The true breadth and depth of the dumbness isn't quite apparent though until your life resembles a swap meet and your credit cards have been rejected. I will console myself that at least after every tangible means of failure have been explored, I'm willing to do the walk of shame rather than invent new ones.
Matt - I have just printed this on a banner and hung it up in my shop - "Life is all about making newer and better mistakes". It joins my father's, "Real engineering is not what you can put in - it's what you can take out". Thanks for all the hours of enjoyment!
This is why I like boat projects. Every one eventually gets pushed into the ocean. And when they catch fire and sink, it’s much more difficult to revive and rebuild, thereby saving you from yourself. And the boat. Sometimes.
@@joeclutchless1944 yeah, I heard they were casting Anya Taylor-Joy for the Mad Max prequel Furiosa and imagining her riding on that bike in the desert would be cool 🤘
Being an engineering student in FSAE right now and having a number of motorcycle related projects which are not progressing how I would have liked it’s cool to see where some of your practical experience has come from. It builds my confidence I’ll be able to make this half this cool one day.
Did you read his book yet? Racecar: Searching for the Limit in Formula SAE. Basically FSAE and then continuing to build stuff after college is the answer to your question
Okay, so I've gotta know. The chassis on the first iteration of the bike: the upper-most horizontal members are different diameters. The left hand side tube is bigger than all of the others. Was there a purpose to this? Or just the result of available material? I'm assuming this was to run something through the chassis on one side?
I noticed that when I was making the video, and the truth is: I can't remember. I think I might have wanted to use it to pull a portion of the intake air from the nose. That first build feels like a lifetime ago.
The REAL problem is you went after one of the commonly pursued records rather than "fastest electric/gas turbine hybrid motorcycle" or "fastest compressed air powered motorcycle" or "steam powered motorcycle (only 80.5 MPH)" or "torpedo engine powered motorcycle (very cool!)" ....
Excellent as ever Matt 😂 The street legal iteration made me snort with laughter, as did the 🐙 in a blender analogy. Keep adolescent Matt in charge of project planning. Algorithm hailed…👍
Your worst engineering work has resulted in your best philosophical work. The lines "That's what life is: Making newer, better mistakes" And "You don't always have to follow your dreams, because sometimes your dreams are dumb" put this video in the best of Matt tier.
Hey Matt, thanks for showing off the parts you get from Send Cut Send! I was struggling to figure out how to mount some garden tractor wheels on a pedal-powered machine I’m working on, until I remembered you showing off some custom parts you had them make for one of your projects. It only took me a few minutes to use their online parts builder to design and order some flanges to mate the wheels to my bicycle axles. I just got the parts in the mail, and they are awesome!
Some of the things you mentioned reminded me of the SV Seeker metal boat building project that was built in the yard of an ex-IT, database administrator who fancies himself a bit of an engineer. Through out the course of the project he would take the 'cheap out' route when selecting parts and methods for doing the building an only arguing with the more experienced people who volunteered on the project. Once the boat hit the water and testing the systems began, a lot of the poor choices have bubbled to the surface requiring that they be modified, and the more expensive parts purchased and installed when doing the work of course is harder. Your reminded me of him when you talked about paying more money in the end due to buying the wrong things first, and then having to replace them later. I do admire your honesty. I mean no offense to the SV Seeker project owner, but his ego will never let him admit to making these kinds of mistakes, at least he doesn't admit it in his video presentations.
I've mostly resigned to finish my automotive mistakes after the kids are grown and out of the house. My current checklist looks a lot like your old one, but with the motivation line item dangerously close to being crossed off too.
Love the humor as always, and I would like to think the failed experiences only make your current project car that much better than it would have been had you not had these 4 learning experiences.
7:51 I honestly can’t tell if your humor is so far above average, or just decent humor with life-experiences that are so far above average. Either way I’m here for it! All hail the algorithm!
I gotta say - 80% of the time, I am watching your channel just for the comedic content. I enjoy the engineering aspect of your builds as well. Keep it up Matt. I'll keep watching. :)
This video encapsulates the spirit of mankind, doing things, learning from mistakes, doing it again, with new mistakes, looking back, thinking it's dumb, but sometime after, realizing, it was great. amazing!
I don't like the finishing statement "sometimes, your dreams are dumb". What a downer. I don't get discouraged whenever I make a bad decision because I tell myself "hey, now I know what not to do the next time. That's really all life is - making newer, better mistakes. And that's good.
You may not have succeeded to become a "Has Been", but you sure as hell have become the most successful "Never Was" when it come to setting the records you aimed for, but you definately have tried with the kind of zeal that most of us can only dream about, Nothing exceeds like excess, talk about guts, I salute you. Actually, you have succeeded in the way that most of us never make the effort to even try for.
Matt... I think the perfect solution would be to change out the front wheel assembly for an axle (or pair of a-arms with central shock) positioning two wheels outside the chassis, and an angled hinge... so that leaning the entire chassis one way or the other will cause the axle to rotate to match the turning radius. The handlebars should remain in play so at standstill the angle can be pulled one way or the other. Not only would this make the entire thing more stable, it would have brilliant forward visibility, while retaining that "space ship" feel of leaning it through the corners.
I really like how honest you are about the whole thing. So many videos are 5% talking about how they got there and then 95% celebrating victory. Yours are 95% talking about how you got there (and all the stupid decisions you made along the way) and maybe 5% celebrating victory. Or not. You share the story even if you don't win in the end.
I am not involved in the car community whatsoever, so it's pretty awesome to know other people have the same problems as I find myself making. I always get in way over my head too. I resolved to rewire my imported 30 year ols Land Rover Defender after seeing your wiring video. Bought all the things that were recommended, went out to my truck and immediately found myself staring into the void and realized I was in way over my head right now. I did, however, wire up an engine bay light using almost none of the recommended materials or processes and then called it a day. I'll rewire when I get a chance to redo the frame. Anyway, your videos are great. I don't want to do patron because I'll inevitably forget to cancel it much like a hundred other subscription service I have, but if you sign up for something where I can throw you a few bucks I will. Keep it up!
I had to stop for a bit at ; 'Cutting corners always makes the car either slower or less safe, and nobody wants to go slower' I guess no one really cares if it's less safe 😁 Also, the 'making newer, better mistakes' I'm constantly chuckling, and sometimes almost laughing out loud watching your videos. The whole 'I resolved to decide' part coming up again is as hilarious as it is terrifying to think could happen to any of us. You should get yourself a YT channel where you can talk about your projects, because this is all gold. I mean, you already have, but if you didn't already do it you should have done it. (my superpower is hindsight) Edit; I scrapped the shell for my project car a few years, and have sold some of the parts I was meaning to use for it lately , and I think I felt bad about it until now. Life may just have gotten in the way to try and save me from it.🤔
Hi Matt, I am lucky enough to be a crew member for Denis Manning's BUB 7 Motorcycle Streamliner you pictured in the video! The red one. I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoy, and truly learn, from your content. Please keep them coming!
First, Thomas Edison's response to the question about the 1,000 unsuccessful attempts to make a functioning lightbulb was actually "Fuck off". Not a lot of people know that. Second, your experience building and rebuilding that thing is the same sad tale as my homemade Lotus 7 hillclimb/dragcar/autocross/dailydriver project. It's going to be AWESOME this time! My inner 12yr old assures me of it. When I start to get discouraged 12yr old Jon shows up in his smelly Van's and threadbare AC/DC t-shirt and reminds me that quitters never score and to stop screwing around trying to make a 12A rotary streetable and just put a smallblock Mopar w a tunnelram in the frikken' thing and go waste some fools. Third, it's unfortunate you gave up on that streamliner before you did the obvious thing to get the project back on track and add a second engine. I thought you were a carguy
Some of the historical accounts I've read note that Edison was a real jerk ( see the AC / DC current wars ) . He was more of an idea guy and his workers were the ones doing the heavy lifting.
Try a toyota engine, afaik out of a celica or rav4, I think it's the 4age engine, lots of great kits have these in the UK, fast and reliable what more could you want.
Every time I’ve put off doing a major project at my house, it came out far better than if I’d done it sooner. Taking more time to iron out the details is always best.
Matt takes his dirt of experience, adds time & money, and creates a gem of life. A good story never begins by consulting the "Instruction Manual of Good Decision Making" Following a philosophy of sophistry is far more fun. As an observer, not a practitioner. Good thing you have "Other Matt" to blame and "Future Matt" to fix any complications that arise.
“Life is all about making newer and better mistakes.” I’m going to do a lot of mindless scrolling on insta and UA-cam today, and I will see a lot of life advice and life summations in the form of pithy statements. Your pithy statements are among the most honest and clever. Superfast Matt is my favorite engineer. The s600 is the greatest car ever. It is truly my favorite car ever. Your car. Your s600. Not Jay Leno’s or anyone else’s.
Engine and transmission would have made a great go-kart. Back in the early 60's Indy 500 race winner of the 1959 Indy 500 was Jimmy Bryan. He died in a race a few years after that. In the mean time he was a Phoenix resident and built a go-kart with a 650 Triumph twin motor on it. Kart races were held in shopping center parking lots with bales of hay as borders. Back when nothing was open on Sundays. He never won a race with it because it was too powerful and would spin out on the curves. It was a novelty and everybody loved it. All the other karts were powered by chain saw motors.
"sometimes your dreams are dumb" is the leading cause of "for sale: project car" adds in the world. Once the light-bulb comes on, it can not be turned off.
My current mistake in progress is a minibike...Sort of... I took a really fun, functional Baja Warrior MB 200 minibike with a Predator 212cc engine and "Torque converter " drive that at 48 mph was 24 mph faster than stock and would easily pull vertical wheels tanks, and put in a 479cc 16hp Briggs and stratton Vanguard Vtwin that I then modified with a governor delete, 34mm dirtbike roundslide carburetor and valve springs with enough seat pressure to allow around 7k RPM before valve float along with some machined steel retainers. I also did a mild port and polish on the heads since I have done cylinder head porting and polishing along with flowbench testing as part of my job for a long time. I also had to modify the frame, raising the backbone by 3.5 inches to fit the engine in and have enough room to work on it. Due to the larger diameter crankshaft the "Torque Converter " was no longer going to fit but in all likelihood it would've disintegrated anyway as it was rated for up to about 9 hp maximum and I am probably putting out around 24hp. That may not sound like much hp, in fact it's not difficult to put out that much with a 212cc single if you've got about $2.5k to throw at it, but the Torque output of a modified 479cc Vtwin vs a modified 212cc single is quite a lot, and with a vehicle weight of around 150lbs I found the original 50 tooth sprocket on the rear wheel (19×8×7 wheels/tire combination) was almost unrideable. It would wheelie pure vertical while spinning the tire on asphalt using a centrifugal clutch with a jackshaft on a launch from a dead stop. A 25 mph rolling start pulled the front wheel about 2 feet off the ground and about jerked my shoulders out of socket,but it topped out at about 52 mph. I worked my way down to a 32 tooth rear sprocket. My acceleration from a 20mph rolling start is still shockingly fast but the centrifugal clutch can't withstand over 1/4 throttle at any slower speeds and it will in fact glow red if I try to do so. It will still pull the front wheel up about 6 inches at 25mph if I snap the throttle open. With top speed around 78 mph I think I have surpassed the maximum safe speed for the Chinese 19×8×7 dirt knobby tires, although they do feel remarkably stable after airing them up to 20psi vs the 10 psi maximum pinted on the sidewall. Well at least remarkably stable for tires that shipped from China with a factory egg shape and 15 oz out of balance. The centrifugal growth rate is almost comical and may be contributing to my top speed. So now I'm looking at sourcing an appropriate set of wheels and tires, as well as brakes (single 4 inch rear drum is not really doing the job) and using an old XL125 lower end and transmission with clutch to make it safely past the 100 mph mark and not have to baby it until over 20 mph. So essentially I will possibly end up with a rigid framed, telescopic front-end minibike that performs a bit better than an 883 Sportster but is no longer as simple and reliable as a minibike (or even an 883 Sportster) that is not street legal and tries to break my spine everytime I ride it. It does currently get about 44 mpg at a steady 50 mph, I have ridden it to a buddies house 12 miles away numerous times, and so far I have less than $500 wrapped up in it including the price of the used minibike so I guess it's not as bad of a decision as a land speed bike lol. But at 52 years old, in relatively beat up condition and living on a fixed income (VA disability) one would think I would be making better choices by now.
I thoroughly enjoyed this video. I think that you were very successful because you always ended with a bike you could ride. 99% of Motorsports projects just end up being a basket of parts. Thanks for sharing!
I always wanted a project car, but I don't possess the money or skill to make it really happen... so I just tool around in my boring Niro EV, dreaming about what could have been. Until I watched this video, then I'm glad it never was. Thanks Matt!
Once long ago I almost paralyzed myself while racing and told myself not to ride a motorcycle again. And behold 15 years later, what do I do at an auction. Buy two motorcycles… stupid dreams, but so much fun to ride.
Thank you, Matt. Your thoughtful and brutally observant take on your process is a welcome acceptance. I, too have walked this path, and it is well-worn. Many gearheads will deny failure, and that denies true learning. I embrace the failure, and I am proud of you for doing the same. Forward, through the stars, my brother.
I love those videoa about failed past project. All knowledge is built on past failure.. we dont have to be ashamed of failure.. we have to build on it.
I start all sorts of projects, I do a lot of things that are above my weight class, and very often I felt dumb for trying and failing. But this is also what it is about. At least wasting 120 hours in your garage is better than sitting in front of your TV all the time. It's actually living.
My dad told me a story about a guy building a land speed bike and was testing it at the parking lot at spaceX. He work for keysight technicals. Who knew it was pass Matt having all of that fun.
Great story Matt! I have a Locost that will never be built……..since I finally sold the Donor after 15 yrs of storage😳……..but I’ve got a new shiny object in its place…….Model 3 power unit…….not sure what I’m going to stick it in yet😎❤️………as a retired Dyno Dynamics owner/tuner here in SoCal………everyone claims being “ poor” when they get to the penultimate crucial mod😆
You were not at FRR for the Mark McArdle era, but he always said “experience is a 10 letter word for ‘yeah, I f’ed that up before and I know how not to do it again.’” I love your videos Matt!!!
So comforting to know that there are other individuals out there who I can relate to and the same struggle with insanity in my head........ Looking back on 55 years I often ask myself why didn't I just live a normal life ? But then again that wouldn't have been me. 'We make easy hard' is probably a suitable frase to best describe us ? Thanks for your courage to give people an insight. 💪🤦♂️👍
engineer from an entirely different discipline here, but some lessons apply across the board. There is a computer language which is sometimes described as "making easy things hard, hard things easy, and impossible things, possible". Every engineer has to go through that phase of life :)
“Sometimes your dreams are dumb.” Truer words have never been spoken.
Someone's been talking with my wife then!
The true breadth and depth of the dumbness isn't quite apparent though until your life resembles a swap meet and your credit cards have been rejected.
I will console myself that at least after every tangible means of failure have been explored, I'm willing to do the walk of shame rather than invent new ones.
Everything is dumb.
One of MLK's less popular speeches.
Dumb or insane?
"That is all life is: making newer, better mistakes"
I identify so much.
Newer, better and more expensive mistakes.
I came here to say exactly that. Man came here for some moto fun and left with some philosophy 🍻
somebody needs to make a book with his greatest quotes
This spoke to me so much
Matt - I have just printed this on a banner and hung it up in my shop - "Life is all about making newer and better mistakes". It joins my father's, "Real engineering is not what you can put in - it's what you can take out". Thanks for all the hours of enjoyment!
Another one i love is "it's not a failure, you succeeded at finding a way _not_ to do it!"
Life is just making a series of messes and cleaning them up again
This is why I like boat projects. Every one eventually gets pushed into the ocean. And when they catch fire and sink, it’s much more difficult to revive and rebuild, thereby saving you from yourself. And the boat. Sometimes.
"Cutting corners always makes the car slower or less safe and nobody wants to go slower." Amazing.
Sometimes your dreams are dumb and Cutting corners always makes the car slower or less safe and nobody wants to go slower are my life's motto.
Wow! What a journey! Glad you documented so much of it and shared it with us, four times! =D
I have to say, the sit on special construction looked absolutely insane. So much so that I can't allow it to be called a mistake 🤣
Should have sold it to a movie production company for the next MadMax movie
It would only be a mistake if it had killed him. It didn't, so it was a crazy but very cool project. Thin line though.
@@joeclutchless1944 yeah, I heard they were casting Anya Taylor-Joy for the Mad Max prequel Furiosa and imagining her riding on that bike in the desert would be cool 🤘
Definitely. I find it more compelling to look at than many so called show bikes
@@joeclutchless1944 thats only gonna happen in like 20 years
Being an engineering student in FSAE right now and having a number of motorcycle related projects which are not progressing how I would have liked it’s cool to see where some of your practical experience has come from. It builds my confidence I’ll be able to make this half this cool one day.
Did you read his book yet? Racecar: Searching for the Limit in Formula SAE.
Basically FSAE and then continuing to build stuff after college is the answer to your question
Shit I haven’t, I’m picking that up today thanks for the recommendation!
What ever you do, do not get a girlfriend.
- future you
F'ups are the joys of engineering! Hat's off mate for being honest and owning up on mistakes. We're all human!
The 3rd version (the sit-down bike) looked pretty badass.
Okay, so I've gotta know. The chassis on the first iteration of the bike: the upper-most horizontal members are different diameters. The left hand side tube is bigger than all of the others. Was there a purpose to this? Or just the result of available material? I'm assuming this was to run something through the chassis on one side?
I noticed that when I was making the video, and the truth is: I can't remember. I think I might have wanted to use it to pull a portion of the intake air from the nose. That first build feels like a lifetime ago.
Your delivery of anecdotes and jokes, along with the stories behind them are just absolutely, astonishingly, unbelievably...
ok.
and I love it. ❤️
The REAL problem is you went after one of the commonly pursued records rather than "fastest electric/gas turbine hybrid motorcycle" or "fastest compressed air powered motorcycle" or "steam powered motorcycle (only 80.5 MPH)" or "torpedo engine powered motorcycle (very cool!)" ....
Excellent as ever Matt 😂 The street legal iteration made me snort with laughter, as did the 🐙 in a blender analogy. Keep adolescent Matt in charge of project planning. Algorithm hailed…👍
OMG, I have never simultaneously laughed so hard, and felt so personally attacked by one of your videos before.
I felt like I was watching a mirror.
Your worst engineering work has resulted in your best philosophical work. The lines "That's what life is: Making newer, better mistakes" And "You don't always have to follow your dreams, because sometimes your dreams are dumb" put this video in the best of Matt tier.
Great story. You’ve inspired me to make worse, more expensive, and even more consequential mistakes.
Hey Matt, thanks for showing off the parts you get from Send Cut Send! I was struggling to figure out how to mount some garden tractor wheels on a pedal-powered machine I’m working on, until I remembered you showing off some custom parts you had them make for one of your projects. It only took me a few minutes to use their online parts builder to design and order some flanges to mate the wheels to my bicycle axles. I just got the parts in the mail, and they are awesome!
What happened to the gigantic scooter?
Got disassembled and put in a corner to be forgotten about.
That's the frame of his Jag IIRC.
@@satiric_ they're probably referring to the previous video that had a photo of the scooter
Some of the things you mentioned reminded me of the SV Seeker metal boat building project that was built in the yard of an ex-IT, database administrator who fancies himself a bit of an engineer. Through out the course of the project he would take the 'cheap out' route when selecting parts and methods for doing the building an only arguing with the more experienced people who volunteered on the project. Once the boat hit the water and testing the systems began, a lot of the poor choices have bubbled to the surface requiring that they be modified, and the more expensive parts purchased and installed when doing the work of course is harder.
Your reminded me of him when you talked about paying more money in the end due to buying the wrong things first, and then having to replace them later.
I do admire your honesty. I mean no offense to the SV Seeker project owner, but his ego will never let him admit to making these kinds of mistakes, at least he doesn't admit it in his video presentations.
Dude is too much
Love your videos. You dropped some wisdom in this one, "Life is making newer, better mistakes"
Great story, Matt, thank you from all of us who have projects that were better left pushed into the ocean.
Absolutely brilliant episode! Thank-you!
I've mostly resigned to finish my automotive mistakes after the kids are grown and out of the house. My current checklist looks a lot like your old one, but with the motivation line item dangerously close to being crossed off too.
"sometimes your dreams are dumb" Best line ever!!!!!
Thank you for documenting a successfully failed project. That story was glorious. And your finishing notes were perfect.
Love the humor as always, and I would like to think the failed experiences only make your current project car that much better than it would have been had you not had these 4 learning experiences.
I have 8 full ground up/tubular frame project cars, and what it keeps me motivated is the hate and negativity from everyone around.
"cutting corners makes you slower and less safe, and nobody wants to go slower."
Some of the best story-telling ever. The successes may make for epic experiences, but the failures make for *epic* stories. Best. Motorcycle. Ever.
7:51 I honestly can’t tell if your humor is so far above average, or just decent humor with life-experiences that are so far above average. Either way I’m here for it!
All hail the algorithm!
As a guy who has been working on a human powered streamliner for…longer than I wish to admit… (4 years) I know EXACTLY how you feel!
It took me 13 years to rebuild a VW aircooled 36hp engine. You merely adopted the dark. 😂
Never forget, some dreams are dumb
But sometimes, the juice is worth the squeeze.
ua-cam.com/video/hRZvpJxc5xU/v-deo.html
“Longer than I wish to admit” (ok I’ll admit it immediately)
I love following all your builds!
I gotta say - 80% of the time, I am watching your channel just for the comedic content. I enjoy the engineering aspect of your builds as well. Keep it up Matt. I'll keep watching. :)
This video encapsulates the spirit of mankind, doing things, learning from mistakes, doing it again, with new mistakes, looking back, thinking it's dumb, but sometime after, realizing, it was great.
amazing!
0:58 a man after my own heart
A splendid story. I feel so much better now. Thank you. Keep up the great work. 😊
I don't like the finishing statement "sometimes, your dreams are dumb". What a downer. I don't get discouraged whenever I make a bad decision because I tell myself "hey, now I know what not to do the next time. That's really all life is - making newer, better mistakes. And that's good.
Love motorcycles. They're all insane. And things that are dangerous are fun!
You may not have succeeded to become a "Has Been", but you sure as hell have become the most successful "Never Was" when it come to setting the records you aimed for, but you definately have tried with the kind of zeal that most of us can only dream about, Nothing exceeds like excess, talk about guts, I salute you. Actually, you have succeeded in the way that most of us never make the effort to even try for.
"Cutting corners always makes you less safe or go slower. And nobody wants to go slower."
Matt... I think the perfect solution would be to change out the front wheel assembly for an axle (or pair of a-arms with central shock) positioning two wheels outside the chassis, and an angled hinge... so that leaning the entire chassis one way or the other will cause the axle to rotate to match the turning radius. The handlebars should remain in play so at standstill the angle can be pulled one way or the other. Not only would this make the entire thing more stable, it would have brilliant forward visibility, while retaining that "space ship" feel of leaning it through the corners.
What a great story! And very well told.
I really like how honest you are about the whole thing. So many videos are 5% talking about how they got there and then 95% celebrating victory. Yours are 95% talking about how you got there (and all the stupid decisions you made along the way) and maybe 5% celebrating victory. Or not. You share the story even if you don't win in the end.
I am not involved in the car community whatsoever, so it's pretty awesome to know other people have the same problems as I find myself making. I always get in way over my head too. I resolved to rewire my imported 30 year ols Land Rover Defender after seeing your wiring video. Bought all the things that were recommended, went out to my truck and immediately found myself staring into the void and realized I was in way over my head right now. I did, however, wire up an engine bay light using almost none of the recommended materials or processes and then called it a day. I'll rewire when I get a chance to redo the frame. Anyway, your videos are great. I don't want to do patron because I'll inevitably forget to cancel it much like a hundred other subscription service I have, but if you sign up for something where I can throw you a few bucks I will. Keep it up!
I had to stop for a bit at ; 'Cutting corners always makes the car either slower or less safe, and nobody wants to go slower' I guess no one really cares if it's less safe 😁
Also, the 'making newer, better mistakes' I'm constantly chuckling, and sometimes almost laughing out loud watching your videos.
The whole 'I resolved to decide' part coming up again is as hilarious as it is terrifying to think could happen to any of us.
You should get yourself a YT channel where you can talk about your projects, because this is all gold.
I mean, you already have, but if you didn't already do it you should have done it. (my superpower is hindsight)
Edit; I scrapped the shell for my project car a few years, and have sold some of the parts I was meaning to use for it lately , and I think I felt bad about it until now.
Life may just have gotten in the way to try and save me from it.🤔
_"my superpower is hindsight"_ - Mine too. :)
Wow, I think this is the most well packaged content and messaging you've done yet Matt! Thanks for the insights!
Your sense of humour is so dry it leaves us Brits in the dust, as always excellent, thanks Matt.
Hi Matt, I am lucky enough to be a crew member for Denis Manning's BUB 7 Motorcycle Streamliner you pictured in the video! The red one. I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoy, and truly learn, from your content. Please keep them coming!
First, Thomas Edison's response to the question about the 1,000 unsuccessful attempts to make a functioning lightbulb was actually "Fuck off". Not a lot of people know that.
Second, your experience building and rebuilding that thing is the same sad tale as my homemade Lotus 7 hillclimb/dragcar/autocross/dailydriver project. It's going to be AWESOME this time! My inner 12yr old assures me of it. When I start to get discouraged 12yr old Jon shows up in his smelly Van's and threadbare AC/DC t-shirt and reminds me that quitters never score and to stop screwing around trying to make a 12A rotary streetable and just put a smallblock Mopar w a tunnelram in the frikken' thing and go waste some fools.
Third, it's unfortunate you gave up on that streamliner before you did the obvious thing to get the project back on track and add a second engine. I thought you were a carguy
I heard Thomas Edison first utterance after successfully testing a light bulb was "where did all these bastard moths come from?".
Some of the historical accounts I've read note that Edison was a real jerk ( see the AC / DC current wars ) . He was more of an idea guy and his workers were the ones doing the heavy lifting.
And, he stole Tesla's ideas
Try a toyota engine, afaik out of a celica or rav4, I think it's the 4age engine, lots of great kits have these in the UK, fast and reliable what more could you want.
Thomas Edison realized something that would lead to his major successes. Stealing ideas and patents
superfast matt: engineer, racer, philosopher.
I was just minding my business and goofing off on UA-cam and I didn’t expect to find a video so excellently interesting and entertaining.
Every time I’ve put off doing a major project at my house, it came out far better than if I’d done it sooner. Taking more time to iron out the details is always best.
Excellent format and brilliant story! The deadpan is perfection! 👍
The best, most fun I've had on UA-cam in a long while. Keep up the "Good work" matt. All hail the algorithm.
Man, I wish you'd spent even more time on this project... It is yoir one project that really gets my heart racing
I have to say, this video was produced excellently. The script in particular was fantastic, not to mention the bike itself.
SuperfastMatt, story teller of the century.
Thank you for sharing your story. Regrets NO ! Learning YES ! AND YOU LIVED TO TALK ABOUT IT. A LIFE WELL LIVED. KEEP UP THE EXPLORATION......
Matt takes his dirt of experience, adds time & money, and creates a gem of life.
A good story never begins by consulting the "Instruction Manual of Good Decision Making"
Following a philosophy of sophistry is far more fun. As an observer, not a practitioner. Good thing you have "Other Matt" to blame and "Future Matt" to fix any complications that arise.
You are way too honest and narration is hilarious. You have learnt so much. Fantastic . #respect
A small part of me expected "The Final Form" to be a picture of the frame rusting away in the ocean, with burn marks all around.
“Life is all about making newer and better mistakes.” I’m going to do a lot of mindless scrolling on insta and UA-cam today, and I will see a lot of life advice and life summations in the form of pithy statements. Your pithy statements are among the most honest and clever. Superfast Matt is my favorite engineer. The s600 is the greatest car ever. It is truly my favorite car ever. Your car. Your s600. Not Jay Leno’s or anyone else’s.
Engine and transmission would have made a great go-kart. Back in the early 60's Indy 500 race winner of the 1959 Indy 500 was Jimmy Bryan. He died in a race a few years after that. In the mean time he was a Phoenix resident and built a go-kart with a 650 Triumph twin motor on it. Kart races were held in shopping center parking lots with bales of hay as borders. Back when nothing was open on Sundays. He never won a race with it because it was too powerful and would spin out on the curves. It was a novelty and everybody loved it. All the other karts were powered by chain saw motors.
There is a lot to unpack here, but some of the best realistic advice ever heard on a UA-cam channel.
"sometimes your dreams are dumb" is the leading cause of "for sale: project car" adds in the world. Once the light-bulb comes on, it can not be turned off.
Flushing a brilliant John Barnard interview to see SuperfastMatt... bravo you made it!
Equal parts philosophy and machinery. Love this content, Matt!
Thank you for sharing the story of this wonder of mechanical engineering. Well done
Brilliant story Matt, "set it on fire and roll it into the ocean" had me in tears! lol
My current mistake in progress is a minibike...Sort of... I took a really fun, functional Baja Warrior MB 200 minibike with a Predator 212cc engine and "Torque converter " drive that at 48 mph was 24 mph faster than stock and would easily pull vertical wheels tanks, and put in a 479cc 16hp Briggs and stratton Vanguard Vtwin that I then modified with a governor delete, 34mm dirtbike roundslide carburetor and valve springs with enough seat pressure to allow around 7k RPM before valve float along with some machined steel retainers. I also did a mild port and polish on the heads since I have done cylinder head porting and polishing along with flowbench testing as part of my job for a long time. I also had to modify the frame, raising the backbone by 3.5 inches to fit the engine in and have enough room to work on it. Due to the larger diameter crankshaft the "Torque Converter " was no longer going to fit but in all likelihood it would've disintegrated anyway as it was rated for up to about 9 hp maximum and I am probably putting out around 24hp. That may not sound like much hp, in fact it's not difficult to put out that much with a 212cc single if you've got about $2.5k to throw at it, but the Torque output of a modified 479cc Vtwin vs a modified 212cc single is quite a lot, and with a vehicle weight of around 150lbs I found the original 50 tooth sprocket on the rear wheel (19×8×7 wheels/tire combination) was almost unrideable. It would wheelie pure vertical while spinning the tire on asphalt using a centrifugal clutch with a jackshaft on a launch from a dead stop. A 25 mph rolling start pulled the front wheel about 2 feet off the ground and about jerked my shoulders out of socket,but it topped out at about 52 mph. I worked my way down to a 32 tooth rear sprocket. My acceleration from a 20mph rolling start is still shockingly fast but the centrifugal clutch can't withstand over 1/4 throttle at any slower speeds and it will in fact glow red if I try to do so. It will still pull the front wheel up about 6 inches at 25mph if I snap the throttle open. With top speed around 78 mph I think I have surpassed the maximum safe speed for the Chinese 19×8×7 dirt knobby tires, although they do feel remarkably stable after airing them up to 20psi vs the 10 psi maximum pinted on the sidewall. Well at least remarkably stable for tires that shipped from China with a factory egg shape and 15 oz out of balance. The centrifugal growth rate is almost comical and may be contributing to my top speed. So now I'm looking at sourcing an appropriate set of wheels and tires, as well as brakes (single 4 inch rear drum is not really doing the job) and using an old XL125 lower end and transmission with clutch to make it safely past the 100 mph mark and not have to baby it until over 20 mph. So essentially I will possibly end up with a rigid framed, telescopic front-end minibike that performs a bit better than an 883 Sportster but is no longer as simple and reliable as a minibike (or even an 883 Sportster) that is not street legal and tries to break my spine everytime I ride it. It does currently get about 44 mpg at a steady 50 mph, I have ridden it to a buddies house 12 miles away numerous times, and so far I have less than $500 wrapped up in it including the price of the used minibike so I guess it's not as bad of a decision as a land speed bike lol. But at 52 years old, in relatively beat up condition and living on a fixed income (VA disability) one would think I would be making better choices by now.
Thank you for those words of wisdom: "Life is: making newer, better mistakes". I wish someone had told me that as a child.
ROFL!!
That end part: Needing money to make mistakes.
Priceless!!
So true about aviation...
Kerosene at your local gas station: ~$4.00/gal
Kerosene at your local airport: ~$8.00/gal
I thoroughly enjoyed this video. I think that you were very successful because you always ended with a bike you could ride. 99% of Motorsports projects just end up being a basket of parts. Thanks for sharing!
I always wanted a project car, but I don't possess the money or skill to make it really happen... so I just tool around in my boring Niro EV, dreaming about what could have been. Until I watched this video, then I'm glad it never was. Thanks Matt!
The lowspeed pass on the lake sounded like George Jetson's pod with the large capacity powerplant option
Once long ago I almost paralyzed myself while racing and told myself not to ride a motorcycle again. And behold 15 years later, what do I do at an auction. Buy two motorcycles… stupid dreams, but so much fun to ride.
Thank you, Matt. Your thoughtful and brutally observant take on your process is a welcome acceptance. I, too have walked this path, and it is well-worn.
Many gearheads will deny failure, and that denies true learning. I embrace the failure, and I am proud of you for doing the same.
Forward, through the stars, my brother.
like an octopus in a blender
This is a life lesson in Sunk Cost Fallacy.
I love those videoa about failed past project. All knowledge is built on past failure.. we dont have to be ashamed of failure.. we have to build on it.
good job on the not dying part, I am inspired to do the same
I start all sorts of projects, I do a lot of things that are above my weight class, and very often I felt dumb for trying and failing. But this is also what it is about. At least wasting 120 hours in your garage is better than sitting in front of your TV all the time. It's actually living.
My dad told me a story about a guy building a land speed bike and was testing it at the parking lot at spaceX. He work for keysight technicals. Who knew it was pass Matt having all of that fun.
Matt ...
YOU FIRE HUMAN
Stay with us MANY MANY MANY MORE YEARS !
Much love from
NORTH OF THE WALL!
How are you not broke? Love you videos Matt!
Nice lotus general arrangement drawing over your shoulder. I have same. Thank you for the video. C
I love your philosophical and humorous way of telling your stories!! I can so identify
Commentary is gold. Funny, that same guy tells me what to do too, well, except for the skateboard.
Great story Matt!
I have a Locost that will never be built……..since I finally sold the Donor after 15 yrs of storage😳……..but I’ve got a new shiny object in its place…….Model 3 power unit…….not sure what I’m going to stick it in yet😎❤️………as a retired Dyno Dynamics owner/tuner here in SoCal………everyone claims being “ poor” when they get to the penultimate crucial mod😆
LOVE the Furniture Row #78 Cup car behind you, what a great chapter of NASCAR history...A "dumb idea" that worked out...
This channel deserves way more subscribers. It's a great channel.
I love the honesty of logical Matt talking about adolecent decision maker Matt.
The spirit of Burt Munro was ALMOST with you!
Thumbs up.
'Unsafe' 'unwise'
Sounds like every car or bike project I've ever started
You were not at FRR for the Mark McArdle era, but he always said “experience is a 10 letter word for ‘yeah, I f’ed that up before and I know how not to do it again.’”
I love your videos Matt!!!
I watched this while working on my project bike and I had a small existential crisis.
So comforting to know that there are other individuals out there who I can relate to and the same struggle with insanity in my head........
Looking back on 55 years I often ask myself why didn't I just live a normal life ?
But then again that wouldn't have been me.
'We make easy hard' is probably a suitable frase to best describe us ?
Thanks for your courage to give people an insight. 💪🤦♂️👍
engineer from an entirely different discipline here, but some lessons apply across the board. There is a computer language which is sometimes described as "making easy things hard, hard things easy, and impossible things, possible". Every engineer has to go through that phase of life :)
Matt delivered some golden nuggets in this one.