs, and the effort—it just breaks the heart. Japan kills bikes. :paw_prints:





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Rj_666
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Re: Red Rocket: 2012 Red Derbi GPR

Post by Rj_666 » Fri Feb 22, 2019 9:58 pm

That's just sad.
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toratora
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Red Rocket: Quad Lock Arrival

Post by toratora » Thu Feb 28, 2019 12:39 am

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The new Quad Lock action showed up today. Those of you that have been paying attention may have noticed the phone case mysteriously appearing in the recent photos. When my phone was stolen I had to revert to my older phone. Recently I replaced the stolen one, but I didn’t yet have the proper case for it. Thus I was compelled to employ the case from the older phone—which occluded the camera. In order to take full frame photos it was necessary to remove the case. :scream_cat:

Included in the box with the case replacement came the items to set up the drone controller with the Quad Lock quick release mechanism. I knew it wasn’t going to be a perfect fit because the drone controller doesn’t have anything that could be considered a flat surface. But hopefully the way I’ve worked it out will be functional. :monocle:




Previously I used a 1/4-20 screw in RAM mount 1" ball. This functioned well, but was laborious to remove, and difficult to do quickly. The Quad Lock system allows for very quick removal. With the screw in unit removed, and the controller cleaned the universal mount was put in place. The mount is somewhat flexible to curve over the shapes. Unlike GoPro mounts the 3M adhesives was very thin, making it a little more challenging to smooth over the curves. Had I realized this sooner I probably would have used some GoPro mounting adhesives to fill in the gaps. :idea:

The instructions didn’t say how long to allow the adhesive to cure. With the GoPros and Contours they clearly state to wait 24 hours before use. I’ve got some painters tape in play to help keep the curved areas in place. Hopefully this will allow the adhesive to cure properly, and keep the curved sections attached. :paw_prints:



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toratora
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Red Rocket: Quad Lock Colors

Post by toratora » Thu Feb 28, 2019 1:39 am

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Quad Lock recently came up with some different color levers for their mounts. Since the theme with most of my bikes includes red I was really pleased with this option. Swapping out the leaver is relatively simple.

First step is to remove the bolt. Then the lever can be opened which will allow the spring to come out. Closing the lever then allows it to be pulled from the main unit.




With the unit apart then new lever can be installed. First push the lever back into the main unit. Then open it up so that the spring can be set into place. With the spring installed close the lever so that the disc can be fitted. With the disc in place the bolt can be inserted and tightened up.




With the new lever in place it was time to test it with the controller. I’ve also added more mounting tape to provide a better purchase. One thing I’ve noticed with the universal mount is that it is more difficult to mount and remove than one of the iPhone cases. I’m not sure the reason for this—it was this way even before it was mounted to the controller. It could have to do with the softer materials, but again I’m really not sure. Even still it is now working quite nicely, and it looks even better. :paw_prints:



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toratora
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Red Rocket: 2Fast

Post by toratora » Tue May 14, 2019 12:39 am

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A photo of the 2Fast kit was requested of me today. I couldn’t find one on this computer so I decided to take a new one. It’s going to be awesome when this finally gets into the bike. :paw_prints:
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kaldis12
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Re: Red Rocket: 2012 Red Derbi GPR

Post by kaldis12 » Tue May 14, 2019 12:41 am

Did you disassemble it?
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