Photo credits: Electrec
Electric motorcycles are the future, and every day that goes by we see new projects coming up. This time though, this isn’t a project that pops out of a small company, but in fact this is something that German motorcycle manufacturer BMW Motorrad is working on and thinking about applying it to production bikes.
According to a set of patent files published by British website Morebikes, BMW Motorrad has filed some trademarks for an electric front wheel, that will be able to supply drive force in combination with the conventional rear-wheel drive we have on motorcycles today.
According to these sketches, BMW Motorrad has decided to create a way to split the drive force between the rear and the front wheel. The electric motor is to be fitted inside the front wheel hub, and supply power to the front wheel during specific situations like when riding off-road and the rider needs extra traction to move forward.
The system isn’t exactly an all-wheel-drive (AWD) system, but works more like a part-time AWD and only when rider engages the system.
Photo credits: DriveMag Riders
Although the patent description doesn’t say much about the electric front wheel concept, BMW Motorrad states that this system can be applied to motorcycles, as well as other vehicles with three or four wheels. They go even further by stating that this electric front wheel is perfect to be fitted on big touring bikes, because of the extra weight they usually carry on top-case and side bags.
Two-wheel drive motorcycles aren’t new, and many specialized brands supply riders with aftermarket kits to be fitted on specific models. For example, Wunderlich, known to create many parts for BMW motorcycles, showed in 2015 their own two-wheel drive concept, by fitting on a R1200GS an electric motor to the front wheel.
But BMW Motorrad is not thinking about this system as just another concept, and they might show us something special, either on adventure or touring bikes, in the near future.
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