According to BMW, it's a bike that has self-balancing systems to keep it upright both when standing (a boon for novice riders, on par with training wheels for bicycles) and in motion (beneficial for experienced riders who want erudite handling at high speed). Several systems—one BMW calls a “Digital Companion,” which offers riding advice and adjustment ideas to optimize the experience, and one called “The Visor,” which is a pair of glasses that span the entire field of vision and are controlled by eye movements—correlate to return active feedback about road conditions to the rider while adjusting the ride of the bike continuously depending on the rider’s driving style.
The bike also purports to use a novel matte black “flexframe” that's nimble enough to allow the bike to turn without the joints found on today’s motorcycles. The idea is that when a rider turns the handlebar, it adjusts the entire frame to change the direction of the bike; at low speeds only a slight input is required, while at high speeds it needs strong input to change course.
Interesting concept. Now, let's see one really do all that.
And isn't part of the appeal of a motorcycle that it becomes an extension of your body, allowing you to become "one" with the speed and with the road? This bike seems to stand that on end, and makes you become one with it. Instead of the rider making the decisions, the bike makes them. Appealing? Maybe to a generation that wants someone else to make their decisions for them, to relieve them of the burden of being an adult.
Real bikers want something much different, I'd wager.
I agree. Riding is more than the sum of the total experience. The sounds, vibrations, response to the riders demands, wind and weather and non-perfections make up the total experience. This concept bike seems to strip out much of that experience. I'd love to take it for a spin, but not a road trip. Maybe I'm wrong but that's how I see this extremely beautiful but flawed concept bike.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Riding is more than the sum of the total experience. The sounds, vibrations, response to the riders demands, wind and weather and non-perfections make up the total experience. This concept bike seems to strip out much of that experience. I'd love to take it for a spin, but not a road trip. Maybe I'm wrong but that's how I see this extremely beautiful but flawed concept bike.
ReplyDeleteIf they take some of the concepts and put them into a tourer or sport-tourer that'll let me do 1,000+ mile days, I'd consider it.
ReplyDeleteIf they take some of the concepts and put them into a tourer or sport-tourer that'll let me do 1,000+ mile days, I'd consider it.
ReplyDeleteAll that in a $50,000 package.
ReplyDeleteI'll keep the Ducati Diavel.
Only one thought comes to mind --- TRON.
ReplyDeleteOnce upon a time I had a computer that I could adjust to do things the way I wanted to do them. Everything was aimed at customization to the user's needs and desires. That was my Amiga. I will always miss it.
ReplyDeleteThen it became a PC world, and now everyone has to do things the way MS and Mr. Gates wants them to be done; so I do it their way. Endlessly frustrated with dialogue boxes that are small, unattractive software displays, hidden menus. It works, unbeautifully, and I use it without joy.
I have no interet whatsoever in a motorcycle that molds its driver into being part of the furniture, however beautiful and powerful it may be.