BD4 Chassis Kit

Team Benwell are not connected with any manufacturing facilities and consequently we have to rely entirely on third party manufacturers for all our production. Consequently all you get for your 89 UK pounds are the four chassis plates, plus some build and initial setup instructions.

To complete the bike you will need a Nuova Faor or Thunder Tiger bike, a second set of the plastic spacer tubes with their long 3mm studs (X21) or, for the ultimate setup, two sets of the aluminium spacer sets (X21A). You will also want a second front tank/body mount (X17) or similar for the rear seat mount and some means of holding in the batteries such as double-sided Velcro. Oh, and a few odd screws for things like the servos and some saddle pack cells!

So it can easily be argued that from a materialistic point of view this kit does not represent good value for money. However what you also get and which can't be measured in any way is a copy of all the lessons learned by Team Benwell during the 2002 season. Only one modification is required to a standard bike and that is to cut 2½ turns from the small internal shock spring. Note it has been pointed out to us that this spring does vary from kit to kit; one Nuova bike didn't even have it fitted! so a final measurement is also provided in the instructions.

You don't need to lengthen the forks, move the batteries, narrow the body, move the rear shock mounting position, shorten / lengthen / change the shape of the wire crash bars or any of those other things that riders have been doing to their bikes over the last couple of years. Just bolt all the standard bits onto this chassis and it will be quick.

If all you do is thrash round a car park then the benefits will be less significant although it does look a million times better :. In fact it can be argued that it is slightly worse as the slightly higher C of G (not as high as you may think) and aggressive suspension geometry make it slightly less stable at slow speeds. However put BD4 on a track and wind it up and you will immediately feel the difference. You will find that it turns in much more aggressively, carries far more speed though a turn with much less rider input required and is more stable under acceleration and braking. It displays less tendency to jack up and down at the rear and is less susceptible to, and has far more control over, the steering oscillations that all these bikes suffer from time to time.

Designed using AutoCAD 2000 software the plates are CNC machined out of the highest grade of carbon fibre we could find, to a very high tolerance. As this project was always going to finish up being expensive there seemed little point in skimping on any stage of its production. Testing of both the three GRP chassis's that were hand made and the final carbon fibre versions has not resulted in any breakages (at all) and the development process does require that we find the bikes limits (repeatedly) and consequently put its strength to the test : However we have heard of some other carbon-fibre chassis breaking so we make no claims for its indestructibility. The small numbers being made do however mean that we can personally check each plate against the drawings and ensure that it is perfect when it leaves us.

Finally the cost. We wont pretend that we aren't making anything out of this but its not much. To try and keep within the spirit of the rules (if not the budget of some of its racers) we need to sell 25+ just to cover the development and manufacturing costs. A target that although small means that we will be out of pocket for some time yet 9 The high retail price is entirely due to the cost of manufacturing so if any one knows of any companies that may prove cheaper please get in contact with us. Any savings we can make will be reflected in the asking price.

So if you want one now's your chance. Contact us ASAP as the machinists have told us that there will be a delay in our orders from approx 2nd week in March until the middle of April and we can't afford to keep loads in stock!

For building instructions click here

Happy Racing
Team Benwell