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350TSS · 02-01-2017, 05:25 PM

Blind alley
I thought about the positioning of the battery/coils/electrics generally. On a 94 Monster, as standard, they sit on/or above the battery above the rear cylinder, so quite high in the scheme of things. The wiring is all over the place. Ignition is at the headstock, fuse box is under the seat, coils and relays under the tank. You obviously need the rear light wiring to be near the rear light but everything else could be centralised, thereby reducing weight and complexity.
You read all this stuff about mass centralisation and its importance to making the bike "flickable". My objective was always mass minimisation, but if I could centralise the mass, as well as reduce its overall impact then that would have to be a good thing - surely.
I always intended to fit a LiOn battery to reduce the overall mass by about 3Kg. The dimensions of most of the LiOn batteries are considerably smaller so it could be moved to a lower position, nearer the centre of mass.
Others have been happy to put the battery in the seat hump, but I have always felt that this location compromised the balance of the bike being high and a long way beyond the wheelbase and also suffered because the battery leads would be excessively long and unnecessarily exposed. In my view the battery had to be as close to the starter motor as possible and preferably as low as possible.
With this in mind I thought about putting every single bit of the wiring behind the steering head bearing. The battery could sit behind the cross frame brace and the coils could could sit above an alloy plate that sat below the lower frame rails.
Immediately behind the steering head would obviously be subject to severe water ingress from the front and from the periphery of the front mudguard. My original design was to make an aluminium plate to attach to the lower frame rails.
Some months ago the council left a road sign propped against my front fence. The angle iron frame for the sign was missing so it was basically a 3' x 3' x 4mm aluminium shee (slightly buckled)t. Absolutely perfect for a battery box / waterproof electrical container. Removing the plastic/reflective front label proved very time consuming. I also found that bending 4mm aluminium accurately was quite difficult without ending up with big dents from the 2Kg hammer and vice used to do so. A bending device was needed so I built this from some 3"" x 2" scrap box section, some 1.5" x 3/8" scrap and some old dexion.

02-01-2017, 05:25 PM	#22
350TSS Too much time on my hands member Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: Shipbourne Bike: M900 Posts: 1,419	Blind alley I thought about the positioning of the battery/coils/electrics generally. On a 94 Monster, as standard, they sit on/or above the battery above the rear cylinder, so quite high in the scheme of things. The wiring is all over the place. Ignition is at the headstock, fuse box is under the seat, coils and relays under the tank. You obviously need the rear light wiring to be near the rear light but everything else could be centralised, thereby reducing weight and complexity. You read all this stuff about mass centralisation and its importance to making the bike "flickable". My objective was always mass minimisation, but if I could centralise the mass, as well as reduce its overall impact then that would have to be a good thing - surely. I always intended to fit a LiOn battery to reduce the overall mass by about 3Kg. The dimensions of most of the LiOn batteries are considerably smaller so it could be moved to a lower position, nearer the centre of mass. Others have been happy to put the battery in the seat hump, but I have always felt that this location compromised the balance of the bike being high and a long way beyond the wheelbase and also suffered because the battery leads would be excessively long and unnecessarily exposed. In my view the battery had to be as close to the starter motor as possible and preferably as low as possible. With this in mind I thought about putting every single bit of the wiring behind the steering head bearing. The battery could sit behind the cross frame brace and the coils could could sit above an alloy plate that sat below the lower frame rails. Immediately behind the steering head would obviously be subject to severe water ingress from the front and from the periphery of the front mudguard. My original design was to make an aluminium plate to attach to the lower frame rails. Some months ago the council left a road sign propped against my front fence. The angle iron frame for the sign was missing so it was basically a 3' x 3' x 4mm aluminium shee (slightly buckled)t. Absolutely perfect for a battery box / waterproof electrical container. Removing the plastic/reflective front label proved very time consuming. I also found that bending 4mm aluminium accurately was quite difficult without ending up with big dents from the 2Kg hammer and vice used to do so. A bending device was needed so I built this from some 3"" x 2" scrap box section, some 1.5" x 3/8" scrap and some old dexion.