Alta Plastic Kit

[Alta05]

luckily i have a very long time friend there in Italy,I will be working on that next week.priority is to have both Alta s in France running well by the start of the season.

 

[Rix]

luckily i have a very long time friend there in Italy,I will be working on that next week.priority is to have both Alta s in France running well by the start of the season.

I hope you an make it happen. Auguri!!

 

[Dirt-E]

I just broke my left side number plate on my EXR. I tried writing to Acerbis and they basically said no and they won't do custom orders (I received the reply last week, I believe).

My hope is we can get enough of a push to make some more plastics, that way the bike will last at least as long as the battery does. Once the pack gives up then I guess I'm done, unless someone jumps in and figures that part out. Mine hits the dirt a lot so plastics are going to be a major hurdle to get over if they're 100% irreplaceable.

 

[aremean79]

I have made little headway in trying to get someone to manufacture the plastics for our Alta. Best suggestion/solution I got so far was to get it made from a flexible fiberglass. Its better/less brittle and cheaper than getting our plastics made from carbon fiber.

Any thoughts on it?

 

[Dirt-E]

. . . get it made from a flexible fiberglass. Its better/less brittle and cheaper than getting our plastics made from carbon fiber.

I would think G10 would be more brittle/fragile than plastics. Maybe the sub frame could use being made out of it, but the side plastics would likely be better off as plastic. I'm not a materials scientist, but I've worked with a few different materials and I would think 3D printed concepts might be worth looking into. I'm not sure what it would take to do the mouldings but I know the dies are usually not cheap in any way, shape, or form.

Still, I think it's worth exploring. Maybe it won't be a money-maker but I'm sure most of us would be willing to put down a decent chunk of change to keep our bikes viable. I know I would be.

 

[Oded]

How about plastic welding? Can plastic cracks be fixed that way?

 

[snydes]

Oded, Privateer703 talks a little about his experience with just that in this thread;
Little brass thread inserts in plastic -- How to fix

 

[privateer703]

As far as number plates go, I think 3d printing might be the most cost effective. We'll need to get one scanned somehow. Both my number plates got a little mashed on the rear end, so I don't really want to use mine as the base for a laser scan. If anyone has a brand new number plate, we could get it laser scanned and then it could be 3d printed online (I can scan it for free). Actually, before we scan it we could mock up a part similar in size/complexity just to see what it might cost. I won't have time to do this for a little while if anyone wants to give it a try. Or if you want to mail a brand new number plate to me, I'll scan it and mail it back.
The subframe and rear fender will almost have to be fiberglass/carbon fiber. And shrouds... well I think we are all going to get used to the "naked" look when it comes to shrouds... eventually.
And for repairing minor cracks you can also try the acetone/ABS slurry I saw online here.

 

[101stunt]

I know alta05 said he had a connect, wondering if that will lead to any progress. @Alta05 have you made any head way with your connect??

 

[F451]

I would pay more then I would like to for a set of plastics, Lol.

Meanwhile, I'm going to remove my shrouds and number plates and put them away for safe keeping.

For the rear fender, I'm thinking there must be an existing high volume rear fender that is "close enough" in fit to be able to be grafted onto our bikes in some not completely hideous way.

I'm also thinking this whole debacle may finally push me over the edge into producing my own homemade carbon fiber bits. I think the rear fender and shrouds (a new design of course) could be created in CF (not in quantity of course).

I'm also thinking, for the shrouds, I'd leaning towards ditching them completely, and just making some CF "protective covers" for the frame area where the stock shrouds currently go.

But at my glacial pace of getting things done, everyone will have moved onto neutron powered bikes or something by the time I get around to it.

-Fast (makes sloths look quick) Eddie

 

[101stunt]

Same i don't mind paying more for some.

 

[Dirt-E]

I take it there's no chance of getting the CAD models for the plastics to be able to reproduce them? I get it that they are probably blocked to protect IP, but with Alta becoming defunct would there be a way to get them? That's not to hinder a future manufacturer either. If anything, it could get some of the process flow figured out and be one less thing they have to recover on their own.

 

[privateer703]

It's not so much that we can't get CAD files, but that there is no cost effective method to do anything with them. 3d printing for shrouds and rear fender will probably cost over $250 each. Number plates maybe below $150. Actually, the rear fender might be too big for most 3d printers, meaning cost would probably be even higher.

 

[Dirt-E]

It's not so much that we can't get CAD files, but that there is no cost effective method to do anything with them.

That's what I'm trying to figure out though. Obviously we need the volume to get the price down, but once you've got dies set up then the production runs wouldn't be that expensive, would they? I mean, if they only produced 1000 bikes total, it couldn't have been $500,000 to make just the plastics, could it?

 

[privateer703]

It probably cost that much for the rear subframe alone. Dies for the shrouds alone will probably cost over $200k for the pair. Our best bet would be to try and buy the dies directly from Acerbis. They don't seem at all to want to make the parts, but maybe they'll sell the dies. I still don't think we could get enough people together to afford them.

I have been thinking about creating a fiberglass mold from the rear fender and trying vacuum forming other thermoplastics like Kydex. A material that you don't melt into a liquid, but form from sheets heated by a heat gun.

 

[Dirt-E]

It probably cost that much for the rear subframe alone. Dies for the shrouds alone will probably cost over $200k . . .I still don't think we could get enough people together to afford them.

that's what I'm worried about. I've never done die work but I know people who have. I'm not crazy enough to think I could come up with a solution all on my own, but it would be nice to at least figure something out to keep my bike not looking like crap. I've already got the one panel missing and the bike isn't even a year old yet. Kinda sucks

 

[101stunt]

Did they make the plastics in house at alta? Or did they farm it out to a vendor?

 

[revoltlution]

It's not so much that we can't get CAD files...

Anybody have the plastics files? Maybe we need to look for them on the darkweb

 

[Dirt-E]

Did they make the plastics in house at alta? Or did they farm it out to a vendor?

I'm sure they farmed it out. They originally stated they had Acerbis making their stuff for them so I'm not sure why they're so tight-lipped about recreating them unless there is some kind of licensing issues they're not divulging. You'd think that if they had a chance to sell product at a premium they'd be all over it. I hate to say it, but gouge me all you need to. I don't want a $14K bike to go dead while it's still financed.

 

[101stunt]

I'm sure they farmed it out. They originally stated they had Acerbis making their stuff for them so I'm not sure why they're so tight-lipped about recreating them unless there is some kind of licensing issues they're not divulging. You'd think that if they had a chance to sell product at a premium they'd be all over it. I hate to say it, but gouge me all you need to. I don't want a $14K bike to go dead while it's still financed.

Maybe they went through the folks in (Acerbis) Europe. I also got a basic email from the US branch stating they have no interest in helping us.