SledEdge Speed Bike Project – 2006

Recruitment and preparation

Full of confidence and enthusiasm, the team was keen to get serious, and there was little time to waste. Ben contacted the Trisled racing team and recruited Scott Hawke as an assistant technician and Jeff Nielsen as ’the engine’. The team initially used Whoops and a Trisled Sorcerer II vehicle for training and testing to prepare Jeff to ride what would be a far more advanced and challenging machine.

As with Whoops, Ken and Tim were called on to assist with laying up the SledEdge shell, which this time was made of carbon/klegcell to ensure a more solid and crash resistant finish. However, unlike the true-form molds used for Whoops, Ben decided that a few ’nip-n-tucks’ were needed to reduce the frontal area for the SledEdge speed bike and gain a little more speed. In total he took 60mm out of the height and 20mm out of the width to get Jeff extra snug inside the fairing. Ben also designed and constructed a custom drive system and crank set into a Chromoly chassis to allow for the even tighter fit.

Testing SledEdge

During the first test session at the proving ground, the SledEdge was configured into a camera bike. Ben’s aerodynamically designed pod on top of the bike contained a video camera and Jeff had a small screen in the bike to see the road ahead. This proved to be the most testing session for the SledEdge team.

With the low winter sun affecting Jeff’s vision and the lack of time available to get used to camera steering, the team quickly realised that they were going to have to rethink video vision for the initial attempt. After consulting with the team, Ben decided that the only workable option with minimum impact to the speed would be to add a windscreen to the bike. Although this resulted in some added aerodynamic drag, it was a necessary move to allow Jeff to get his full power down with confidence.

Further thinking and testing lead the team to decide that a combination of a smaller windscreen and camera in the nose would be the best way to get the most out of the bike with the limited time on hand. With only a few days to go before the attempt, Ben rebuilt the SledEdge and finished the bike with a shiny silver paint job.

Failed attempt and 2nd chance

Following four weeks of hard work and development, bad luck with the weather kept the SledEdge grounded on the designated day of the trial. Holden were only able to grant the team one day at the track within the time deadline and the conditions were not safe or suitable to run.

Ironically, the teams attempting the same record on the other side of the world in Arizona were having the opposite problem. Scorching temperatures meant that none of the teams in the US achieved the 90km needed to claim the full prize. As no team has been able to reach the target, the cash has been divided up to the top three teams.

For the SledEdge team, the fun didn’t stop with the expiration of the prize. During the 2006 November Melbourne Cup Weekend, the SledEdge speed bike team had access to the Holden proving ground again. Several of the team members and other interested enthusiasts who are designing, building and learning to ride their own speed machines, also came along to test their bikes. In total, there were five speed bikes on the track that weekend.

With a full four days access to the test track, the SledEdge team was sure there would be at least one suitable day for setting some Australian records. But as the weekend came closer the forecast looked increasingly grim. The Saturday morning appeared to be the only option as strong winds were forecast for all of the remaining days.

The team arrived early to begin the final shake down of the vehicle and practice their launching and catching. During this time they fitted strips of plastic to the outside of the body to protect the highly polished laminar flow surface from any scratches due to mishaps.

Rider Jeff Nielsen was on his final testing lap when disaster struck. While cruising along at around 65 km/h the SledEdge had its rear tyre blow out. The chase vehicle behind Jeff noticed that something was wrong and sped ahead of the bike to deploy the catch crew. With no rear tyre and the fairing dragging, it was only a matter of time before the vehicle lost control and fell over. Jeff did an amazing job of controlling the bike down to a mere 15 km/h (a mean feat in a wobbly speed bike with locked steering!) but unfortunately he slipped through the catchers by a matter of a few meters. The SledEdge sustained minor body damage and a mangled rear wheel.

The conditions were still calm at this stage, and knowing that this would be the only good day, the crew frantically rebuilt the side where the flat had occurred and carefully sanded back the scratches, costing them around an hour and a half of good riding conditions.

With the sea breeze on the brink of coming in, Jeff pushed off for another test run. It became obvious within about half a lap that the conditions were now not suitable to run. With this in mind, Jeff used the opportunity to gain experience in the bike for future trials.

In the test runs Jeff was able to sit well above 60 km/h with very low power input. In one sprint he reached 76 km/h within the space of 500 meters or so. He did this with the protection strips still fitted, which makes the team very optimistic about the vehicle’s potential.

Trisled is continuing its speed bike research and has already had several more testing days at the Holden proving ground since these the previous trials took place. Ben is keen to move on to the next generation of the SledEdge with some new ideas and possibilities.

Thanks to our supporters

Trisled and the SledEdge team thank General Motors Holden for use of the Holden Lang Lang proving ground for this project.

Thanks also to Chris Mosley (Moz) for traveling down from Sydney to take a series of awesome photos during the two main trials. For more of Moz’s speed bike photos click here.

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