Technology dominated motorcycle news this year with jet thrusters to prevent low-siders, sidecars with a drone launching pad, plus self-riding, self-balancing and even flying motorcycles.
While most of these are fanciful or far-off innovations, there was some advance in more useable technology.
Ducati and KTM have made giant leaps forward with Bosch developing blind spot alerts to prevents sideswipe accidents and adaptive cruise control that keepsthe bike a set distance from vehicles in front.
Big Bosch tech
Bosch tests jet thruster
But the biggest tech story of the year for us was the Bosch jet thrusters that prevent low-siders.
The system uses pressurised gas to blast a jet of air out of the high side of the bike when sensors, gyroscopes and accelerometers detect the wheels sliding sideways.
This sudden jet of air is designed to help counteract the slide pressures and lift the bike back up.
ON the one hand, it would be great to have tech that would prevent low-sides, but just how much will this add to the weight of the bike and its expense.
And, like an airbag inflator it would be a one-time activation, so you would be up for the expense of a new activator after it’s been deployed.
Given the problems with faulty Takata airbags, we’re not so sure about this tech.
Quirky tech of the year
There have been some quirky bits of tech this year.
One of the most interesting is Suzuki beacon light that shines on the roof to make traffic aware of the rider’s presence.
They filed for a patent this year so it may be a while before that comes to market.
Furion M1 Hybrid SportBike
Then there’s the Furion M1 hybrid motorcycle from France that has a Wankel rotary engineand an electric motor. So far, its only CAD images on a computer screen.
And here’s some tech you never thought you would need that will be available soon in Australia.
Riders whose bikes won’t trigger a change in a traffic light to green would welcome more of these activation buttons that have been installed at some intersections for cyclists.
It seems cyclists get everything they want from governments. Even their own roads!
In this case, their strong lobbying for these buttons may also help motorcyclists.
They are located on poles close to the road so riders can push them and trigger a change in the traffic lights.
These have been installed because many modern bicycles are made of carbon fibre which will not trigger traffic light sensors.
There are varying types of sensors used around the world but the most common is called an inductor loop. It consists of a wire loop placed in the asphalt leaving a telltale rectangular cutting in the road surface to detect the metal in the engine block.
Motorcycle Council of NSW chairman Steve Pearce says they have discussed the issue with Roads and Maritime Services.
“So far we have not received a reply except that they are looking into it,” he says.
“Our suggestion was actually a pressure pad at the front of the lane which would be triggered by a motorcycle.
“As the weight of a motorcycle is less than a vehicle, it would need to be a bespoke item.”
Report traffic light problems
RACQ safety and technical manager Steve Spalding says they have also raised the issue of motorcycles not triggering traffic lights with Transport and Main Roads “a couple of times”.
Steve Spalding and his Bandit
“Their advice is to report the lights to the relevant road authority for attention,” he says.
“They told me they can adjust the sensitivity but if they adjust too much it can then pick up traffic passing in an adjacent lane.”
Rider advice
Steve advises riders to correctly position their motorcycle over the cut lines in the road where the loop sensors are placed.
“Don’t stop in between them,” he says.
“You can also try moving forward to allow a car to position over them if they won’t trigger.
“From a safety perspective I’d suggest a rider not stop over the cut line closest to the adjacent through-lane but position themselves over one of the other lines (there are usually three running parallel to the lane).
“This gives them a bit more of a safe space if a passing car runs too close, or drifts into, the turning lane where they are sitting waiting for a turn light.”
Ducati Australia has recalled 263 Panigale V4, V4 S and V4 S Speciale bikes over a possible engine oil to leak from one of the hydraulic tensioners on each of the cylinder heads.
The official notice issued through the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission says the engine oil “may leak on to the engine sump and on to the tyre, increasing the risk of a crash”.
“This may cause serious injury to riders and other road users,” it says.
The vehicle identification numbers of affected bikes are listed at the end of this article.
Ducati Australia say they will contact owners of recalled bikes by mail.
They will be requested to contact their nearest authorised Ducati Dealer to arrange an appointment.
Apparently it is easily fixed by dealers tightening the two hydraulic tensioners to specification, free of charge.
Recalled again
Ducati’s new Panigale V4 has been recalled four times in its first year of production. However, only recalls two have affected bikes imported into Australia.
Even though manufacturers and importers contact owners when a recall is issued, the bike may have been sold privately to a rider unknown to the company.
Therefore, Motorbike Writer publishes all motorcycle recalls as a service to all riders.
If you believe there is an endemic problem with your bike that should be recalled, contact the ACCC on 1300 302 502.
To check whether your motorcycle has been recalled, click on these sites:
Christmas is a great time for a ride, but it is also one of the most dangerous for riders with roads full of families rushing to their holiday destinations.
They are towing caravans or have vehicles overloaded with bikes, luggage and toys and drivers are stressed by screaming kids in the car.
The last thing they are concerned about is giving you any space or consideration.
So our best advice for surviving the holiday with your skin and licence intact is to stay away from the holiday routes and find some back roads to ride.
Here are some other tips and Christmas messages from various motorcycle industry people.
More than any other road user, motorcyclists are vulnerable to road conditions. If it doesn’t feel safe to continue, then stop and wait until conditions improve. You are the best judge. Toughing it out generally is an indicator of subjecting yourself to additional risk.
Rest every couple of hours. Plan your ride. On your way there will be some great places to stop and rest, and enjoy the local hospitality and scenery. Taking a regular break will keep you fresh and alert.
One of the easiest strategies we can implement to survive is to not drink and ride.
As motorcyclists we must apply a new set of philosophies to our riding. We face situations now that weren’t as prevalent a decade ago. Aggressive vehicle drivers with gadgets aplenty distracting their attention on the road, road deterioration, road design and road furniture that’s not rider friendly, bicycle friendly infrastructure that disadvantages motorcycles (bicycle lanes) targeted motorcycle penalties, to name a few.
Enjoy your riding. At end of each journey mark yourself out of 10. Getting to your destination without any ‘exciting moments’ while enjoying your time on the bike is extremely rewarding and satisfying.
The holiday season is the perfect time to unwind and spend time with your family and friends. For those lucky enough to own a motorcycle, we hope you get the chance to enjoy the great weather on your bike and urge you to ride safe. We look forward to advocating for riders again in 2019.
Life is not always a race, take a moment to look and take in your surroundings. This can have a few perspectives. Take a look around, you will see what is going on and by slowing down you can judge the situation better.
We have become more needy of things to be fast paced and we forget to take a look at what we already have around us.
Being able to stop your motorcycle as quickly as possible (for whatever reason), with effective use of the front and rear brake, will give you the very best chance of staying safe. Riding, like skiing, is so much more fun when you do it well.
Electric car company Tesla is further developing its Autopilot software that detects lane-filtering riders as shown in this driver’s YouTube video.
One of the biggest issues about the rapid move toward autonomous vehicles is how they will detect small and vulnerable road users such as motorcyclists, cyclists and pedestrians.
In one incident in San Francisco last year a lane filtering rider was hit by a Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicle being driven in autonomous mode.
Tesla has now launched its Version 9 software update to Autopilot 2.0+ hardware that has a more advanced “neural net” to detect smaller and faster-moving objects around the vehicle.
That includes lane-filtering motorcycles.
In the above video by Tesla Model 3 owner Scott Kubo, there are several examples of lane-splitting riders in LA travelling at much higher speeds than the 30km/h lane filtering maximum in Australia.
The system struggles at times to detect them both day and night.
Tesla detects lane filtering rider in video, but not on the sidescreen graphic.
In some cases it mistakes a bike for a car and in others the bike is in the next lane and passing right through cars!
Scott says drivers also use their ears to detect motorcycles and suggests an audio sensor to help the camera and radar sensors.
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