Click Here for the Results of the Vetter Challenge Ride for Vintage Motorcycle Days 2016  |
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As it was Planned Vetter Challenge Ride for Vintage Motorcycle Days 2016 Last updated: 6/21/2016 |
Date: Sunday, July 10, 2016 Ride Overview: Ride 160 miles of mixed country and highway with stops for food, refreshment, fellowship and media coverage. Ride Goal: To publicize motorcycle designs that are highly efficient and practical for everyday riding. Craig Vetter Webpage on Event: Craig Vetter Webpage for this event 
Ride Schedule:
LEG 1: Sunday, July 10, 2016, 7:30am, Splash Harbor Comfort Inn, Bellville, Ohio Gather for Challenge ride at Splash Harbor. All bikes fuel systems are topped off and odometers zeroed out. Sunday, July 10, 2016, 8am, Depart on LEG 1 of Challenge Ride: Leave Splash Harbor, travel to Centerburg Memorial Park. Distance approx. 40 miles rural riding 9:00 Centerberg Memorial Park: Group Picture Continental Breakfast (free to all riders who attend pre-meeting on Saturday evening) Video each rider giving 5 minute presentation with their bike Open group discussion / networking for 30 minutes Electric Bike Charging LEG 2: 10:30am Leave Memorial Park. Travel to AMA Museum. Distance approx. 40 miles of mixed rural and highway riding 11:30am Arrive Museum, Electric Bike Re-Charging at Museum and AMA Administration Building Program for public/media presented (Awards and/or recognition given for past events, Special video session with Craig Vetter) Pictures and interviews with media Tour Museum Lunch (Pizza) Collect data from all electric riders on electric usage and distances LEG 3: 1:00pm Depart for return ride to Shell Station at Splash Harbor via reverse route as LEG 1 and 2. The rest break at Centerburg Memorial Park will be approximately 10 minutes. Approx. distance is 80 miles of mixed highway and rural riding with basically no charging for electric bikes. SHELL gas Station next to Splash Harbor: Re-fueling for Gasoline and Diesel Bikes Collect receipts and mileage totals from each bike rider Route: There will be the following starting and stopping points (Comfort Inn-Bellville, Memorial Park Centerburg, AMA Museum-Pickerington). The exact route will be determined the weekend of the event based on road and weather conditions and size of the group riding. The route will include four legs of 30-40 miles each with a maximum of 15 miles on the highway for any single leg of the route. Speeds for all routes will not exceed the posted speed limits. Proposed Route (subject to change based on construction): Splash Harbor to Memorial Park: Memorial Park to AMA Museum: AMA Museum to Memorial Park: Memorial Park to Splash Harbor Gas Station: Rules: The ride is open to all, but to "win" a challenge you will need to ride within the following rules: http://craigvetter.com/pages/2012-Fuel-contests/2012-challenge-rules.html Pre-Ride Tech Inspection: Saturday, July 9, 2016, 5pm, Slash Harbor Comfort Inn, Bellville, Ohio Riders pre-meeting/Tech inspection of bikes for cargo carrying ability, review route, safety requirements, etc. Dinner at local restaurant afterwards. Reservations and for More Information: The ride is free and open to all, but to help coordinate food and electric vehicle charging please contact Kraig Schultz to let him know you are planning to participate. Contact Kraig Schultz (Volunteer Coordinator for 2016 Mid-Ohio Craig Vetter Fuel Economy Challenge) E-mail: kraig@schultzengineering.us Phone: 616-540-7027 |
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Riding in 2016: Riders Planning to Attend: Fossil Fueled: Alan Smith Vic Valdes Scott Endler Finnie Wagaman Electric Drive Train: Virginia Tech Team Richard Goff www.zelectricvehicle.com Tony Helmholdt Ned Funnell Kraig Schultz More TBD, please send in your name and picture and we'll post it on this webpage. |
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Riding in 2016: Vic Valdes, Alan Smith and Finnie Wagaman Here's a picture from 2015 after the riders meeting of Vic, Alan and Finnie with their bikes. They are all planning to attend and ride in 2016. Vic is planning to trailer in from California. Alan plans to ride from California on his bike (for the 5th year in a row!!!). Finnie is hoping to ride in from PA.  |
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Riding in 2016: Scott Endler Scott Endler of Syracuse, NY is attending with his beautiful CBR250. Fuelly Page   |
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Riding in 2016: Virginia Tech Motorcycle Eco Challenge The student team, VTMEC (Virginia Tech Motorcycle Eco Challenge) will be fielding a 2014 Zero S 11.4 with a Vetter nose and custom Saddle bags. This Vetter Challenge team is made up of 10 undergraduate students, all volunteers, from a variety of engineering disciplines (mechanical, electrical, engineering science and mechanics, and aerospace). Attached is a photo of the streamlined motorcycle taken on June 3.  |
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Riding in 2016: Richard Goff I will be riding the same 2012 Zero DS 9 "Shark" that I rode last year. I haven't reconstructed it yet for this year.  |
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Riding in 2016: Finnie Wagaman I'm planning to join you for the Vetter challenge and represent the twist and go crowd. Mine is the bright yellow scooter based streamlimer from last year. It has been debugged, lowered, reconfigured for safety, after contemplating Craig's crash, and is better than ever. New for this year is the W.E. Coyote Engineering areo kit and a few other surprises. Thank you for picking this event up. I'd also like to talk about how your batteries might be applied to the Vectrix I'm planning to base my next streamliner on. Thank you, Finnie Wagaman  |
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Riding in 2016: Tony Helmholdt Tony from Grand Rapids, Mi on his recent upgrade- a brand new 2016 Zero DS 13.0!  |
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Riding in 2016: ZEV Electric Bike Company Thank you all, We will attend barring any unforeseen events. I am the President of the ZEV Electric bike company. www.zelectricvehicle.com We will be bringing two stock bikes, no steamlining or anything fancy. The one will be our first prototype of a new motorcycle launching this spring and my old #1 production beater 2011 large motor scooter. The two bikes will need to charge during the run probably one time. Both bikes being dead stock, no streamlining, no extra chargers and battery, they will not make the 160 mile if the speeds are in the 70-75 mile range. The big scooter, if I can find the time, I can pull out the battery and drop the extended range battery in --then it can run the 160 miles. Neither bike will be set up to haul the grocery bags. We decided to come this year after seeing last year several electric bikes that could not deal with making the run to the museum. The motorcycle will run 120-140 miles if the speeds are only about 55, but that falls to about 80-90 miles if the speeds are 70-75 mph. Thank you, Darus   |
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Riding in 2016: Ned Funnell From Ned, "I would like to bring my electric motorcycle up to the challenge from KY. It's only a non-aero-modded 5kWh bike good for about 40 miles of normal riding, so I won't contend for anything, but would enjoy spending time with some fellow enthusiasts. I would like to ride as much of the ride as I can, though, but I need to have access to 240v for recharging to do so."  |
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Riding in 2016: Kraig Schultz I'm planning to ride the Delta-11 proto-type again this year. Changes since last year include air ride rear suspension and carrying 300lbs of batteries. The bike will have the original battery pack from 2011 (like carrying 200 lbs of bricks up front), and one of three swappable Chevy Volt 4.5 kWh packs on the back. I won't be carrying chargers on the bike and plan to swap out battery packs at different stopping points on the route. Kraig Schultz  |
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If you are planning to ride in the 2016 Vetter Challenge: Send in your picture and we'll post it here. |
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Electric Motorcycle Charging We've made provisions for the charging outlets to be unlocked at the Centerburg park for the day of the event. Here's a picture of one of the outlet stations. There are 12 of these stations at the park.  Charging at the Museum will be a challenge, the electric bikes may be somewhat scattered to reach 120VAC, 15A outlets at various spots around the Museum and administration building. |
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About Craig Vetter Fuel Economy Challenges: History: From 1980-1985, Craig Vetter (the inventor of the “Wind Jammer” motorcycle fairing), hosted an annual fuel economy competition in California. Participants in the competition were able to get up to 470 miles per gallon at the then national speed limit of 55mph. Craig Vetter Website Beginning in 2011, spurred by rising gasoline prices, Craig Vetter once again began coordinating rides. A small group of people who are working on improving fuel economy for motorcycles gather from all over the country to participate in the Vetter Fuel Economy Rides. We have met at Mid-Ohio Vintage Motorcycle Days each year since 2011 to showcase what we have learned and to participate in a Fuel Economy Demonstration Ride. The rides are free and open to the public. The rides are conducted to raise public awareness, foster innovation and to share ideas with a goal of publicizing motorcycle designs that are highly efficient and practical for everyday riding. Here's a picture I took of Craig Vetter sitting in front of his original streamliner from the 1980's while he told me the story about how it started out the "only proper color for a streamliner (silver)" and got painted blue after being broken in two in a crash.  Craig is recovering from a hitting a deer while riding his streamliner on August 14, 2015. To stay focused on his recovery, he is not planning to attend the Vintage Motorcycle Days event this year. We have volunteered to help keep the Vetter Challenge Rides going while he recovers. |
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Inventing a better tomorrow today... Copyright 2016, Schultz Engineering, LLC, written by Kraig Schultz |