We are in the process of having some amazing variator
springs fabricated. They will perform at a higher level for much longer
than any other variator springs currently available.
Q. That is a bold statement, how are they
better?
A. They are made from a proprietary alloy
that performs better than titanium for the application, ensuring the
rider will have a high performance spring.
Lets go through the process of how we determined the need
for a better variator spring and how we arrived at the results.
DETERMINE THE PROBLEM:
Variator springs are of course used
inside of a variator. They are in a hostile environment with heat,
rotational forces, and applied compression forces. All of those
environmental factors cause the variator spring's performance to
degrade. Loss of performance in the variator spring can happen in a
short period of time. Some racers have told us that they often change
out their variator spring every race or every couple of races.
Frequently changing variator springs is time consuming and expensive.
There are many variables to consider when designing a variator spring.
You have to know what type of environment, spring rate, material, length
of stroke, coil diameter, etc. If one of those variables is not right,
then you have a product that doesn't perform to its maximum. Most
variator springs that are currently on the market aren't designed to
hold up to an extreme racing environment. The spring force of the
variator springs changes which changes the operating characteristics of
the variator.
Here is an example of what can happen:
A variator spring is designed to shift the
variator at 2000 rpm's. The variator spring has been used in a
hostile environment such as racing or has been operated for a period
of time and the spring rate has changed. Since the spring rate has
changed, then the variator is no longer set to shift at 2000 rpm's.
When the spring rate changes it decreases, therefore, the variator
will start to shift (move in/out depending if it is the front or
rear variator) at a lower rpm. Depending upon the torque curve for
the engine, the torque of the engine could be and probably is less,
therefore resulting in lower acceleration for the
rider.
We have determined the problem with the variator
springs is they are not designed properly for the environment.
SOLVE THE PROBLEM:
To solve the problem we analyzed the variator spring. We
determined that the current design had a lot of room to be optimized.
We made a couple of changes and chose to use a proprietary alloy
that is better than titanium for the application of a variator
spring.
The best attribute about the new variator spring design is it will
maintain its spring rate over a large number of cycles (millions). The
variator springs will offer peace of mind in that the rider will know
for sure that the variator will shift at a specified rpm, thereby giving
the rider maximum torque and maximum acceleration. The ZTR Products
Gold Series Variator Springs will not have to be changed every
race. We will be doing extensive testing once the spring
fabrication is complete and we will be able to predict the life of the
spring. We anticipate being able to race our variator springs for an
entire year before the rider needs to worry about changing the variator
spring.
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