Build Your Own 3D-Printed RC Motorcycles!
Radio-Controlled, 3D-printed fun!
If you’re a fan of 3D printing and motorcycles, we’ve found an ideal project for you. Designed and posted by Brett Turnage, these plans were developed for a bike-crazy friend and have been released into the wild on Pinshape.com, a 3D-Print file sharing site. Note, Turnage’s two bikes aren’t models to sit on shelves and look pretty. They will produce fully-functional radio-controlled (RC) motorcycles – complete with an animated rider that steers the bikes.
The bikes are a 2016 Ducati Draxter Concept Drag Bike and a 2016 Suzuki GSX-RR MotoGP Motorcycle. All of the RC components needed to be hidden within the motorcycles, which made the project a challenge. Turnage states in his description of the bikes that “the project has taken me over 5-months of work, lots of iterations, multiple different bikes.”
According to Turnage: “Both the Ducati and Suzuki feature a 3d printed functional front fork, adjustable rear suspension, and drivetrain that translates power from gears to a belt drive system which turns the rear wheel. They stay upright by using a weighted front wheel which acts as a passive gyroscope, and both bikes have to option run either TPU 3d printed rear tires or a rubber F1 RC tires for better grip. This is just some of the beauty and engineering that went into the bikes, but in order to really make these motorcycles come to life, the rider has to move.”
The rider needed to be able to steer the bike. So, the rider’s left arm is attached to a servo motor and steers the bike as the motor moves the arm fore and aft on the model. Very cool. The rider’s head and torso also rotate as the bar is turned.
If you are an RC aficionado who also owns a 3D printer, head over to Turnage’s pages covering the bikes ( here and here) and pick up the design files and assembly instructions.
Like most of the best happenings in his life, Evans stumbled into his motojournalism career. While on his way to a planned life in academia, he applied for a job at a motorcycle magazine, thinking he’d get the opportunity to write some freelance articles. Instead, he was offered a full-time job in which he discovered he could actually get paid to ride other people’s motorcycles – and he’s never looked back. Over the 25 years he’s been in the motorcycle industry, Evans has written two books, 101 Sportbike Performance Projects and How to Modify Your Metric Cruiser, and has ridden just about every production motorcycle manufactured. Evans has a deep love of motorcycles and believes they are a force for good in the world.
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