Peugeot displays the HYmotion3 concept. Yes, it looks pretty much exactly like a hybrid Piaggio MP3. Maybe it is an MP3, I dunno, merde, those French people, it’s like they have a different word for everything. Whatever that thing is, I wish the rumor I made up a few months ago about Peugeot coming to the U.S. would come true.
Category: Concepts/Innovation
Speed Vest
Neato, and it works up to 70mph. I love the Nixie-Tube look. It’s designed for bicyclists, but the concept works even better for scooterists, where motorists may be less likely to pass a rider already going over the speed limit.
Nissan Mori
Another really cool concept scooter and a really good essay on why showing off “concepts,” and separating design from engineering, is pointless. The original Vespa is the perfect example: Form and function developed equally–with amazing insight and creativity–by Corradino D’Ascanio.
Raucous
Dude is putting a 450cc Honda CRF dirtbike motor in his Ruckus 50. Oh, and he’s turbocharging it. (From AxeYrCat on this Modern Buddy Thread with some other trick Ruckii.)
3-wheeled BMW scooters in works?
Dunno how we missed this, from Visordown:
According to reports from our foreign friends, BMW have already (with help from Rotax) developed three engines to power not only the funky tri-wheel concept to production, but a brace of large scooters, too. (…) Jean-Michel Cavret, director of the division motion of BMW France, said: “The president of the division BMW motion, Hendrik Von Kuenheim is convinced that we must make a scooter, therefore we are working on the project. We want to be open to new markets and it is for that reason that we produce the motor of the G450X for Kymco and the G650X to the Loncin Chinese factory.”
The translation appears sketchy in that last sentence, it was reported in March that Kymco would manufacture a 450cc motor for BMW, which sounds like the BMW/Rotax-engineered 450 mentioned in the story. Hopefully BMW is far too proud to rebadge any of the asian three-wheeled covered scooters already on the market.
I’ME: the next Genuine scooter?
PGO’s new fuel-injected I’ME 125 won a 2008 Taiwan Excellence Award and got some press coverage (videos below) in Taiwan, but there’s a strange lack of information about it on the internet. The Republic of China’s new emissions laws require fuel-injection, so it’s likely all of Genuine’s PGO-built 2009 models will feature EFI, (UPDATE: maybe not,) but PGO claims the I’ME is the first to pass the new “fifth stage” emissions regulations. Aesthetically, it looks like an updated Kymco Agility, sort of the Vespa LX to the Agility’s ET, if that makes any sense, which it doesn’t.
With the current drought of scooters in U.S. showrooms, it’s a safe bet Genuine would love to get their hands on the I’ME, but PGO’s likely focused on development and production of domestic-market fifth-stage-certified bikes. That should give Genuine just enough time to re-brand it, and apply for DOT homologation. In any case, we’re adding the I’ME 125 to our Genuine ’09 wish list, along with the hybrid Buddy and the return of the Blur (hopefully the 4-valve 150 version and the 200 with this cool LCD dashboard).
Yes, I Am A Geek: Yamaha Vino Gadget Overload
What ever your choice of epithet for those who embrace some sort of technical esotericism, get ready to shout it right..about…now!
But in all seriousness, this Yamaha Vino 50 crammed with all kinds of electronic gizmo goodness is pretty cool. I think it could be done much more cleanly with better physical integration, but that’s what the fellows at MP3car.com get to do when they get it all tightly installed in their cars with much more real estate to work with.
via Gizmodo
Electric Buddy?
I posted this last week after skimming it, and I skimmed right over the part where PGO UNVEILED AN ELECTRIC-POWERED BU BU at EICMA. Electric-powered chinese scooters were a dime a dozen at Dealer Expo, but maybe PGO will get it right. And is it a coincidence that the model shown apppears to be painted in Genuine’s Buddy Italia colors?
Tata’s scooter inspiration
More detail about how a scooter accident inspired Tata’s $2500 car, from the Toronto Globe and Mail.
XO Move Scooter
A neat concept bike: the XO Move Scooter, which folds up on itself to prevent theft, It’s a handsome design, and adjustable seat height is a neat feature unseen since the Piatti.
GTS 250ie Super… and a 300?
This somehow slipped past us a couple weeks ago: Piaggio’s been showing a TS 250ie Super with black wheels and 2-tone gloss white/matte white paint. Word is, a 300cc version is also on the way. Handsome! (Thanks, Ericcalm)
Indian makers explore natural gas models
RedOrbit reports that LML, Bajaj, Honda, and Kinetic are all working on natural-gas powered concept bikes, possibly including dual-fuel options. Just thought we’d throw that in there with all the 210cc nuclear-powered rotary-engine automatic time-travelling Stella rumors floating around.
The Dragster Scoop?
Steve Guzmán spills all the beans he can on the Dragster over at the Scooter Scoop. He’s working for ItaljetUSA, of course, but it seems like a pretty honest piece, he answers a few questions, and includes a couple photos of a prototype that’s newer than the one on display at Dealer Expo that I haven’t bothered to write about yet. Hopefully, bringing Steve on board wasn’t the only thing LS Motorsports is going to get right.
Dainese airbag suit
Dainese is testing motorcycle leathers with a built-in airbag and expects to release them commercially in 2010, to coincide with the 12th anniversary of Radiohead’s Airbag EP. OK, I made that last part up, but how awesome would it be to be a motorcycle airbag tester?
Can your bike’s “face” improve visibility?
Neat story on how some motorcycles are designed to resemble a human face:
[Honda’s tests] found that motorcycles that resemble a human face – especially an angry one evoked with diagonal headlights – are “significantly” more visible to other drivers. Measurements taken with functional magnetic resonance imaging confirm that a more lifelike front-end design “elicits a response similar to that when a human face is seen,”
So, in conclusion, The Blur rules, and Andretti’s “Happy Cyclops” just isn’t going to cut it. (Thanks for the great link, Chandler!)