It’s a show bike with a twist. You can definitely take it to a motorcycle show and turn some heads. You can also meet up with your friends on a Saturday morning and ride it hard all day long. That’s because high standards for structural integrity and a high performance fuel injected engine are part of the deal. If you bought a new Harley and souped it up yourself, you might spend between $30,000 and $32,000. That’s also what it costs to buy a custom production motorcycle from Lucas Cycles. It’s not inexpensive but you get a lot for your money.
That is the value proposition of Lucas Cycles a start-up motorcycle manufacturer as outlined by Robert Crain, the company’s chief designer and manufacturing engineer in charge of the machine shop. Lucas Cycle is an offshoot of Lucas Oil, a private oil marketer with a reputation among truckers, auto-racers and bike racers for oil formulations that deliver superior protection while enhancing engine performance. The company was already attending bike shows and racing events with its own promotional motorcycle. Introducing its own line of bikes and apparel seemed like a logical brand extension.
Crain, who has nine years of design and manufacturing experience, joined the five person staff of Lucas Cycle early in 2006 with a simple mission: design five models and manufacturing processes that would get the new company up to respectable levels of production and profitability as quickly as possible. To accomplish this, the Lucas Cycle start-up team drew heavily on their industry experience, strong work ethic and carefully chosen computer automated design and manufacturing equipment.
Back & Forth is Bad
Shortly after Robert Crain signed on, Lucas Cycle took delivery on its primary piece of manufacturing equipment, a Hass, 4-axis, VF3 CNC Machining Center. On the same day, Mastercam CAD/Cam software was installed on Crain’s computer. “At the very beginning,” Robert said, “I practically lived on the CAD/CAM system, designing bikes, fixtures, tooling and individual parts, also going to the Mastercam classes. Within three months, we were manufacturing bikes.
Crain believes that the Mastercam software has substantial design capabilities and using one program for both design and creating tool paths eliminates a great deal of back and forth between different CAD and CAD packages. Once the design and manufacturing work had gained momentum, he would evaluate a number of CAD packages and choose the most efficient design system.
About halfway through the first year Mastercam X arrived. It has an advanced user interface features that further improves design productivity. For example, the design system automatically monitors the user’s work patterns and places icons for the most commonly used functions on toolbars that load up and display automatically. Functions previously buried under several layers of menus can be accessed with just one click. Robert estimates that this one feature saves him at least an hour of design time every week. While a majority of the parts created for the first three models are still in Version 9, he can call the files up in Version X of Mastercam and use them immediately without any translation needed.
Eventually Crain did evaluate four other CAD programs and determined that they would not offer an improvement over Mastercam. He said, “The cost of standalone design software is substantial. So is the hassle of moving back and forth between different programs. I do a lot of covers in Mastercam. We also use it to create etching programs that we execute on our end mill. I keep all my tool designs in Mastercam for fast access. If I want to check out how the part will run, I can actually simulate the cut in Mastercam. I don't have to keep importing and exporting back and forth; it saves me time.”
Mules Move Fast
With Lucas Cycle’s integrated approach to design and manufacturing it takes the company just five days to get a mule (prototype motorcycle) on the ground. Robert outlined the steps.
The 3-D Model. The design idea might come from any one of the Lucas Cycle team members. They give him some specs on the bike as far as height from the ground, rake of the neck, length of the bike, the overall design, etc. He takes those numbers and creates a frame around it, putting it into 3D. There are some basic fenders and sheet metal that go into the drawing. He then incorporates that information into the 3D model, prints it out and gets comments, which are used to alter the design.
Layout Fixture Model. Once consensus is reached on the initial design, it is overlaid onto the modular layout fixture. The fixture model is adjusted to provide optimal support for all of the parts on the bike. This model is used to build a new fixture or adapt an existing one.
Parts breakout. From there he breaks individual parts away from the bike model and sends them out for press work or to be cut by water jet. Tool paths are created in CAM for in-house machining processes to be performed when the work pieces are returned.
Tube Bending. The frame design is also overlaid on the assembly fixture model to assure that the angles are correct. Tubes are then bent to create the frame from one of two bending fixtures (also designed in Mastercam).
Assembly. The parts come back to the shop and are machined, or etched if necessary. They are assembled onto the frame in the layout fixture and welded in place. The fixtures have modular design which allows for expansion or contraction to accommodate the design. To optimize performance and quality, Lucas Cycle has standardized on a 124-inch S&S VFI fuel injected engine, so the frame has been designed to keep the motor mount at a consistent height on every fixture.
Finish. This includes sandblasting and painting.
It may take months to arrive at the design idea, but with closely integrated design and manufacturing, the mule can be on the ground for evaluation within a week. Robert says waiting for the paint to cure is the longest of all the steps.
Hitting the Numbers
Lucas Cycle has three designs sold through distributors in Indiana and two nearby states. Production rate has achieved its target of 100 to 150 units a year, which reflects well both on biker acceptance of the designs and the exceptional manufacturing capacity of a very small staff. “CAD/CAM has been central to our business,” Crain said. “It’s what got the bikes on the ground.”
Lucas Cycles manufactures almost everything in-house except the engine and electronics. Each bike has approximately 41 parts, some of which are unique, although many are variations of a basic design. Robert keeps track of all the parts and their variations in Mastercam. Customers can also choose a number of custom paint and chrome options.
During the coming year, Lucas Cycle will create and introduce two more designs, and then stand pat for awhile to collect feedback from users and the sales channel before plunging back into another design cycle to replace or add new models.
While this lean chopper start-up company may not be turning a profit yet, Crain said Lucas Cycle is already covering expenses. This is quite remarkable, considering the substantial up-front investment for CAD/CAM, CNC manufacturing equipment and salaries for a very experienced staff.
While the design work is in somewhat of a lull, Crain says he will have plenty to do manufacturing production parts on the CNC. He said that he really likes designing motorcycles but making them is just as much fun. He also races motorcycles on Saturdays. |