Motorcycle design hasn't changed much in the last 100 years. Pour gasoline in, ignite, and blam, things start turning and that sweet exhaust note starts singing. Most powertrains we see rolling on the road today are based on ancient principles and old physics. There have of course been innovations and renovations to our beloved motors. Metals have gotten lighter and stronger, electronics more reliable and sophisticated, and itty bitty computer chips do the mechanical thinking. But now we ride on the precipice of a propulsion revolution and have to pause and wonder: Where the hell is this road taking us?
The signs are all around us. The revolution is not born of wallet-draining gas prices or a green, granola-munching love for the environment; it is something far more basic. It is our federal government, or more precisely its league of eco-do-gooders, the EPA. Of course protecting our environment is a good thing, but the high profile of motorcyclists makes us an easy target for whatever's wrong with the transportation world.
With mounting pressure to run clean, lean and green, alternative fuels and new technologies are coming online. Carburetors are nearly extinct, air-cooled motors appear endangered (clunky radiators are taking over) and the feds look more than happy to shove a fuel cell up our butts. Will internal combustion go the way of the dodo bird?
"The automotive industry leads the way for technologies that can be applied to motorcycles," says Jason Hoeve, engineering manager for Victory Motorcycles. "We kind of ride on their shirttails." This effectively lets the auto boys do the long-range R&D. "There's about a five-year lag, so motorcycle tech is not cutting-edge," Hoeve adds, "but if it's in a car you can pretty much figure it will someday end up on a bike."
Among the alternative energy sources that include hybrid, electric, fuel cell, diesel, biodiesel and even a back-to-steam effort, some are much more adaptable to motorcycles than others, Hoeve says. While there doesn't appear to be much threat of solar-powered bikes, Jetsonian sky-bike plutonium-pellet drive or-at the other extreme-Fred Flintstone-like footpowered contrivances, it's unlikely any motorcyclist looks forward to the day he hits the starter button and waits for an idiot light to tell him his engine is on.
"Yes, let's hope that won't happen," Hoeve says. "Diesel doesn't seem likely to see action because of motorcycle power demands; it doesn't offer the kind of performance motorcyclists want. But a hybrid system seems quite possible, especially as fuel efficiency becomes more of an issue, although we have yet to see a correlation between gas prices and bike sales. In more short-range, urban settings I can also see an electric motorcycle working." If you follow the auto lead, a hybrid bike may be closer than we think; the four-wheel version of that technology is already on the road.
Show Me What Ya Got
Bike manufacturers get jumpy when asked to make forecasts. In the ultracompetitive business of manufacturing motorcycles, any information about possible future products is held within a micrometer of the vest. The OEMs won't comment on what boots they'll be offering next year, much less what they have up their leather sleeves. It's understandable; any market advantage can mean the difference between a good financial quarter and shareholder panic. The fear of spilt beans runs so thick they don't even want to discuss the feasibility of alternative power, even less what shape it might take between two wheels.