He's no John Britten

[Big Jon]

But as a designer involved in the M1, and lead on the MT-03, what he's doing has me interested. Nothing at all to do with his Canadian-ness, nothing at all.

http://www.onewheeldrive.net/2013/02/20 ... s-is-more/

[sickle44]

I thought about clicking on the link but as soon as I saw the mt-03 lead, I knew you were talking about Michael UkLuck. Some of his ideas are awesome and he can design a beautiful machine(MT-03 living proof), although, I honestly just don't understand where he get's off or where he's coming from with regard to most of his thought within the pages of Cycle Canada. It seems as if some days he just decides to hook his mouth up to his ass instead of his mouth and then he just lets her rip. I like the idea of Amorak too but he's dead wrong if he thinks this two wheeler, or the two wheeled public mass, is going to abandon his beloved IC Engine anytime soon. He should be focusing on the development of a good entry level machine(with a unique engine that'd set him apart from others) within the 400cc range before he jumps straight into a litre class performance, ev bike, at least imho that is. Don't get me wrong, I'm rooting for him, but he'd better get a handle on the head to mouth/ass thing asap.

Once he's conquered the 400cc, he should then get on a 600cc(750) weapon and standard, then move into the litre. His idea of cruisers, shouldn't be even developed any longer, well, I'm sure many on this site would likely agree but, unfortunately, that's where a LOT of cash money is and if he's going to make it in the two wheeled business or any business at all, he'd better get on the band wagon. He doesn't need to build a cruiser, just build something cool and unique that would appeal to a cruiser head type person and he'd be in the money, cause we all know the 45dg air cooled twin push rod is well past it's prime and really, can someone just put it out to pasture and shoot the damned things!! How many different models this year alone are based on that bloody lunk, I just dont' get it? Oops pardon me, let me hook my mouth back up to my head, woooops!?

[Big Jon]

In his mind, light makes right. Some of the E-bikes make good power with too much weight, he wants to see that kind of power and very low weight. The purest expression of that will be a race bike, taking on the giants means doing something completely different. 400's are great, but won't sell here so it's an exercise in futility. Build a faster lighter electric bike and let battery power (advancing daily) catch up with capacity demand, and you will eventually have a race bike to contend with petrol power.

[sickle44]

sorry, not buying anything electric nor would I ever cause they don't go vroom vroom and they still burn up coal, albeit proportionally much less. I'd certainly go for a 400 and I think you're wrong about not selling, look at how well Honda's 250 and 125 have done, the time for the small bore has reasserted itself imho.

[Big Jon]

Not saying small bore isn't a good idea, and the year after the 125 cbr went on sale, the showrooms were full of ones the shops couldn't sell and the classifieds were packed with them. As a money making proposition it's the cheap and easy way to go. He's not doing it to make money, he's doing it to make a better bike.

ICE engines have taken over 100 years to get where they are now, battery bikes? 5 years. Which one is advancing more? That was his point about cruisers, low power, high weight, and no tech. As much as they will disagree, cruisers are not interested in "performance" to any degree compared to style. All bikes are slave to styling, but some are working towards lighter weight and greater performance and handling at the same time.

. I'm interested in seeing a 200 lb bike ready to average the ton at the Manx TT for all three laps, my guess is another 5 years with electric, and never with ICE.