Thanks to some generous help from the awesome folks at Panopticon Imaging, the R5e land speed run is ON!
We’re busy tooling up tires and gearing, and scouting locations to do our first speed testing before the snow flies. The target is it break 100mph, or break “the ton” as the cafe boys like to say, and to collect a bunch of data along the way. Using a Cycle Analyst with the GPS logging, and Alex Tango’s slick data interface, we can get some really significant numbers on the high-speed gearing, presently running an 11-tooth to the stock 40-tooth rear. (After the speed runs are complete, we’ll be re-gearing it for a more reasonable 80mph top speed and better low speed performance, and running similar data-logging tests giving us some great comparisons, and some fodder for the transmission debate as well.)
Paul Sneyd, “the man” at Panopticon Imaging, just wanted to be a part of this madness. “I’ve been watching what you’re doing, and it’s just so cool- I just wanted to be part of it!” said Paul, when we asked him why a photography lab would want to sponsor an electric motorcycle speed team. “Everybody’s going to be saying, ‘what’s Panopticon up to now?’ when they hear about it, and we think it’s going to get a lot of attention… plus, it’s Green! We have been committed to running an environmentally responsible lab for decades now.”
Panopticon Imaging is a unique photography lab, committed to processing and printing the highest quality traditional black and white prints from film- along with being at the forefront of digital imaging technology. In a time when it’s nearly impossible to find a black and white film lab at all, Panopticon Imaging provides the absolute highest quality lab services in the US… quite possibly the world. For 30 years Panopticon Imaging has maintained the highest standards of film processing, and the revolution in digital photography and printing didn’t change a thing about how they ran their lab. They started out aiming for the top, they remain there today.
Their reputation attracts the very best talent in photography from around the world, and some of the most important galleries, collections, museums and exhibits – including such names as the Bradford Washburn archives, Harold Feinstein, Stacey Foreman, Isa Lesko, DoubleExposure, Joseph White, Greg Hren, even Apple Computer and the Boston Public Library – and a host of others… projects like the Boston Carmen’s Union Project, That Fabled Shore, and more – read more here.
As you work with the team at Panopticon, see the shows and hear the stories, one thing becomes clear. These are printmakers in the classic sense… true collaborators with the artist, committed to the artist’s vision, and doing it for the sheer love of the images and the art they help to produce.
Thanks to Paul and the entire team at Panopticon Imaging! And wish us luck as we run to break the ton!
Join The Electric Chronicles and see the R5e at the Solar & Wind Expo this weekend in Marlboro, MA.
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