Evomoto : a 235mpg streamliner

[euromodder]

Embrace the wind.

Dr.-Ing. Wolfgang Bauer has built a 235mpg (@ 90 kph / 56mph) streamlined motorcycle.

evomoto125cc


It'll do 130 kph / 81 mph with the streamlining, only 92 kph / 57mph without.
Additional weight : only 8.5 kg / 19 lbs


Fuel log :
Details: Honda - Innova - evomoto 125cc - Spritmonitor.de
(Note : the spritmonitor site won't accept any input under 1L/100 km - 235mpg !)

[Piwoslaw]

Nice! The site is has lots of info and step-by-step pictures. Me wants!
Euro, do you know German well enough to invite Dr.-Ing. Bauer to check EcoModder out?

Originally Posted by euromodder

It'll do 130 kph / 81 mph with the streamlining, only 92 kph / 57mph without.

Is that enough to estimate the Cd (or CdA) improvement?

The first thing I did was to check if the Honda Innova 125i is available locally, and for how much, and I found another one modded for 200mpg. That article even mentions EcoModder and links to JanVos's Burgman mod thread.

[beatr911]

While aerodynamic it doesn't look very comfortable for an extended ride. The neck bend is pretty tight, into oncoming wind and add in a helmet, eeesh. A head rest would transmit vibration and road shock directly to the helmet.

Good effort though. The lay-down position reduces the riders drag significantly. The rider in an upright position, appears (to me anyway) to be one of the largest contributors to drag.

[visionary]

Its good to see more of this stuff coming out, and I like the electrically adjustable seat back in the video, but where did that MPG figure come from?
Comparison with Alert Jacobs' version, would seem to show much less effecient aerodynamics and the same base vehicle. Alert clearly documented his test results and did well to reach 214mpg, so how does this beat him?

[evomoto]

Hello,

I was made aware that there´s a post on the ecomodder homepage about my bike so I figured I take a look at what´s written here. It looks like I can give some answers to your questions.

Let me first answer the question how I got to this low fuel consumption, even though my bike is not as streamlined as Allerts bike and has for sure a higher drag coefficient. The simple background to it is: frontal area. When you view the bike from front or rear you will notice that you can see only a very small profile. Take a look at the attached picture and you´ll see what I mean. And this significantly decreases aerodynamic drag. I was stunned when Allert and me met with our bikes near Cologne two months ago. There is a big difference. He gets the extreme drag reduction out of streamlinig, while I focused more on reduction of frontal area. Overall we then end up at about the same fuel consumption.

One advantage of the only partial fairing is the lower aditional weight which saves you some fuel in urban driving conditions (stop-and-go) while it for sure has only little influence when driving at constant speed in flat terrain. Additionally the acceleration of the bike is still pretty good. Even though it has a slightly higher weight and a higher gearing compared to the original Honda Innova, it gives you a better acceleration at speeds above 50kph just because of the lower aerodynamic drag (as shown on the evomoto-website).

The evomoto indeed is very comfortable. Compared to my "regular" motorbike, a 2002 Suzuki SV650S, and also compared to all other motorbikes I rode so far, it is very relaxing and does not cause either of the pains you get on regular bikes: wrists, neck, knees, backbone, buttocks. All these body parts are not overloaded and therefore do not hurt. beatr911 has a point though with his remark about the head rest: I took me quite a while to find the right design to keep vibrations away from the helmet - in the end I succeded and I can say, that the noise level now is quite a bit lower than on regular bikes, especially due to the low wind noise.

I did a round trip though Germany last month: 2230km within one week. Visiting major cities and friends. During the trip the bike did not only prove its stamina, robustness and comfort. It also showed that even in often not ideal driving conditions (rain, heavy head and side wind, many traffic jams and urban stop-and-go traffic) it is able to give you an average fuel consumption of about 1,1 l/100km - it needed 24,65l of gas for this trip.

I hope, I was able to answer your questions. More comments are welcome!

Wolfgang

[Piwoslaw]

Evomoto, thank you for posting here
Your mods look so easy to do that I'm keep thinking about getting an Innova, even though I don't need one (at the moment). I went through your page a while ago and can't remember if you wrote how much time and money you needed for this project?

[low&slow]

Wolfgang, Great job, Your mods are very interesting and have produced great results. How well did the bike handle in heavy sidewinds? I have started streamlining my 1982 Yamaha Vision ( 550 cc V-twin )and while I have reduced aero drag, the handling in strong winds can be pretty twitchy. I liked your video showing how easy it was to get your feet back down.
all the best, Low& Slow ( Vic )

[skyl4rk]

Elegant design, a simple and effective solution.

You might be able to improve your fuel efficiency by extending the fairing behind your helmet and back.

How is the rain protection using your leg enclosure? Do you think you could increase the coverage to make a motorcycle that can be used in the rain without soaking the rider?

How do you shift gears?

[evomoto]

Hello there,

sorry for responding late. I´m quite busy these days.

@Piwoslaw: If you intend to rebuild an Innova from scratch, be aware that it´s a lot of work. It does look simple but getting there is anther thing. I have spent many hours in the workshop especially on the aerodynamic parts (front and rear fairing) until I was satisfied with them. I think the front fairing is already the 5th stage in evolution. Overall, I have for sure spent well above 1000h maybe even more than 1500h to get the evo where it is now.
On the other hand I have thought about creating an Innova-evomoto conversion kit, since quite a lot of people were interested in buying an evomoto 125cc. I got in contact with a german company who could produce the parts and sell the kit. However, when I announced the cost for the kit (3500 to 4000€), most of these people reconsidered their interest and for the moment there are not enough left to start a small batch series. Assembly time for the kit would be about 3 days for a skilled worker, for sure more for a person who does this the first time and is only a hobby mechanic.

@low&slow: Side wind indeed was one issue I was very unsure about, when I started the project. And actually this is also one of the most-asked questions about the evo. From todays view and with the experience of about 14000km I can say, that riding the evo in side wind conditions is not much different from regular bikes except the sideways inclination is somewhat higher. I have layed out the bike according to some rules and got a quite good behaviour. It virtually automatically compensates for side wind, leans into the wind and keeps the straight line. My sensation is that I don´t have to do any intentional action when a side wind gust hits me. Even in winds up to 7 Bft it was safe to ride. The only time I skiped a ride so far was when the weather forecast announced 100kph (10Bft) winds and recommended people to stay at home. As for your bike I´d recommend to try out the behaviour without front wheel fairing - I bet side wind behaviour is much better then.

@sky4lrk: Extending the rear fairing further backwards could be an option, but unfortunately I need to obey the european regulations for the license plate, the rear lights and the turn indicators. With this in mind, there is not much left I can do, since the rear flat surface of the fairing has to have certain dimensions simply to enable to meet the regulations.
Rain protection is great. Basically, when in motion your body stays dry. Only from the chest upwards and on the back of your hands you will get wet. And, in really heavy rain, you will see some mist slightly moistening the rear of your legs. For example: during my round-trip through Germany with several hours in rain and on wet roads I never needed to use my raingear, even though my protection jacket is not waterproof.
Shifting gears is quite simple but different from regular motorbikes: you´ve got two levers, one for the left and one for the right foot. Depressing a lever on the first 20mm or so disengages the clutch and then on the remaining displacement the gear is shifted. Releasing the lever then reengages the clutch. Right foot is for upshifting, left foot for downshifting. The additional centrifugal clutch makes starts (e.g. at the traffic lights) very easy. Basically I used the regular semi-automatic clutch and gear technology of the original Innova and only slightly modified it and relocated the actuation mechanism into the front fairing.

Greetings from Germany
Wolfgang

[euromodder]

Originally Posted by evomoto

sorry for responding late. I´m quite busy these days.

No problem at all.

Thanks for joining ecomodder and building an inspiring project !