| Author | Message | ||
     Electraglider_1997 |
I noticed while reading different profiles that many of you guys are working or retired engineers. That says something about Buells and I think it is because Buells are such mechanical marvels. I'm a retired engineer and I've always been drawn to the Buell motorcycle like a moth to a flame. When I saw the Ulysses I finally had to pull the trigger and purchase. | ||
| Jlnance |
You might enjoy this thread. Congrats on the new Ulysses. I just got one to. | ||
| Whodom |
There do seem to be a lot of us here. To me it's that Buells have a lot of really clever technology, as opposed to the most complicated gee-whiz tech of some of the Japanese and European bikes. | ||
| Bigdaddy |
Uh oh,,, G2 | ||
| Dmcutter |
I'm an engineer, too, but a civil, so everything I do is not supposed to be moving...but that is what drew me to Buells as well as mechanical watches, model 1911 .45s, and bicycles. I really liked the thread Jlnance threw in there. | ||
| Jlnance |
civil, so everything I do is not supposed to be moving My M.E. Cousin told me: Mechanical Engineers make weapons, Civil Engineers make targets. | ||
| Dmcutter |
Reckon that's true. I was a combat engineer in the Corps, helps to know how things are built when you blow 'em up. | ||
| Blake |
At one time, most of the structural engineers doing the stress analysis for aircraft were from civil engineering backgrounds. There are a fare share of ME's too, but most were CE's. I started towards my masters, an MSCE-Structural. My undergrad is BSME. Structures rule! I do enjoy the ME stuff to though. Fact is much of the undergrad courses are shared between the two disciplines, ME and CE, even a lot of the EE stuff too. I never understood why the EE's had to take Thermo. Poor suckers. They get clobbered on the EIT test too. Piece of cake for an ME. | ||
| Jlnance |
Fact is much of the undergrad courses are shared between the two disciplines, ME and CE, even a lot of the EE stuff too. I never understood why the EE's had to take Thermo. I've got a BSEE, and we had to take statics and dynamics. I thought those were great classes, at least in retrospect. They certainly weren't easy classes, which made them a bit difficult to appreciate at the time. I don't think EEs at NCSU have to take thermo anymore, at least not the engineering version. The second semester of chemistry is basically thermo, and they still have to take that. When I was signing up for classes the last semester of my senior year, I had to have a technical elective. I waited till the day before classes started to sign up, so naturally everything was full. The only class I could get into was called "metalurgical thermodynamics." I just knew that was going to be awful, but it turned out to be great. The instructors research involved growing diamond films, and he liked to use stuff he was doing as examples. | ||
| Dmcutter |
At Purdue civils didn't have to take thermo; I only saw it in Physics 251 which was electricity, magnetism, optics, and thermo all crammed into one 5 credit hour course (that D really hurt my GPA). Thermo and EE were NOT a piece of cake for me on the EIT. I thought steam tables were what they used to keep the food hot in the cafeteria. | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
Dmcutter, I got my MSIE at Purdue. Beautiful campus but the other side of the river was kind of fugly. | ||
| Ponytail |
Aircraft Engineer here, so I had to take, Structural, electrical, mechanical, thermal and fluid engineering courses. BAS in Aircraft Eng. Tech. I had a lab for just about everything. Some of the courses were easier than others. I didn't have my heart in it though while I was there. I missed out, big time. I digress... BUT, I have always been drawn to the Buells. ALMOST pulled the trigger several times before, but with the introduction of the XB12, resistance was futile. Got tired of seeing the litre bikes trying to shave weight off of existing designs, and struggling to get more and more power out of them, year after year. 200 miles an hour out of the box sounds great, but they're still a maintenance nightmare compared to the Aircooled v-twins. Young engineers tend to think more outside the box, than the older ones. Older ones tend to stick to what they know and "cookbook" stuff. I really think that's why you see suck radical designs coming from Buell. It's nice to finally see a company that is listening to it's consumers AND giving the young ideas a chance. (Message edited by ponytail on December 12, 2005) | ||
| Dr_greg |
Another engineer here as well, although maybe I'm tainted a little because I'm a professor (of mechanical engineering, mind you!) at The University of New Mexico (go Lobos!; 2nd place in NCAA soccer yesterday!) BMSE '69 USC (go Reggie Bush) MSME '70 Stanford (go Jim Plunkett) PhD ME '78 Stanford (go John Elway..er..) A nerdy kid from a little blue-collar town who got to go to rich-kid private schools thanks to lots of financial help! Thanks, uncle (Sam)! Oh yeah, I bought my XB almost completely because of the engineering innovation. Best bike I've ever owned (by far!) | ||
| Dr_greg |
Oh yeah, my research area is robotics, control systems, and dynamics. A motorcycle is a surprisingly complicated dynamic system, BTW. | ||
| Dudeman |
Dr Greg: Went to your website and admired the open V90 Aprilia. Can I get extra credit points, too? I have a project Aprilia Mille along side a couple Buells as well. Oh, and ME here also. | ||
| Whodom |
Hey, maybe we can talk Dr_greg into offering some sort of internet-based motorcycle dynamics seminar. It could count as a few PDH's for those of us who need them for our P.E. renewals...  | ||
| Blake |
How cool is that?... A PhD ME Professor gracing our community. Greg, if you have trouble communicating here, please review the formatting help section for available mathematical and greek characters.  | ||
| Windaddiction |
Marine Engineer (more like a heavy duty mech.) but eh I still get to use the word engineer, and me working with german diesels I'd never buy a beamer ! | ||
| Bomber |
after 25 years writing manuals, I'm not sure I've ever met a civil engineer ..... .... ...... ;-} | ||
| Dudeman |
Dang PDHs - what a racket! They started requiring those this year in IL. Another way to soak us for licensing. | ||
| Rkc00 |
Civil/Structural Engineer here. BSCE 81 SUNY at Buffalo Mike Long Island, NY 06 XB12X Black | ||
| Jlnance |
Oh yeah, my research area is robotics, control systems, and dynamics. I loved controls. Particularly classical controls. It was a great excuse to do awful things with complex numbers. A motorcycle is a surprisingly complicated dynamic system, BTW. I discovered this one afternoon when I decided to write a computer simulation of one. I was just going to do it for fun and figured it would take a couple of hours. I changed my mind after I realized how hard it was going to be. | ||
| Dragon_slayer |
Naaa, just a collector of crude tools honed to a fine edge. Being a service mechanic all my life has sure helped. By the way, you should hear the pleasant things we say about some engineering done to products!  | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
No PHD but I do have 2 patents. Nothing to do with motorcycles though. | ||
| Buelldyno_guy |
Since I have posted that I am retired airline engineer let me explain how they do it. I left the company as the Lead of the Engine and Line Support Group. Prior to that, my assignment was System Engineer for the oil and gearboxes on mid thrust turbine engines. I was the back-up for the PW2000 EEC and Test Cell. The EEC is a $250K aircraft version of a H-D Buell ECM and is calibrated during engine test. It was this that got me into the Dyno Room and the rest has just been fun. ...I am amazed at the wealth of talent and dedication this board has and really think that Electraglider_1997 has it right about a lot of us being drawn to the Buell motorcycle like a moth to a flame. ... Terry | ||
| Prior |
I'm an ME too, do structural analysis like Blake does as well. I was drawn to Buells before I got on the engineering track, but definitely appreciate the engineering behind Buells and the many conversations I've had with Erik and the other engineers about the design and engineering work that has gone into Buells. I work for John Deere, building construction equipment. Some of my latest projects have been work on entirely new models, using field data acquired through pressure data on cylinders and stress data on existing machines and components and deriving new fatigue life on entirely new machines. Challenging work, but it keeps my brain in shape and helps develop the future for the company. To me, there's nothing better than working on a project, all virtually, and having a field test correlate to your results within 2x. Pretty close for what is available today. Alex | ||
| Wasions |
I'm not an engineer, but I suspect there's one on every train that goes by the prison where I work. Dr. Greg. The Vision is a comfortable ride, but a little flexy for my taste (or used to be - haven't ridden one for some time). USS is sweet, though. I miss it. My first recumbent was a Ryan Vangard, one of the first bikes he built after he moved to Oregon. I now ride an older (square tube framed) Rans Rocket. Two rings, with a Sachs 3 internal and a seven-speed cassette for 2X3X7=42. She's a goer, what? (Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.) Steve Gear up! (Message edited by wasions on December 13, 2005) | ||
| Jerseyguy |
Dr_Greg - Check out my business homepage. It would appear that we have something in common. www.haynes-corp.com | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
Wasion, I love that show, "Prison Break". Does it get depressing to be around the dregs of society every day? Do they all claim to be innocent? | ||
| Dr_greg |
Hey, just caught up with this thread again! Lots of engineers here -- very cool! Blake: I came very close to doing my Stanford Ph.D. research with legendary dynamicist Thomas R. Kane on the topic of motorcycle dynamics! Unfortunately the Vietnam War interfered, and when I got back to school all the funding was in robotics (probably a more salable focus anyway). Whodom: Hey, "distance learning" is the hot setup right now; actually I've got a book (from Aprilia) which does a pretty good job of explaning motorcycle dynamics. Let's think about that one. Dudeman: The old Aprilia Mille is a great bike! My third son gets it once he settled down. The V990 Rotax is quite an engine (as is the one in my 12X, BTW) Jinance: Wow, you were in the minority if you loved controls w/complex number et al (well, speaking for the MEs anyway)... Wasions: Yes, the Vision is a little flexy, but then so am I! Jerseyguy: Yup, automation stuff (er, the dynamics and controls issues) is what we teach. Well, thanks for tolerating this pointy-headed professor. At least I have good taste in bikes! P.S. You've heard the saying "Those who can, do; Those who can't, teach!" Well, my wife found a better one which I think I'll put on my office door: "Those who can, do; Those who think others can, too, teach!" Much nicer... |
