Lancia Motor bike

With many thanks to William here is the translation of the article, sounds pretty good, 90bhp Fulvia engine in a Motorbike Grin

Brian
8227 Cool

Lancia KS 49 P1
(Article from Auto Motor Klassiek nr 6 June 1999)

Before the time of “ready to race” customising kits, you converted your own “Cafe racer” Visually it was not always a great success and often dependent on the taste of the owner. Also it is usually difficult to fit a different engine in a motorcycle frame. In this article we read how Kees Schermer fitted a Lancia engine into an endurance racing styled motorcycle prototype, which is the first time the author has seen this done so successfully.

Between 1968 and 75 Kees pursued a promising racing career winning at his first outing! Mostly racing with his brother in the up to 250cc class it was cut short by failing to make a bend and ending up under the bike in question. His ankle was so badly shattered it proved impossible to take up racing again.
He stayed involved in the motorcycle racing scene though and helped with tuning and design of racing bikes. Given his skills and innovative approach, he was eventually offered work by a specialist motorcyle frame designer, Nico Bakker framebuilding in Heerhugoward in Holland.
Between 1978 and 1980 they experimented with various engine in frame combinations, (even getting a 600cc Trabant engine into a motorcross bike!) but Kees had an idea to build one more “special” of his own. It would be called the KS 49 P1....

The first task would be choosing a suitable block.
A chance meeting with a friend who proudly called by to show of his new Italian pride and joy led to the solution. When Kees saw the super compact V block of the 1.3 fulvia with its unusually narrow 13 degree angle he realised this was a perfect motor for his project. The arrangement of the inlet and exhaust manifolds opposite one another was also easy to place in a frame.He began building a frame the same evening.

He faced a different challenge with the gearbox.
Due to the seperate construction of many gearboxes on english motorcycles from the 50’s and 60’s they offered the easiest option for a bolt on solution but in practice these came out of bikes that had 35 -40 hp at most.The fulvia engine pushes out 90 hp!. In the end a kawasaki 1000 engine and gearbox was mated to the fulvia block driving from the dynamo pulley with a ratio of 27 teeth on the engine to 21 on the Kawasaki gearbox The Kwaka’s block was then sawn off at the base of the cylinders and sealed with a gas tight plate. 2 years later (1982) and with much experimenting the engine unit was ready.

The frame design was advanced for the period.
The suspension pivot was concentric to the drive sprocket resulting in constant chain tension with suspension movements and consequently much less wear. (Kees is still only on his 3rd chain). Also ,the design and fitting of a suspended “swinging arm” of the modern superbike style was way ahead of its time. The front suspension was sourced from a Yamaha TX 750 with its superb suspension units and brakes.
6 months later this endurance racer project was ready.

They took it on a trailer to Lelystad to the regional type approval centre and after some suprising looks and a complete check it was given technical approval at the first attempt. This often takes many tries and demonstrates the success with which the project integrates in its component parts.

Since then Kees has completed more than 100,000kms on the bike with very few problems.He has modified some elements, the engine lubrication has gained an additional pump, an electronic ignition unit from a Misubishi has been fitted, and a different dynamo. Kees has also fitted a double gear lever to minimise the foot movements he needs to make. In practice the bike is constantly evolving towards the wishes of the rider which is what makes a home design so satisfying.
Some element are more difficult to change though.The weight of the bike at 330kg makes it “impractical” to lift alone if it falls over! Even for this kees has improvised a lifting technique with a special stand.
After 15 years kees still gets a great deal of pleasure from his Lancia and the interest it creates. And why the model designation KS 49 P1?
Simply Kees Schermer , born 1949, project 1......
Text Peter te Brake

Technical details
Type KS 49 P1
Weight 330kg
Power 90 pk @ 6200rpm
Torque 132 nm @ 4000
Top speed; not attempted
Carbs; two twin dell’orto’s

	Author	Topic: Lancia Motor bike (Read 9453 times)
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