? about motorcycle part design resources

[SictEng]

I'm not sure if this is the right forum but here goes...

I've always wondered how aftermarket motorcycle parts manufacturers design products when there are a large amount of different brands and models.

For example, if I wanted to design a series of parts that would fit a specific type of motorcycle, would I have to buy one of each type and year in order to reverse engineer it and then design my product? Do these companies somehow obtain the CAD files from the manufacturer for each type of bike and year? Can anyone shed some light on how this is done?

Thanks

 

[BrianPetersen]

It's rare that the vehicle manufacturer would share ANYthing with anyone other than their quasi-in-house factory supported race teams. Occasionally there may be specific models where the manufacturer wants to co-operate with specific (read: big, popular) aftermarket suppliers in certain cases ... for example, I have a genuine Yamaha accessory seat that was manufactured by Corbin and the label has both names on it.

The usual process is that the parts manufacturer either buys or borrows an early-production example to do whatever they need to do. Sometimes measurements can be taken on a bike sitting in the showroom floor. Sometimes you just need to buy the stock example of whatever piece that you want to make, or whatever piece that it has to fit onto or match up to, to get the critical dimensions.

One of the major exhaust system manufacturers has their plant near me, and they ask to borrow bikes all the time from people in the area. "If you have model ABC, and you lend us the bike for a week, we'll give you a free exhaust system after we finish developing it" - that sort of thing.

Certain suppliers get favored treatment. If you're supplying parts for (say) Kawasaki's factory World Superbike team, they'll get you a pre-production bike. Something tells me that you're not in that position, or you wouldn't be asking!

 

[SictEng]

You'd be right about that!

I'm just looking into the feasibility of actually designing and manufacturing parts. I've got a family connection in a plastic manufacturing plant and I'm trying to visualize how this could work.

Thanks for the explanation. That definitely clears things up.