Motorcycle riding on monster wheels is a Batcycle on steroid ready to steamroll anything that lies ahead

Posted on 19/01/2024 by Gaurav Sood

If ever the Gotham City vigilante desired for an upgrade to the Batcycle (or Batpod if I may) this would be it. The crazy DIY project by a bunch of friends from North Idaho, who’ve built unique automotive projects in the past, is something that’ll spark your instinct for dominance.

Starting their journey with hobby builds on YouTube, the dudes have now amassed millions of views courtesy of their out-of-the-box creations. Their previous builds include the world’s fastest snow bike, 100 HP jet boat, off-road Tesla Model 3 and a crazy fast shopping trolley.

Designer: Grind Hard Plumbing

Their latest exploration is a monstrous bike that looks like the love child of a monster bike and a powerful motorcycle. The power on this one comes from a KTM 1190 Adventure V-twin motor, riding on 46-inch monster truck wheels fitted with mud tires and actuated by a hydraulic steering wheel. Everything on this naked machine is kept together with a stellar trellis frame and those gigantic tires turn as intended (with some effort in standing position) with the pair of single-sided swingarms suspended from the wheels.

Label it as a Batcycle or maybe a Mad Max-style apocalyptic two-wheeler, the machine is built purely for entertainment purposes by the crazy pals. For that, the lay-back position of the chopper makes sure you don’t flex any muscles unwantedly to land in trouble with painful cramps. Turning this monster is not going to be something usual due to the huge size of the front wheel, so the team fitted it with a hydraulic steering system and a drive piston controlled by the handlebar to provide the needed leverage. Even with this assist, the bike seems like a handful while turning!

If you notice closely there is a certain lag from the time when the steering is turned and the wheels actually turn. A gamer would instantly refer to that as latency in the real world. From what we see, the machine is darn hard to control and maybe with some more subtle additions and tweaking it’ll get close to a normal motorcycle. Of course, the project is ongoing and we’re eager to see the monster chopper in action someday with silky smooth steering input and control mechanism.

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MIT researchers developing open source hydrogen powered motorcycle for other developers to improve on

Posted on 15/01/2024 by Gaurav Sood

Electric battery-powered vehicles might seem the future but in the long run, they are harmful to the environment in their wicked way. The next best thing is the hydrogen-powered drivetrain and many automotive manufacturers are already exploring the possibility. Sure, the cost of such vehicles is not practical enough to go mainstream, still, constant innovations in technology are getting things closer to fruition.

MIT’s electric vehicle team is also exploring the possibility with their hydrogen-powered electric motorcycle prototype. The two-wheeler uses a new hydrogen-based testbed and is open source for other proactive automotive developers to test out as the files are available online. Led by Aditya Mehrotra, a graduate student working with mechanical engineering professor Alex Slocum, the Walter M. May and A. Hazel May Chair in Emerging Technologies, the project aims to take clean energy alternatives to the next level with innovation.

Designer: MIT

According to Aditya, “We’re hoping to use this project as a chance to start conversations around ‘small hydrogen’ systems that could increase demand, which could lead to the development of more infrastructure.” The team took a 1999 Ducati Supersport donor motorcycle frame as the basis and fitted an electric motor, drive train, hydrogen tank and other custom-made components to develop the design. Some components were donated by industry sponsors and the two-wheeler took shape over the period of one year.

The heart of the system is a fuel cell developed by South Korean company Doosan and it’s mated to the supporting gas cylinder for drawing energy. Until the drivetrain is fully developed the bike runs on this hybrid system. The bike is still in the early stages of development and is going to be purely a concept of proof for other designs to follow. To this accord, the team is mindful enough to create a handbook detailing the process of development and fail-safes in case anything goes wrong.

This is important because “a lot of the technology development for hydrogen is either done in simulation or is still in the prototype stages because developing it is expensive, and it’s difficult to test these kinds of systems,” as per one of the team members. There have been previous efforts to develop such hydrogen-powered vehicles but nothing that’s completely open-source like this one. The project is an ongoing endeavor until the cost of the fuel cell is made commercially viable.

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Joyce’90 electric bike with integrated boombox and pop-up headlights comes in peppy design

Posted on 01/01/2024 by Gaurav Sood

If the micro-mobility market was looking for an evolution that Gen-Z would love, it’s right now. That’s because TOZZ has just revealed its new hip electric motorbike. This is the Joyce’90 by the sub-culture brand based in Istanbul that’s known for its e-mobility solutions for the young generation that doesn’t follow anything mainstream.

Smart design with sustainable production is their niche and durable construction is their forte. All these attributes are reflected in the Joyce’90 e-bike that shines with its peculiar pop-up headlights. The interesting USP of the electric motorcycle is the integrated Bluetooth boombox, because why not?

Designer: TOZZ

At first glance, you’ll notice the reminiscences of 90s cross bikes (maybe that’s where the name is derived from) and grand tourers. As expected, the body is as tough as a bull and draped in trending color decals, and we can safely say, that millennials will hit the skip button here. Coming on to the hip youngsters who’ll fancy this ride, the 150W 2.1 boombox hides in the body to get the party started anywhere, anytime.

On the performance front, the electric bike reaches a maximum speed of 45 km/h but the company plans to limit it to 25 km/h and 250W output in the European countries to keep up with the regulations. The base battery capacity of the e-bike is 45 km but an upgraded battery pack can be fitted to increase it by double to 90 km. The ride currently in the prototype stage will ultimately be licensed as a pedelec so that it can be driven in the bike lanes in the region. When the electric bike will be available in other parts of the world?

Joyce’90 will be available for pre-order this month and deliveries can be expected soon. The price and availability of the e-bike will be revealed in the coming days on the website and social media channels.

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EyeLights Rocket One is a futuristic high-performance electric motorcycle with a fighter jet-like HUD

Posted on 15/11/2023 by Gaurav Sood

Building a winning motorbike design pretty much always starts off with a well-thought-out concept blueprint. However, taking it to the prototyping stage takes a lot of input. After all, barely a handful of concept designs make it past the blueprint stage and onto to the real deal.

The EyeLights Rocket One is one such successful example of a bike design done right. In fact, it took just three months to take it from a mere sketch to a working prototype. Alan Derosier, the lead designer of this augmented reality-assisted motorbike created for EyeLights SAS, managed to strike the right balance between form and function.

Designer: Alan Derosier

The Rocket One electric bike made its inaugural real-life presence at EICMA 2023 which is not surprising. According to Alan, the bike’s initial design revolved around fine-tuning the proportions and silhouettes. Then the masses and refining of the surfaces was done. That approach is pretty similar to how cars are designed. The result is a performance-oriented ride that houses huge batteries for power delivery and a respectable range.

This powerful bike has the apparent influences of the Lotus bikes, but we dare not call it a copy by any stretch of the imagination. The bike can go from 0-100km/h in just 2.6 seconds, and 1200 Nm of torque on the rear wheel produces 180 horsepower for stunning performance for an electric bike. Add to the mix a more than 400 km of range on a single charge. That is attributed to the large batteries hiding in that sleek body.

While the form factor is something to behold, the real deal is its futuristic augmented reality-aided navigation system. That comes as no surprise as EyeLights specializes in AR applications, and the Rocket One adapts its technologies from what fighter jet pilots use. The HUD of the accompanying helmet has a cluster of vital information displayed in the field of view of the rider.