When human test riders simply aren’t enough, companies adopt ingenious methods to test their products and we’re facing such an example here and now. Castrol needs to know how their synthetic oil performs in extreme conditions, from the desert heat and to the freezing Antarctica temperatures, which is why they use Flossie for the job.
The robot motorcycle tester can endure virtually any harsh treatment and still prove effective in providing the feedback that Castrol needs. The best of it is that it can adapt to any motorcycle or scooter and ride every single two-wheeler to the max.
We reckon it won’t be long until we see the ugly looking thing on the racing track, despite the fact that it can’t yet balance without assistance.
See the video after the jump.
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Polish vehicle manufacturer Marotti has created a rather unique reverse-trike that is claimed to be "as dynamic as a motorcycle and, at the same time, as safe and easy to drive as a car." While the engine powering it was easy to procure from a Honda VFR750, the design sure gave a few headaches. Built as a fighter jet to hit the streets, this Marotti creation is, obviously, inspired from the aeronautic industry.
Given the 100 horsepower developed by the 750cc V-four engine and the only 970-pounds weight, the machine does quality as a blast, at least on paper. If you’re willing to see the facts, hit the jump and check out the no less than four videos that we’ve attached. Guess what? They all prove that this Marotti is built for pure fast launches, which translate in burnouts when space is limited.
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Piaggio has released a video explaining how the technology behind the MP3 Hybrid works. The revolutionary Italian scooter has a claimed 140mpg and it is the world’s first plug-in, lithium ion, hybrid leaning three-wheeler. So now you know why there is so much fuss about it.
Hit the jump to see the official video.
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This patent drawing indicates that Yamaha is planning to develop an inline-four intercooled and turbocharged diesel engine. Furthermore, various technological solutions have made the subject of the patent application filled by the company’s officials.
The intercooler will be located above the engine or concealed in the frame and a turbocharger will be mounted adjacent to the cylinder head, protecting the parts, ensuring a compact design, but, most of all, minimizing turbo lag.
What makes this news even greater is the fact that Yamaha plans to develop turbo-diesel powerplants even for entry-level sports bikes such as the FZ6 drawing that we’re looking at, while the R1 and R6 can only dream of a modern oil burner and the implicit better fuel consumption.
The BMW Halbo concept looks like the kind of bike you can take with you in vacation. Yes, it is small and this makes it fun, efficient, but also very dangerous to ride, at least from where I’m sitting now. Actually, designer Pierre Yohanes Lubis claims it only takes up half as much space as your average bike.
That is due to some innovative construction methods such as the engine being an integrated part of the full-sized front wheel. At the back, you get a whole different scenario: the tiny spherical wheel is mounted on a moving arm that is supposed to balance the bike.
Addressed to "eco-minded young individuals," we can suppose it features
an electric motor, but why would anyone want to hit the streets on such a bike? Sure, it can be efficient at work places where you have to move a lot (and where workers currently use bicycles) as long as companies are willing to pay the price (currently unknown), but it looks too risky for the streets.
By looking at this picture, it is easy to realize that we haven’t seen the most of those inventive minds out there.
The rear half of this trike is an old, chopped up VW Beetle shell, while the front is as chopperesque as they get. There’s no V-twin engine displayed so we can only assume that the owner of this machine simply kept the car’s original engine. Still, it’s a unique combination.
Maarten Timmer is a Delft design graduate that seems to have discovered the perfect recipe to really promote electric motorcycles. The whole idea is to drift further away from petrol-fed motorcycles as a result of using a dynamic look, which is incomparable to that of the, indeed, much cheaper and faster gas burners.
His project is called VertiGO and is anything but regular. There’s a space where the tank would normally be on a classic supersport motorcycle and the seat is suspended, allowing this electric bike to stand out as a unique alternative in a world of fairly similar two-wheelers.
Although not completely radical, the bike’s slightly futuristic and yet totally realizable design is allowed by the small battery packs and motors that can be placed very low in the chassis, achieving a favorable center of gravity as well as a feet-forward riding position.
While we’re aware of the fact that electric bikes are gaining more and more terrain on the market, the "bang for the buck" still makes the rules in this industry and that’s why we are not witnessing an amazing growth of the electric segment just yet.
We rarely get to see a Norton Commando Transformer and the one in this short film is actually very funny. It is the work of Steve Twist, a student from Bournemouth University, who contacted MCN to help him for this project that he had for his Undergraduate Degree course in Computer Visualisation And Animation. The idea was to use a classic motorcycle and the old Commando turned out to be the ideal solution.
Check out the video after the break and see the final result.
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As hard to believe as it might be, this is actually a Triumph Daytona 1200 motorcycle built from lego. We do not know the number of pieces involved, but this sure looks like a whole lot of work for a bunch of kids. They all receive an A+ from the TopSpeed team!
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This Laverda motorcycle has suffered an incredible, truly radical transformation into a…car. In fact, it is a supercar sidecar attached to the original bike, which was heavily modified to fit the scenario.
It was built within 10 years by a Frenchman named Francois Knorreck. The reason why this 10,000 hours project lasted this long is the builder’s little spare time.
Featuring parts of a Kawasaki 1000, VW Golf GTI, Audi 80 and a Citroen Xantia as well as from BMW and Renault cars, the Snaefell, as the builder named it, is probably the most technically diversified piece of engineering.
The impressive fit and finish and the fact that the thing is totally functional leave us speechless. It even features gulfwing doors!
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