- Joined
- Oct 7, 2005
- Messages
- 1,170
Hobot:
You have to take into account that the job was in 1967, before digital instrumentation, personal computers and all the developments that have come along since then. I was working with battery-powered analog stuff, trying to measure suspension deflections against vertical accelerations of the rear frame on our M-X bikes. The Commando was well along in its development phase when I joined the company. I got into a lot of test riding, but most of it was endurance stuff - running as fast as we could to see wht would break.
I tried to get funding for an instrumentation lab that would fit into the M-X team van, with strip chart recorders, oscilloscopes and a receiving station for the multiplexer I had planned to have on the bikes.
My attempt to get some decent instrumentation into the N-V programs resulted from my experience in both the British Aerospace flight test instrumentation department and a development testing job in the machine tools industry. It was the main reason Dr. Bauer hired me, I think. Up to that time, experimental "data" was bsed on rider opinion! Unfortunately, the company's financial crisis put an end to all that stuff, and sent it into a death spiral. I decided to bail out and emigrate to the US to work for Boeing, a decision I have never regretted. We still live in Western Washington State and wouldn't consider returning to the UK.
You have to take into account that the job was in 1967, before digital instrumentation, personal computers and all the developments that have come along since then. I was working with battery-powered analog stuff, trying to measure suspension deflections against vertical accelerations of the rear frame on our M-X bikes. The Commando was well along in its development phase when I joined the company. I got into a lot of test riding, but most of it was endurance stuff - running as fast as we could to see wht would break.
I tried to get funding for an instrumentation lab that would fit into the M-X team van, with strip chart recorders, oscilloscopes and a receiving station for the multiplexer I had planned to have on the bikes.
My attempt to get some decent instrumentation into the N-V programs resulted from my experience in both the British Aerospace flight test instrumentation department and a development testing job in the machine tools industry. It was the main reason Dr. Bauer hired me, I think. Up to that time, experimental "data" was bsed on rider opinion! Unfortunately, the company's financial crisis put an end to all that stuff, and sent it into a death spiral. I decided to bail out and emigrate to the US to work for Boeing, a decision I have never regretted. We still live in Western Washington State and wouldn't consider returning to the UK.
