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4. New motorcycle concepts:

4.1 Recent new concepts: 

Many new 2-Wheeler concepts have appeared to increase safety and comfort of motorcycles:

Other concepts like the recumbent bicycle have appeared to reduce aerodynamic drag and increase rider power output:

The Honda Elysium does not really modify the rider-machine steering relationship. But the BMW-C1 and the recumbent bicycle do, since the rider's torso may be immobilized against a backrest. The BMW-C1 also has seatbelts and shoulder restraints that may further immobilize the rider's torso. And the recumbent bicycle also has steering levers instead of a normal handlebar.

The new Torso-Arms-Handlebar theory can be very useful to:

- Analyze such 2-Wheelers

- And develop new, better and more functional steering concepts.

4.2 Analysis of these recent new concepts: 

Although production of the BMW C1 has been stopped, BMW personnel must certainly be recognized for the development of such an aesthetically nice 2-Wheeler that can protect its rider in case of frontal collisions.

But a word of caution must be given. If for instance a BMW-C1 rider:

- Stops at a street light before turning towards the opposite side of the road,

- Holds his 2-Wheeler straight-up at standstill,

- Suddenly decides to start fast and turn before a car coming in the opposite direction,

- Leans swiftly towards the side where he wants to go,

- Then gets blocked by the safety belts that jammed because the 2-Wheeler accelerated and leaned,

Then the rider may be surprised, may 'freeze' for a fraction of a second, and may get hit by that incoming car.

The Torso-Arms-Handlebar theory can also explain that the recumbent bicycle can readily be steered by leaning the torso while pushing-pulling on the steering levers which will do the same job as a handlebar. But new users must be warned (1) that there may be a certain learning curve before being capable of riding such a 2-Wheeler, and (2) that the long wheelbase increases minimum stable speed (With and without hands on the handlebar) and impairs slow speed stearability.

4.3 Development of special steering systems for a rider's torso held by seatbelts:

In order to increase rider comfort and safety within the limits of 2-Wheelers, it is essential to develop a steering system that will still be functional with a rider's torso held by seatbelts in a rollover protective structure.

We have worked on such special steering mechanisms over the last 30 years. The Torso-Arms-Handlebar theory has been essential to analyze these systems and orient development in order to finally come up with a functional steering system.

The main steps of this development are shown below. They illustrate that development of such novel steering systems are not easy but may be feasible. So other people may turn out to repeat this achievement for their own benefit:

A) A first 'success': The leaning handlebar, front wheel and suspension prototype.

It was felt that when riding a motorcycle at 'fair' speeds (25 KPH or 40 MPH), the chassis did not seem to lean when the rider leant his torso towards where he wanted to go. So it was thought that it was the front wheel gyroscopic reactions that held the 2-Wheeler up, permitted the torso to lean sideways and then permitted the 2-Wheeler to lean towards the same side as the rider, in order to go into the turn.

So it was thought that the handlebar, the front wheel and the front suspension could have a pivot at the lower-front portion of the chassis, in order to lean on one side, while letting the seatback and roll cage lean with the torso in the other direction. Testing beats theory, so this had to be tested. Our limited budget permitted this downhill coaster prototype:

Although ugly and crude as nothing else can be and although the underlying logic now appears false in the light of the Torso-Arms-Handlebar theory, it worked. And more importantly, it later helped imagine this Torso-Arms-Handlebar theory.

B The next failure: The wrongly acting front wheel prototype.

Using the newly born Torso-Arms-Handlebar theory, it was thought that the handlebar lateral shift itself could aim the front wheel in the opposite direction. So the handlebar could simply be shifted laterally towards where the rider wanted to go, in order for the 2-Wheeler to go in that direction. In terms of theoretical servomechanism theory, it looked as a great invention:

But it was not. It was a total failure. It only took two 5-10 second trials to find out that it was impossible to hold it up. The reason was that you rather react by using your hands to push the handlebar in the wrong direction, in order to save yourself and throw your torso in the correct direction. So we unknowingly inverted the servomechanism feedback loop, which made it totally unstable

C The next 'success': The leaning handlebar prototype.

Why lean all the front wheel and suspension assembly, when you only need to lean the handlebar around an axis at the lower-front portion of the chassis:

This prototype worked great and a Canadian patent was granted for it. But the vehicle was still crude and the low-horizontal pivot of the handlebar increased the wheelbase.

D The next failure: The no-effect handlebar prototype.

It was thought that having the handlebar slide on rails above the rider's knees would reduce the wheelbase. It did as can be seen:

But it turned out that when moving the handlebar sideways, both arms acted as the two A-arms of a car front suspension, where the car front wheel leans little when going up or down. So the prototype's front wheel simply kept straight ahead when the handlebar was fully moved to the right or left. So the 2-Wheeler was not unstable, but it was 'un-steerable'.

E) The next success: The super-simple mechanism prototype.

Quite a few more years of thinking and testing based on this theory, finally brought us to the development of an 'ultra simple' steering mechanism. Click on the image below to see how this 2-Wheeler was easy to steer:

F) The following success: A more aesthetic prototype.

The scale model shown here and using such a special steering mechanism, shows along with the Honda Elysium and the BMW C1, that the aesthetics of motorcycles with seat belts and roll cage can be interesting for consumers:

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