Messages

Why I'm exhausted
Why the teams and riders are probably more so
Why Martin has the upper hand
Why Aprilia is brilliant but flawed
Why Yamaha was competitive
Why tire pressure might decide the championship
https://mythoughtsabout2wheels.blogspot.com/2023/11/the-hare-and-tortoises.html

Cheers,
/David

My latest thoughts on MotoGP:
Why Marc decided to spread his wings (not the Honda ones).
Why Augusto was picked instead of Pol.
Why Zarco got shafted.
Why rain isn't a surprise.
Why the title fight is down to two.
https://mythoughtsabout2wheels.blogspot.com/2023/10/midas-martin.html

Cheers,
/David

Why I prefer not to look at Bez's backside.
Why the Indian GP was a pleasant surprise.
Why Pecco should have been smarter.
Why Honda might not be screwed after all.
Why Fabio was grumpy.
Why Martin has to learn how to dress himself.
https://mythoughtsabout2wheels.blogspot.com/2023/09/boiling-point.html

Cheers,

/David

Why Pecco should get rearview mirrors.
Why carbon fibre is "da shit". 
Why Dani is amazing.
Why Marc had fun.

https://mythoughtsabout2wheels.blogspot.com/2023/09/old-and-new.html

Cheers,

/David

My latest thoughts on MotoGP:
Why one second is all it takes.
Why Maverick suddenly starts well.
Why the RS-GP is the best of both worlds.
Why Enea's mistake was sort of a blessing in disguise.
Why Dorna should do some very serious introspecting.

https://mythoughtsabout2wheels.blogspot.com/2023/09/from-granollers-to-top-of-world.html

Cheers,

/David

Ser helt fantastisk ut! Skulle gärna testa den någon dag. Ditt hantverkarskap är mäkta imponerande.

Ha det,

/David 

Happy New Year!

HI david,

I got a lot of parts and stuff that you could use and I wont be using so thought if you contact me we could talk and for a few beers and postage I might be able to help?

DD

Really nice of you to offer DD. Thing is, I live in Sweden so I don't know about the shipping cost... might be a bit steep? How can I contact you?

Cheers,

/David "Gonzo" Boda #46

Found these online... "Mechatronics, Design, and Modeling of a Motorcycle Riding Simulator" and "Evaluation of a Motorcycle Simulator" Way over my head but there might be something useful in there for others. Check it out...

PDF:s are downloadable from the articles or you can get them from my Mega folder.

https://mega.nz/folder/CVMEABiA#2g-L2eUJ01wRWMMABdJZqQ

Cheers,

/David "Gonzo" Boda #46

Are you playing in bare feet?!

Am I the only one playing in gloves and boots? 

Well, in socks... Boots wouldn't work because I don't have enough clearance between the shifter and the ground!

Looking awesome David!
Nice to see The Thing is thriving. Do you do any online racing?

Thanks!

No online, I always feel I suck to much. At the moment I'm just playing MX-bikes, waiting for the GP-bikes update before I jump back in.

That's awesome and so intricate, I could stare at that for ages working out what does what. Poor wheel though

Thanks!

What are the significant changes from v2 to v3?

Thanks for the compliment!

The gearbox started it's live as a Sidewinder wheel (the cogs inside the housing)  All in all it's three different controllers merged into one monstrosity. Wingman wheel circuit board controls the gearbox, rear brake and clutch (replaced the puny pots with bigger sidewinder pots on each), Sidewinder for steering, throttle and front brake. The biggest issue is that there is no bespoke calibration software for Windows 10 so I can't set a psychical stop on the wheels rotation. That's where the bicycle brake wires and the clamps on the steering wheel and the mounting board come in.   

Main changes from v2 to v3: my rider movement controller on the left side of the handlebar was just a circuit board and two analogue sticks from a gamepad. It was a less multifunctional solution than the current one but it was also less weighty and cumbersome. Unfortunately, one of the wires snapped on the board side and I fucked up when I tried to solder it back. I didn't want to slaughter another gamepad so I just stuck a full one right on there.

Then I padded the "foot pegs", the bare aluminum (actually a part of a vacuum cleaner pipe) was hurting my feet after an hour of playing.

And I changed the throttle mechanism, managed to get a flat spring in there somehow (not much room to play with), the throttle rebound now feels natural and smooth, before it was an external solution with a thick rubber band... You can see the previous version in the link below the last pic, and there's also some work in progress footage there, and a parts list.     

Cheers.

David "Gonzo" Boda #46

The Thing 2.0 (for reference)

Cheers,

/David "Gonzo" Boda #46

So, long story short (as possible). The Thing (my homemade Frankenstein controller ) was having some issues when I tried to play MotoGP22 (using x360ce and UJC). Since the base is an old Sidewinder FF Wheel there is no current software for calibration and settings, just the generic one that's in Windows 10 (joy.cpl). When calibrating the wheel I need to have the rotation restricted but that unfortunately also affects the throttle length (x and y respectively, they are not separated, the break axis is). After some lengthy time on Google I found out that the calibration data is actually stored in the registry (regedit).

"Navigate to the registry keys of the respective controller, HKEY_CURRENT_USER\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\MediaProperties\PrivateProperties\DirectInput\VID_<VendorID>&PID_<ProductID>\Calibration\0\Type\Axes\<NUM>."

The problem is that it's all hex so I could not make heads or tails of it, even when using an online converter (this is the converter I used to try to make sense of it all: https://coolconversion.com/math/binary-octal-hexa-decimal/_hexadecimal__FF__binary_).

According the post I found the values can be interpreted as:

"Modify the Calibration key which is mapped to a 12 byte binary value (encoded as <MIN> <MID> <MAX>). So for instance, suppose we wanted the y-axis Calibration to be from 30-70 for a defective analog stick, with 45 centered stick. Then we Calibration mapped 12 bytes should be set to <1E 00 00 00> <2D 00 00 00> <46 00 00 00>"

Well, it's still gibberish for my poor brain, because, my SW FF Wheel setting in regedit for the wheel rotation and throttle looks like this:

(Axis 0)
00000000   EA   FF   FF   FF   FF   FF   FF   FF   
00000008   16   00   00   00

And the raw data displays "-22" "0" "22" (left, center, right).
"16" is "22" so that's clear, but the rest? "EA" is "234" and FF is "255" so if we divide that we're left with "21"... not "22", and definitely not "-22". Also, what are all the other "FF"s and the three "00"s (I'm guessing one of the "00"s is the center)?

I figured out that if I reset the controller to default, all the calibration files in regedit gets deleted and only the "default" entry is kept. So I ventured that if I calibrate everything as I want it to be, except for the throttle (Axis 1, the brake is Axis 5), and then delete the throttle calibration file, effectively resetting it to its default state (which has full range)... and to my surprise it worked!

I don't know if this is all common knowledge or if anyone has any use of this info, but I figured I put it out there in case somebody runs into similar issues or just want to tweak their controller calibration settings in this way (given that they understand the hex to decimal thing better than I do).

Cheers,

/David "Gonzo" Boda #46