I have a Camaro myself but car technology is not necessarily good for motorcycles;otherwise the Boss-Hoss with a real Chevy-V8 would rule the motorcycle market... 240Kg I would dismiss as propaganda;mybe they use japanese scales who always come up 40lbs short... O.K. I get it.You guys don't mind chains... But for the MOTUS a bike like a Boxer or Guzzi with perfect north/south crank arrangement to put in extra gears to channel the power an extra 90 degrees to employ a chain is just plain stupid! Of course it takes more money and engineering expertise to put a shaftdrive on but to use an excuse chains are lighter and the MOTUS is a "sportbike" is plain ridicolous and pure PR B.S.... With shaftdrive it could have been a serious contender. Without it I doubt the "made in usa" label has as much or more appeal as other sports-tourers like VFR1200 or K1300S...
Not necessarily car technology, just proven, efficient, reliable technology. Sh!t, if you're going down that road, why is shaft drive that is so good on cars being used on bikes? Or fuel injection? Or ABS. You still haven't talked about unsprung weight in any of your posts. Man I don't know why I keep getting sucked into this. Gotta go find the ignore button.
I'm sure you are in jest as the Motus is a 'baby block' with GM roots, 4 less cyl, and much lower weight. You might as well say that BMW shouldn't have taken the inline 6 out of their cars and shoved it into the GTL like they did...(see how I did that? just like you!) I guess all I can say is 'prove it'.
What a dumb post. You blast Motus for the 90 degree directional change of power using a chain, while your beloved boxer with shaft drive makes the exact same 90 degree directional change. Motus does it at the output of the transmission, while BMW does it at the rear wheel with a horsepower robbing high friction ring & pinion. The only motorcycle design that can truly make power in the same plane it puts it to the ground is a transverse mounted engine with chain drive like most Japanese sport bikes. Not coincidentally, this is also the most efficient design for the transfer of power to the rear wheel. It won't be a serious contender regardless, but that has nothing to do with the choice of final drive and everything to do with production numbers, dealer network, and cost. Apparently the only things you seem to be an expert on are trolling and fake n00bs.
I will seriously consider the Motus when/if it comes out. There is nothing about that bike I didn't like, especially for a prototype. I don't care if it is chain drive. I want chain drive. 160hp. 120ft-lbs. 530lbs wet. Unless this bike completely handles like crap, or doesn't have the build quality, I will want one.
I'm still waiting for Motus to announce that their engine will also be used in a new racing class. Something like the Formula Fords. I bet it wouldn't take much to get their engine to produce 300+ HP with a turbo and still be reliable as the day is long. Not that racers would need that much power. My real point here is that something tells me there's more to Motus than just making several hundred bikes a year. The bikes are the icing on the cake, the showcase for the engine.
Bueller unfortunately you don't know what you are talking about... Guzzis/Boxers as also the MOTUS have a crank that goes with the axis of the bike. Straight perfect power for a driveshaft as on a japanese inline four the crank is on the same axis as the output shaft ! Unfortunately MOTUS did not take advantage of this but put used another gear mechanism to employ a chain...stupid ! But the car guys who designed the drivetrain obviously had no experience to design a motorcycle driveshaft so they went this route... All I'm saying this will be the downfall because a practical and low maintenance bike with hydraulic lifters should have a clean and low maintenance drive shaft,too,like the competition from Japan and Germany employs. High prices,no experience and few dealerships are hurdles enough if they are serious to get this thing off the ground but obviously there are car guys behind the project you don't know too much about motorcycles. Make a tourer and call it a sportbike because it has chaindrive... That's almost too funny...
*sigh* I keep checking this thread in case there is any news. Alas, nothing but wanking. Please, stop feeding the trolls. PH
Who doesn't know what they are talking about? BMW does exactly the same thing you are accusing MOTUS of. BMW uses a gearset to change direction too, it just happens to be a gearset at the rear wheel. Your ignorance of things mechanical obviously doesn't allow you to understand that, which probably goes a long way towards explaining why you can't understand that shaft drive powertrains have higher parasitic loss than chain drive powertrains. I know exactly how the BMW powertrain is built. I've owned 10 of them and have had the displeasure of tearing two of them down to replace leaking slave cylinders and slipping clutches. I won't even address the rest of your idiotic post, as you have no freakin' idea why MOTUS went with their chosen powertrain design. You have only your own personal speculation, have brought absolutely no facts to the discussion, and you have conducted baseless argument with those who have brought facts to the discussion, claiming they don't know what they are talking about. This despite the production of links and statistics. Here's a suggestion - come back to the discussion when you have some facts to present. Or you can just keep trolling until you get moderated away.
Ok..... I might be jumping into a snake pit, however, typically, if you use a chain the actual response is "supposed to be better" I would guess, that in their minds a chain is cheaper to fix and you would be ableto do it yourself at home. Not to mention the R&D costs to create a shaft system, and not purchase someone elses would be huge. You would keep costs down on the final production that you can attempt to compete in an already overstressed and thin margin market. Now, if you are going to attempt to bash my OPINION, know first I am a mechanical engineer, so keep the rediculous comments out. I would agree it seems awkward but it makes sense as they are making an attempt at a new bike from scratch. I do like it, I would love to know the final cost, and see the range, also Iwould really love to see some touring go into it, there are NO dash pockets, the luggage doesn't look that big, and it seems to be made like the first triumph st 1050 in the regards to more sport biased. They had no choiice but to go back and make a second model, the gt. looks like a solid effort though.
Yeah, same here...with gobs of vehicle powertrain and engine experience. I continue to sit by and watch the feet flying towards the mouths...
While it looks inviting, I'm going to guess that it would be a terrible idea to try to lift a bike by the oil pan? Never only vehicle I've had with an exposed oil pan is my car, and I never dared to lift by the pan when an inviting frame rail was so close by, but it does make me wonder.
I was a bit disappointed with Sir Alan's report on the Motus - was hoping he'd convey more of the felt ride experience, rather than standing back and reporting various bits and pieces, some pleasant and some otherwise. It is the way it feels that will sell this bike of course, if anything does, rather than performance numbers. Anyway, a few of his bits and pieces, as they appear: a "remarkably natural riding stance"; handlebars adjustable fore-aft five inches, plus angle adjustment; "low-set" footpegs (not adjustable, but the foot controls are); "zero buffeting" from the four-position windscreen at 85mph (make of that what you will); absolutely no buzzing and a serious wave of torque between 3500 and 6500 rpm; ultra-long first gear; supremely relaxed high-speed cruising from overdrive fifth and sixth gears; 4000rpm@75mph with the prototype's gearing; neutral, intuitive steering; nicely valved Ohlins suspension; "Swooping down Stunt Road towards the Rock Store was sublime fun, though the footpegs quickly touched down in fast turns"; handling "admirably sharp on technical roads". On the debit side: difficult starting from cold, snatchy throttle response off the stop, harsh gearshift action, very heavy clutch, brakes bite too sharply. Some heat from the motor when stationary, no heat problem when moving. Just on the chain vs shaft stuff (sorry!): it looks like a mixed bag to me, with some clear wins for the way they have done it. On one side, since the inline crank demands a single 90-deg turn from the powertrain whether shaft or chain driven, there was an opportunity to go with a shaft; on the other, making the turn at the gearbox puts the mass of those gears in the best spot, takes some pressure off minimising that mass, is probably easier to engineer durably, cuts the number of bespoke parts on the bike, and of course allows easy tuning of final drive ratios. So it is easy to see why they went with the chain, and it is not all downside for an owner.
Round and round we go.. till the price is announced, we can debate the merits of this and that, but ultimately, the price will determine who's in and who's out. $25K for the base bike and $30K for the blinged out carbon fiber and Ohlins version have been rumored, and that's a lot of money for a basic sport touring bike and without ABS. (I'd love to try one..)