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Luxury E-Motorcycle from Curtiss

by Otilia Drăgan from https://www.autoevolution.com Forget about any other electric motorcycle you’ve seen. Curtiss Motorcycles tosses all preconceived notions aside, to bring the slimmest, most balanced and unique luxury e-motorcycle out there. If you were still waiting for the One, this could be it. Known for its exquisite designs, Curtiss is teasing a new model that breaks a lot of taboos when it comes to electric motorcycles. Tantalizingly-named The opposite of death (a literary reference pointing to this new model being the object of desire), the teaser shows a uniquely-looking bike that seems to float effortlessly, while also exuding maximum confidence. What is the one? Something that is a perfect fit for you and something that becomes one with you. With a 20% lower center-of-gravity and a width that is reduced by 45%, this incredibly slim bike is truly ergonomic, easy-to-mount and comfortable, making you feel integrated with it. The lower seat and increased ground clearance keep you perfectly balanced on the road. Puristic reductionism is not an abstract notion here, but the very core of this bike’s design. The One is completely stripped – no transmission, no shifting, no clutch. Power is sent straight from the engine to the rear wheel via the belt drive, and you are directly connected to the bike. As Curtiss designer JT Nesbitt puts it, the space in your mind that was previously focused on managing the combustion engine, and overpowered by the noise and the heat of it, is now free to enjoy everything else. No more noise, no more overheating, just pure control and precision. And, speaking of purity, you gotta love these guys’ boldness – in an era where everybody is pushing the connectivity button, Curtiss just tosses digitalization away, calling it a distraction from the riding experience. That’s right – […]

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Honda Self-Balancing Concept Is Meant for Disabled Racers and Moto GP Lovers

by Cristian Curmei from https://www.autoevolution.com You love motorcycles, and you love racing them. But life sometimes throws things at us that take away some of our most treasured abilities. This is the story of how a concept could bring a second chance to disabled amputees. So you’re a Moto GP racer. Last season, while trying to overtake the soon to be second place racer, your rear tire was clipped from the outside and you were thrown over the bike. Not too big a deal, as you’ve been through it before. But this time you somehow end up underneath the bike and are dragged till you pass out. You wake up in the hospital, with doctors telling you that the only other choice they had was to let you pass on. You try to move but you can seem to prop yourself on your left arm. Looking to your left, you see that there is no left arm to hold you up any longer. You break down in tears knowing you’ll never again experience the track or life as before. That’s most likely the kind of story that gave way to this concept by Tom Hylton. This two-week project was designed to offer a second chance to amputee riders. It is a two-part unit, and since we’ve recently introduced the arm into the stories, it’s now time for the bike. The entire design includes the modular Honda robotic arm, which is specifically tuned for motorcycle use, but also this wonderous beast upon which a rider is placed. What we are looking at is a self-balancing design that can stay upright without any sort of assistance. Behind its self-balancing trick is similar technology to the BMW Motorrad Vision Next 100. But this isn’t about BMW. It’s about how Honda could meet a