Modern Vespa

Spot on, Dooglas.

?? Well they use to think it came from the dead Dinosaurs, that is how it got the nick name DYNO Fuel, so EVERYONE in the whole industry thought that at one point

20 years ago it was thought we only had 100 years of oil left in the earth.
And in 150 years look how far we have come and we have another 2000 years to figure out an alternative with what we KNOW we have.

Sorry WEB-Tech...

Oil has never been thought to have come from decaying animals or meat. Oil comes from decaying plant matter, and in fact, most of the world's oil comes from decayed algae.

And as for the word "dyno":

dyno(Noun)
1. A dynamic climbing move or jump to reach a hold that cannot otherwise be reached.

2. A rapid move across a rock face in order to reach a hold.

3. Short for "dynamometer"

Word origin:
Early 19th century: from French dynamomètre, from Greek dunamis 'power' + French -mètre '(instrument) measuring'.

For the tough audience, let's pull all tricks from the sleeve: scrambler, retro AND electric.

By an US brand Fly Free Smart, called Smart Desert:

https://flyfreesmart.com/smart-desert/


Well, OK, some tricks still missing - the electricity part is not that spectacular, top speed and range nothing to brag about.

But still, for a quick spin....

...would you believe, an electric superbike, with 6-speed manual, from Kymco?

https://imotorbike.my/news/en/2019/01/kymco-set-to-usher-into-2019-with-new-electric-superbike-supernex

Not dYno, dIno. Not the same word. No one calls to Dyno Oil they call it Dino oil.

And you are wrong, it was once thought to come from Dinosaurs, I was taught this in School in the 60's.
Here's a hole article on how it's not from Dinosaurs, so OBVIOUSLY it "was thought" to be at some point.

And some people still think oil comes from dinosaurs.

https://www.powells.com/post/original-essays/does-oil-come-from-dinosaurs

"No, oil doesn't come from dinosaurs. It's a persistent myth and I'm asked about it a lot. You may have heard this idea in school, read it in books, or taken it on authority from learned persons holding forth about the nature of our planet. Recently, an Internet meme has been bouncing around that shows a collection of small dinosaur toys. The overprinting reads, "If oil is made from decomposed dinosaurs, and plastic is made from oil, are dinosaur toys made from real dinosaurs?" It's a fun idea, but no. "

Well that's kind of cool. ...just because you don't *need* to shift doesn't mean there aren't benefits of shifting.

it's all about charging infrastructure, battery range, swappable battery systems and recharge times...until then i'm sure exploration of any type of vehicle power source will be investigated...if elon musk can get his hyperloop system running that may fix some of the congestion to major cities which is something i would love to see...i believe he is underway in constructing on a small scale in LA right now this is interesting...any article links?

edit: found it
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/07/carbon-engineering-and-harvard-find-way-to-convert-co2-to-gasoline.html

Although I can't see myself buying a sports bike in the real world, I would definitely like to take a test ride with this one!

It is an interesting approach to have gears and clutch....makes the bike behave more like a traditional sports bike, but is that what will attract buyers - to be seen.

Nice product placement by Dainese in the vid...

Harley Livewire pricing announced at $30k for 110 miles range. Ouch.

Get a max battery Zero for about $20k I think?

Finland is definitely not the first place to seek new motorcycle companies.
That's why I was glad to notice a newcomer in the field of electric motorcycles!

I like the fancy hubles rear wheel design...as well as the technical specs, this is a real motorcycle. The looks, well...... and the price is right up where it seems to be for many others models too.

https://www.rmkvehicles.com

Well its a tidy 3D model in virtual reality. Some neat new ideas so I hope it does become a working prototype at least.

I studied this a bit more, as I really like the technical idea (patented) of putting electric motor into the rear wheel - it' just cool, in a way that using the liberties of electricity should be

It turned out that they indeed already have a proto! They are running around with that almost 24/7....it looks quite much like the design, but without paint etc. They've promised to dress it pretty for the main motorcycle show in Finland, at the beginning of February.

The key guy behind this is a young, 28 years old fellow called Teemu Saukkio. He's been playing around with design exersices and build himself a street legal e-bike the last year (in the pic). This bike's battery was made of used battery cells of old laptops, as he just wished to show that's possible, contrary what the others told him. Then he got the idea of a hubless, integrated electric motor.... will be interesting to see where this will lead.

^^^def pretty cool...i wonder what the weight of that bike is...doesn't look like it wants to lean over at all judging by the size of the chicken strips on the tires

Sure it has . Sinclair Oil used dinosaurs as logos. When I was a little kid, my parents took me into Oklahoma City to see the huge, traveling Sinclair Oil Dinosaur exhibit, where the company guys in the lab coats told all of us kids about how the gasoline in our dad's cars was made from REAL LIVE (not so live) DINOSAURS!!!!

They had these huge dinosaurs placed all over the park and we could climb up on them and get our picture taken. Okay, I still have a couple of those pictures.....

What I don't recall is whether or not the guys in the these-make-me-look-so-smart lab coats maybe also told us that the earth was flat.

Coppers on copper coils:

https://advrider.com/some-police-departments-opting-for-e-bikes/

Part of me says this is cool; part of me says they should buy something cheaper.

Funny to read this and especially to see copper coils (that's a good one...) on ADV type bikes. It was just yesterday that I was doing a bit cross country skiing.

While admiring the sun (rare around here at this time) and silence, I though how cool an electric off-road(ish) bike would be. Around here, using ICE (as Internal Combustion Engine) is in general prohibited/ limited in forests. So, we have tons of nice forest and paths, but it's a tad illegal to use most of them for riding.

Part of this is to prevent physical wear, but part is also because of noise and other disturbance. So instead, using a bicycle, even electrically assisted is legal in most places.

Legistlation doesn't cover e-motorcycles that well yet, but in practise they would be a nice option. Admit, many of them still either too heavy or the range a bit limited. And all just bloody expensive

... what about Ural?

Well, OK, it's still just a prototype, but not bad..

RMK delivered a proto to the motorcycle show as promised!

This is still a prototype, albeit fully functional.
The whole core team was present, they and the bike attracted a lot of attention.

Thanks for posting this. The design trend in bikes and cars these days is moving toward sharp edges. GM and Lexus are the notable automotive companies. The BMW R1200RT and C650GT are examples in the motorcycle world. This bike is another example of the sharp edges.

It looks like the drive motor is in the rear hub which doesn't rotate and the wheel revolves around the hub?? I've seem lots of concept bikes do this but are commercially available bikes offering this now?

Have any pictures of the rear while inside the hub and on the other side as well?

Best
Miguel

The problems with putting the motor in the rear wheel (which is an obvious place for it) is the increase in unsprung weight and the rearward weight bias.
I'm guessing it does great wheelies though.

Reminds me a lot the Tron movie. Can't decide if that's good or not.

Damn physics always seem to get in the way!

Miguel

That's indeed the rear wheel construction - here's a better pic of the desing.

So true, they've discussed this in the Finnish media.
On the positive side, there's no separate break mechanism needed, so there's also a tiny bit of unsprung weight saving with this design.

The designers themselves are quite fond of modern cruiser type of bikes, so there' s quite a bit of that spirit in the design. Although it looks sporty, it's quite long on purpose and the foot pegs are brought forward... and yeah, it seems that torque will be limited somewhere around 300Nm... with the weight of batteries and long frame, it's then rather donuts than wheelies?

I've noticed the same. It's kind of funny, that the design fads go in waves, from edgy to round and then edgy again..

I still think that Marcello Gaudini's LP400 Lamborghini, the first designs, is one the masterpieces in combining both round and edgy design - a matter of taste of course.
All the worse was to see the later re-incarnations of the Countach, without any clue of design what so ever....

Hopefully Vespa continues with their round, soft-edged design reminiscent of the design language of the 1940s and 50s. It's certainly a design period I'm attracted to.

Keep an eye open for my new mid-winter thread on "Art Deco, Streamlined, and Steam Punk Scooters and Motorcycle" that I'll launch this week. Not many sharp edges in any of the designs I like. It's just how I roll.

Best
Miguel

Has anyone read about the Harley Electric scooter that is coming out?
Looks kind of like a Ruckus.

No, got any links or references?

Here's more about Harley's electric scoot concept:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.theverge.com/platform/amp/2019/2/3/18207435/harley-davidson-electric-scooter-concept-motorcycle-x-games-prototype

Does it not remind you of a Ruckus with larger wheels?

Very happy you posted this: A reminder that the Countach, the very first time around, was in fact a beautiful car, which eventually was transformed into something terribly cartoonish, to put it gently. If you hadn't pointed out that this was a design from the Motor Company, I'd never have guessed...and in this case, IMO, that's not a good thing.

To be honest, I've always found golf an utterly boring sport. I've tried it, and should appreciate all the nice things it can offer.... but just get bored on all the waiting and moving around.

Now, with these little toys...


https://www.finnscooters.com

That's...interesting. But sorry, golf's still dull as dishwater to me. And I've tried it too.

GB? The dead giveaway is that there's no puddle of oil under it.

GB? The dead giveaway is that there's no puddle of oil under it. [/i]

That could make golf more interesting if they make it more like polo - if you get off the scoot, there's a penalty stroke. Make it a timed event. 8)

Now that's an idea! They could count me in.

May be vaporware. Price seems low.

https://www.motorcyclistonline.com/lightning-strike-motor-and-ride-position-teased-in-new-photos#page-2

If that comes out at the advertised price and specs, will change the market. I'd probably have to check one out.

Since electric motors produce max torque at nearly zero RPM, a transmission isn't strictly necessary. But most motors have limited high-RPM capability. For a real motorcycle, gearing for a desired top speed (say, 100 MPH) means a very high gear ratio, making low speed performance somewhat lazy. Probably doesn't need a six speed, but 2 or 3 can definitely improve acceleration.

Electric motors can be designed to produce maximum torque wherever its needed. For example electric hover mowers usually produce very little torque at zero rpm and have to be cleared of obstructions before you can spin them up. Always some trade-off of course so you can't rule out some electric vehicles being designed with variable gear ratios.