Lit Motors C1

[CRB]

Once again, not looking but finding interesting things. It had been on BBC Click too, but I missed it then too.

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20141110-a-revolution-on-two-wheels



You know I love the recumbent motorcycle, Peraves et al but this thing does not fall over.

24000USD nearly a snip.

 

[711jrp]

When he pushed the bike over.....anyone else get the urge to punch him in the face?

 

[Gavin_d]

Me! Why push the bike over, we all know it would have fallen.

It's all well and good untill the gyros stop working

 

[Pete.]

Me! Why push the bike over, we all know it would have fallen.

It's all well and good untill the gyros stop working

I don't see that as much of a minus-point. It should be stable once moving like a normal bike is. If they packed up it could go into fail-safe and deply the paarking arms at below a few mph. There's plenty on a current bike that would be catastrophic if it failed.

 

[Sid]

The problem I see with that (in terms of failures) is that the steering is electronic. I've driven forklifts that don't have direct mechanical linkage, and when they go wrong you crash.

The bike had a steering wheel that you appear to turn the direction you want to go. At low speed on a bike, if you want to go left, you turn left. At higher speeds, if you want to go left, you turn right. This causes the bike to lean left, and so turn left. One failure of that steering system will likely kill you.

Car manufacturers talk of non mechanical steering, but they expose the companies to huge risk, and likely financial ruin, which is why I doubt we'll ever see it. Imagine the law suits.

That bike depends on the system.

As for the bike stability issue, that does explain why there are only millions and millions of the them on the roads of the world.

 

[Pete.]

Bike still use pneumatic tyres and consumable chains (or belts). These fail for whatever reason and cause crashes but they still keep using them. No fail-safe or warning system either. We already have electronics throttles on bikes with no direct connection and that seems to be working just fine, it's time to adopt technology instead of fearing it.

 

[Fazerruss]

Bike still use pneumatic tyres and consumable chains (or belts). These fail for whatever reason and cause crashes but they still keep using them. No fail-safe or warning system either. We already have electronics throttles on bikes with no direct connection and that seems to be working just fine, it's time to adopt technology instead of fearing it.

But they do fail! I remember watching a wheeler dealers a few months back where they bought a masserati. It had a fault that was apparently common with the throttle body potentiometer. The result was all or nothing acceleration. Imagine that fault on a steering design!
There is just no point to some technology....
Electric parking brakes for one example.

Chains, tyres, belts ect usually last for a minimum service period and usually fail if not replaced within a service schedule.
Electronics can fail after being a day old or if there is a day in the month.

 

[skotl]

Once again, not looking but finding interesting things. It had been on BBC Click too, but I missed it then too.

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20141110-a-revolution-on-two-wheels



You know I love the recumbent motorcycle, Peraves et al but this thing does not fall over.

24000USD nearly a snip.

"He believes that you can fit twice as many cars on the roads and in parking spaces, if they were all half the size"

Well, duh! The man is clearly a genius