AWD Motorcycles & Bicycles
 

A guy that graduated a few years ahead of me in high school is getting alot of attention for his all wheel drive system he created for motorcycles and bicycles. I read about his progress a few years ago but now he has fully integrated his system into several motorcycle and bicycle racing series.

Click here to go to his site...pretty cool system he designed...

Christini All Wheel Drive Motorcycles

In all fairness, ROKON has been there on the motorized bikes for over 50 years now...

Neat. But these things never really seem to catch on. The ROKON has a cult following because of its wierdness, history and unique mud and swamp capabilities. It seems like a good idea but somehow just doesn't hit the target of what alot of people want or feel they need.

In the early '90s someone had a similar power transfer idea for mountain bikes that used a cable in a curved tube. It was light and actually worked pretty well, but there was friction and additional complexity. On a bike you need all the power efficiency you can get, and this thing didn't help traction enough to outweigh its friction cost. Gear driven might be more efficient but is likely to add some unwanted poundage, especially burdensome when climbing where AWD has it's biggest benefit.

Yamaha has (had) a 2wd 450cc machine they raced in the DAKAR. I believe it used a hydraulic pump on the rear driveline & a hydraulic motor on the front wheel. I also believe it could be disengaged via a solenoid. Helps out a lot in deep sand, not a lot of mud in the race. The drier & more hardpacked the surface, steering gets a little dicey.

Don

This is what I would have considered if I were going to build something like this.