It takes a single look at the GP racing concept bikes designed by Art Center College of Design student Jeremy D’Ambrosio to know that they’re in for some serious controversy. To begin with, they all feature leading arm front suspension and tubular aluminum cradle frames in their creator’s attempt to get rid of the patterns.
But wait to hear the interesting part: Jeremy has thought at a 250cc, four-cylinder, vertically opposed engine or even at a two-stroke class. Hit the jumps to read the designer’s statement on the 250GP concept bikes.
Because the world that we live in spins around money, we have serious doubts that any vehicle prototype powered by an engine that runs on AIR will ever see the next stage (at least not as long as there’s still oil around and Bin Ladens to chase), but we do find Edwin Conan’s Green Speed motorcycle quite fascinating precisely because, as real as it might look and be (note that this is not just a concept, but an actual prototype), we know that we won’t get the change to see such thing on the streets.
While the bike was designed by Edwin together with a team of student designers and their teacher, the air-powered rotary engine was invented by Melbourne engineer Angelo Di Pietro. They worked together to come up with this air-powered motorcycle prototype that originally started live as a Suzuki GP100 back in the 1970s and even managed to give it a nice racy look to back up the innovations that stand at its base. We have attached the official details after the jump, so check this article out for more.
It may look like a bicycle from the next century and the fact is that it has all the benefits of the original two-wheeler, but the Grace E-motorbike features a CNC-aluminum frame, which is fitted with eurofighter and Formula One parts. This, together with the 1300 watt lithium ion-powered motor, allows the handmade mean of transportation to reach a top speed of 40 mph and keep on going for as little as 18 miles and as much as 31 miles. It takes one hour for the battery to charge and when it’s dead, riders can pedal their way home.
Still, the Grace should stay true to its name around the city and considering that it is made in the company’s Hanover, Germany shop, reliability isn’t something to worry about. Suddenly, we start looking with different eyes to the good old scooter or the newer Segway, but the first question that pops into mind when seeing this is how much will it cost and when we’ll be getting it. The company says the Grace will cost €5877 ($8742) when it ships in January. Sorry, I forgot to mention you should sit down before further reading.
French designer Romain Herment considers that nuclear fusion will allow the turning of nuclear energy into a power source for motorcycles. Not only that, but he has even come up with a concept bike meant to reveal the designer’s idea about how motorcycles based on the new technology will look like.
The “Motorbike 2050 version 2,” as it is called, is a fairly cool looking thing with plenty more interesting details needed to be unveiled. For instance, it will supposedly rely on deuterium and tritium – two inexhaustible natural elements – to make it efficient, as efficient as 1 liter of water per 100 km can be four decades from now.
While we have no knowledge of version 1, we must say that for this project the designer made sure to cover every single aspect such as power being generated by an electric engine and the whole thing weighing only 55kg, although they don’t mention much about the materials used to achieve the light weight.
Each time I see something like this, I start thinking more and more seriously about recording a Harley for when we’ll be riding on this sort of motorcycles.
After finally unveiling the all-new Ducati Multistrada 1200 at this year’s EICMA show in Milan, we found that the 150bhp Italian enduro motorcycle is extremely versatile as a result of the four electronic riding modes: Sport, Touring, Urban and Enduro. So Ducati has released a video explaining the concept behind these modes, but because they wanted to keep it cheap, they use animated pencil sketches to illustrate how their systems works.
At the 67th Milan International Cycle and Motorbike Show, Peugeot unveiled the new HYbrid3 Evolution Concept - a convertible version of the HYbrid3 compressor presented at the 2008 Paris Motor Show.
The HYbrid3 Evolution Concept is powered by two electric motors - one in each wheel - and a 300cc petrol engine that delivers 41 hp. The electric engines are powered by lithium-ion batteries, which can be recharged by an energy recovery system active during deceleration and braking.
The concept has an average fuel consumption of 2.0 liters per 100km (141.2 mpg imp) and C02 emissions of 48 g/km.
At this year’s EICMA show in Milan, Moto Guzzi made one of the most inspired moves in the Italian brand’s recent history when taking the wraps off of an impressive triangle of concepts. This is formed from the Moto Guzzi V12 Le Mans, V12 X and V12 Strada and represents the work of Miguel Galluzzi and Pierre Terblanche.
The two designers thought at borrowing the 1,200cc V-twin from the Norge GT and mounting it on two roadsters (the LeMans and X) and a supermoto model (the Strada) in an attempt to give Moto Guzzi a new, more aggressive design based on innovation.
Miguel Galluzzi, head of Piaggio Group’s styling centre said: ‘There is an impalpable, yet very real force in the history of Moto Guzzi. It lies in the ideas and in the unrelenting research work that led Moto Guzzi to build its tradition on innovation.’
Galluzzi, who also signed the Aprilia RSV4, ended by saying: ‘Keep an eye on Moto Guzzi because this is just the first step. We are back to relying on ideas, and we have plenty of them. This is just the beginning.’
BMW has used their experience from building straight six engines for cars into creating a modern café racer concept powered by a six-cylinder engine displacing 1600cc. This means 266cc for each cylinder of the so-called BMW Motorrad Concept 6, which won’t see the production line pretty soon, but word is out that the German car and motorcycle manufacturer will use this precise engine on their next LT grand touring model.
Surely, this isn’t the first two-wheeler powered by an inline six as Honda had the CBX1000 in 1978, but the impressive part about the modern bike is the fact that it is so narrow for this type of engine rarely used on motorcycles. But when it is used it smoothly delivers impressive amounts of torque, which is why we have great expectations in what regards BMW’s future touring lineup. Hit the jump for the BMW Motorrad Concept 6 press release and picture gallery.
It seems that the CR&S Duu has turned from concept into reality as the company announced they will officially unveil their “two liter, twin cylinder, twin seater” at the EICMA show next week and released the bike’s official pictures with the announcement.
CR&S brags about the Duu’s 1,916cc S&S X-Wedge V-twin engine and we’ll have to say that this is precisely the piece that has the most to do with the 20,000 euros (US$29,500) starting price for when this blend of European chassis and American powerplant will go on sale in Europe no later than 2011.
What we like the most about this creation is the fact that you can’t easily identify which bodywork part is which, not to mention their purposes. We can see that the single-side swingarm reflects style at its best, but we still have to wait until EICMA to see the public’s reaction. Fingers crossed because CR&S will be building by hand a few dozen of these every year.
The ’V12 Andreas’ isn’t just one of those concept motorcycles that won’t ever turn into reality, but a running café racer that originally started life as a Honda CBX, which was a six-cylinder UJM (Universal Japanese Motorcycle). Although what Andreas came up with is anything but universal, his custom Honda CBX V12 Café Racer is actually powered by two such engines, which have been joined together, resulting the impressive V12 mill.
These are simple words to describe the amazing amount of work behind this project as Andreas spent a year working on the chains, tensioners and guides, just so that you get a clue of the dedication needed to achieve such a piece of mechanical jewel, but it takes a look at the old-timer’s face to see it was all worth it.
But the engine isn’t the only feature making sure this thing turns heads. This café racer’s entirely polished bodywork looks very cool, especially if you consider the fact that it was hand built. What a bike! Follow the jump for more pictures and no less than four videos of the V12-powered Honda CBX.
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