A Wild New Three Wheeled Motorcycle
There's a wild new three wheeled motorcycle soon to land in the U.S. named the LX-Day Crawler. This wild new three wheeled motorcycle is also marketed under the Chinese Spider nameplate as well, and features a 250cc water cooled 4 stroke engine, 4 speed manual transmission and a very low $4,595 price tag.
This wild new bike seems to be greatly inspired by a $50,000 Swiss built machine with four wheels that uses a BMW engine, but has had significant importation problems because European four wheeled motorcycles are classified as automobiles according to federal rules, making U.S. importation very difficult to impossible. This Chinese built machine faces less importation difficulties because it was three wheels, still an acceptable number for U.S. motorcycle regulations, and a proven low emission 4 stroke engine design that is more conventional in design than the radical BMW engine in the much higher priced Swiss machine.
Three wheeled motorcycles have some safety advantages over their two wheeled counterparts that include much better stability and safety as well the ability to stand upright at stops compared to conventional motorcycles.
With street legal designs and much lower prices than the ultra-priced European machines, Chinese motorcycle makers may be able to chip a new place into the U.S. market. Wild three wheeler bikes might just be the coming thing. Trikes were once considered a 1960's hallmark of a few custom bike lovers. But with a low $4,595 price tag, these new generation of trikes might just find a new generation of buyers.
There is a new Motorcycle Design Program at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA. Previously well known for their ability to churn out some outstanding automobile concepts, it seems that just recently a student named Jake Loniak is making some waves and bringing a lot of positive attention to this particular program. Another shot of this awesome looking bike after the jump, as well more info on how this baby can work.
The concept is called ‘Deus Ex Machina’ and it’s not your everyday motorcycle. It’s an exoskeleton, allowing the driver to “wear” the vehicle. 36 pneumatic ‘muscles’ maneuver the bike based on the rider’s movements, so it seems that you would not be able to eat a bagel, drink your coffee, or stay updated on your boss’s emails while commuting to work…unless of course you were able to blend all of that in a mixer and hook it up to a bendy straw.
What strikes me as the coolest part about this concept is the way it slides downward as it accelerates. Want to see how? Check out the Video @ Popular Science. In any case, I fully support Jake Loniak in whatever he decides to do in order to get this thing on the market. We need to see more TRON-esque bikes in this city anyway.
vyrus 984 c3
vyrus 984 c3 is the new bike from vyrus which i think its radically designed, and reffered as. ‘The New Motorcycle Design yearbook 3’ this version was called ‘the black rocket’ since all the alloy parts are anodized with black color.
Motorcycle Design
Ian Galvin and Craig Mackiewicz developed a new motorcycle design, the NERO, as their senior project at CCS, the College for Creative Studies. The pair forsees the possibility of a new golden age of motorcycles in America due to the convergence of factors such as traffic congestion and restrictions on fossil fuels. They believe a mid sized naked bike might best address those issues.
The NERO draws on the Vincent name for the qualities of performance, price and technology it embodied during its day. They pulled design influence from some obvious sources such as the Confederate Wraith and Renovatio plus John Britten's superbike.
I think the concept has a lot going for it, the girder front suspension and overall clean lines, but it looks to me as though the proportions are just a little off, either the wheels and tires are somewhat small or the rider sits very high. Looking at the one image they offer with riders on the bike, it seems like the center of gravity might be too high but maybe that's just me.
More photos and links below:
Brian sent me this link without comment after seeing it here, I would be interested to hear his take, check out their portfolio and let us know what you think.