Innovation

Since 2015, Curtiss has been teasing us with incredible-looking electric bikes. None have made it to production, until now. There will only be 300 Curtiss Ones built and they will cost an arm and a leg.

With the proliferation of delivery bikes on the streets of our towns and cities come a whole heap of problems, not least of which is rider safety, something the riders themselves pay scant regard to. Now, the FIA has developed a new helmet that is super cheap but conforms to current legislation.

Back in the 1920s, motorcycle manufacturers were far less bound by convention when it came to the styling of their products. Not only that, but the prevailing artistic and architectural culture was just so much more attractive and spread through the whole of transport.

The motorcycle has remained largely the same for all of its life: an engine and wheels in a frame, controlled by hands and feet. But are there alternative ways of controlling a motorcycle than might be more ergonomically sound and innovative?

Paying for insurance even when you’re not using your bike seems like such a waste of money. While it is sitting in the garage, you need half of the cover you need when you are riding. Thanks to insurance company Voom, a solution is coming to a State near you.

Back in 2018, the MotoGP organizers Dorna and the FIM made a new call to make it compulsory for riders to wear a suit under the riding jacket that would expand with air upon impact. Just like the airbags in your car.

Much before that, the top tier safety gear manufacturers, Alpinestar and Dainese have been at it to develop safety equipment for riders across the world, including such airbag systems. For 2020, Alpinestar has released its brand new "Tech-Air 5", which is a “slim, self-contained wearable airbag vest” that can be worn under just about any riding jacket. Dainese, however, debuted its “Dainese Smart Jacket” system in 2019 itself.

With the dawn of electric supremacy into the motorcycling world, multiple possibilities have opened up for embedding technology and innovation to make riding safer than ever before. A lot of companies are pouring in cash like water into developing future automobile technologies to be able to minimize accidents and deaths on the road. Governments of countries are vying to call their roads the safest and are devising various strategies to do so.

Practically being one of the first to bring those innovations onto the roads is this Canadian tech startup - Damon Motorcycles. Unveiling their brand new product, the 200 hp Hypersport electric motorcycle, Damon unleashed the world’s safest, smartest, fully connected electric motorcycle employing sensor fusion, robotics, and AI. All of this while still carrying a powertrain with 200+ miles of range, Brembos’, Ohlins’, a carbon-fiber swingarm, and more.

If you’ve been on the tech front page, you might have heard about Honda’s Riding Assist-e, a small personal mobility technology which had a self-balancing multidirectional movement capability.

Now, an Indian based EV startup - Liger Mobility - have come up with a proprietary self-balancing gyro force technology for two-wheelers changing the dynamics in terms of safety and experience, without losing the fun aspect of riding one. Also, it has a “call” function that comes to you when you call for it. Fancy eh.

If the Fast & Furious franchisee ever made a movie with a scooter trying to run away from the cops or the bad guys, this ANX Sprint Racer could just be their best hope to get away with. Oh! It can also slide under truck trailers for that.

Started life as a puny scooter from the mid-2000s—a Piaggio NRG, now it runs nitrous ( or what we love to call as NOS ), makes five times its original power, and weighs less than the skinnies girlfriend you’ve ever had.

The future of personal transportation is heading down the path of electrification. As more EVs begin to hit the streets, the challenge of charging convenience will become paramount to the consumer, and as a matter of fact, it already has. Charging your electric motorcycle means having to pull out a cord physically, and plug-in to your machine for hours together. This might not be the most convenient way to do that.

BMW Motorrad has probably come up with a more natural way to do this, and the technology is not particularly new even. Remember wireless charging your smartphone on a charging pad?

Bringing back the sweet-four in a 250cc motorcycle after two decades, Kawasaki’s all-new entry-level sportsbike will go against the likes of the Honda CBR 250RR and the Yamaha R25. The 2020 Kawasaki Ninja ZX-25R is touted to be the most prolific quarter-liter machine in the category with a top-spec equipment list, electronic aids, and a smothering power mill that has touted to be the highest-revving motorcycles on the market.

Self-Balancing personal transport solution specialists Segway was picked up by the Chinese electric mobility house Ninebot recently. At the 2020 CES show in Las Vegas, they plan to pull the wraps off three future products, including a concept sportsbike and a production-ready scooter. At the moment, however, the company has revealed the first looks of these products, and honestly, have peaked a few eyeballs.

Remember watching Vin Diesel in the sci-fi Babylon A.D.? If you do, I pity the plight you had to sit through for it was a pile of steaming and smelly goo. But there was a motorcycle in it amongst other custom vehicles which ended up in a crash, and it was nothing but a 1999 Yamaha R1 made by Frenchman, Ludovic Lazareth.

The same madman has now delivered the limited edition LMV 496 La Moto Volante, which translates to “The Flying Motorcycle.” Defying all odds, including gravity, this Jet powered machine is an updated artistry from yet another mind-bending machine – the LM-847, a tilting four-wheeler built around a fire-breathing 470-horsepower Maserati engine.

After showcasing the R18 cruiser and the R18/2 performance cruiser at the recently concluded EICMA show, the Bavarian chaps have unveiled more details of the beautiful new Boxer engine, christened the “Big Boxer.”

Running point on the classic future of BMW – the R 18s’, this Boxer Engine replaces the 1,649cc in-line 6 of the K 1600 series to become the biggest displacement engine from the German guys. And doing so, it also becomes the largest twin-cylinder engine by BMW, and also the biggest flat-twin ever produced. Here are some of the specs revealed to us: