Daily motorbike news, views & reviews
Future Honda electric motorcycles and scooters might feature an alarm to warn pedestrians unaware of the approaching quiet vehicle. Japanese company has secured a patent through the Indian patent office for the device. Honda’s compact alarm device fits under the seat with speakers on the front of the bike. It features an audio processor that sounds …
Honda continues its blitzkrieg of patent applications with a head-display windscreen that is also touch sensitive. The patent illustrations show both an Africa Twin and CBR1000RR Fireblade. Head-up display of vital information such as speed and navigation has been in cars for several years and is now coming to many “smart” motorcycle helmets. This is …
Several motorcycles have electronic suspension that adjusts to the terrain, but Honda has applied for a patent on suspension that works via artificial intelligence to predict and adjust damping. Their patent application shows a CRF450R trail bike, so it is obviously designed for trail and adventure riding where the terrain can vary substantially. Some BMW …
Kawasaki could be planning to axe conventional handlebars and replace them with a fixed bar, according to a patent design they have filed for an electric motorcycle. Instead of a moveable handlebar for counter steering inputs, the rider holds on to fixed bars with a throttle and simply leans. The patent application says electronic sensors and …
In the future, your emotions could be monitored by household appliances and sent to your motorcycle to govern the way it is ridden. This is the scenario being considered by Honda which has filed for a patent. The Japanese auto manufacturer hasn’t supplied a lot of details except for a crude drawing of appliances and …
Honda has been busy this past year filing several interesting patents including the most recent for active aero and direct injection, possibly in the Africa Twin (above). Active aero is like those cars that deploy a rear spoiler at certain speeds, only this deploys MotoGP-style winglets. Direct injection is widely used in diesel and some …
Suzuki Motorcycles has filed its second patent for a major upgrade to its Hayabusa speed demon with semi-automatic transmission. The ageing Hayabusa has only had two major upgrades in its 17-year history as the world’s fastest production motorcycles of the last century. While many are expecting turbo or supercharger technology, the two patents so far …
Harley-Davidson is joining Bosch, Ducati and KTM in developing motorcycle adaptive cruise control, but with a special feature that allows for group riding. The company has recently applied to the US Patent Office for a patent on its system. Adaptive cruise Many touring motorcycles now come with cruise control and adaptive cruise is the next …
Imagine a seat that slides with the riders when they move sideways out of their seat for corners or forward and back for aerodynamic effect. Now Finnish engineering company Etteplan has received a patent for a seat that slides sideways and forward and back with the rider. The seat has been tested by disabled Finnish racer …
BMW’s infamous C1 scooter with a roof looks like it might be back on the drawing board, according to these 2017 patent drawings which have just surfaced. The German company currently has five scooters: the C 650 GT, C 650 Sport, C 400 X and C 400 GT, plus the C Evolution electric scooter which …