WMC250EV “V-Duct” Motorcycle.

[JacobLeSann]

Hey all,

I’ve been looking at this bike over and over since it was unveiled in 2021. The design is presumably ground-breaking and brings to mind the same principles used on the Lotus Evija and Ford GT. They have effectively cut out the entire centre of the bike, and moved all of the drivetrain beneath it.

What do you think? Will this cause too much turbulence or do you think it will work as intended? I wish I could see them test it. I feel like this could be a really smart design.

[freebeard]

Top-heavy don't matter when you lean into corners?

[JacobLeSann]

It’s more of a straight-line top speed bike. It’s got all the electric drivetrain in the bottom half, and the rider up top, so presumably it would be reluctant to corner well. But it looks very fast in a straight line.

I wonder what happens with that big duct in the bike when faced with different yaw angles of crosswinds. Maybe it would pull the bike around worse?

[Piotrsko]

I would think it's difficult to ride this to the Rock Store through the canyon*, but I remember the fastest way to turn left on an Electra glide full bagger is to jerk pull the right handlebar just a wee bit....

*Not for the handling qualities, just man handling a 1000 lb top heavy bike through all those turns. I did the canyon once, but it was so much effort, I took the freeway home.

Recall all the success with two wheel self stadning robots.

[ennored]

CG in bikes isn't what it is in cars....

Motorcycle Center of Gravity Motorhead Myths

[aerohead]

An overhead plan-view would be helpful.
As it is, other than attempting to reduce frontal area, I can't discern any capability for pressure recovery, ie. drag reduction.

[JacobLeSann]

Ennored is on the money. A top heavy bike is twitchier and more susceptible to leaning, and thus handles better. A bottom heavy bike is better at going in a straight line. That’s what I’ve always gone by. Seat distance to ground is important too. My understanding, anyway.

The designers have put out CFD analysis photos. I don’t have knowledge of CFD stuff but it gives good views of the machine.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitem...57719492189450


I think it’s a smart approach and according to their claims, it can get twice the mileage of the EV competitors. I question why they use that figure if the bike is built for top speed.
I have an SR 50 R and the drivetrain is all very low mounted. It could be cool to build it into a 50cc street version of this bike provided the drag/frontal area works as they say.


I do question the shape of the rear tail-piece. Why so flat?

[bandit86]

I wanted to do this to a car... with a few 4 or 6" abs pipes underneath to duct the high pressure areas into the vacum behind the car