For more than a decade, the market for tilting three-wheelers has struggled to develop, following the launch of the Piaggio MP3. But in order to limit the risk of loss of control, manufacturers are showing increasing interest in this type of idea.
Kawasaki is now working on a system to convert conventional motorcycles into three-wheelers similar to the Yamaha Niken. Like it or not, it's easy to see the potential appeal of tilting three-wheelers. They offer the maneuverability of two-wheelers, with an added safety aspect in the form of increased front-end grip and stability. In addition, depending on technical specificities such as the distance between the two front wheels, they can be used by car license holders and do without a motorcycle license.
The machines currently on the market, notably the Piaggio MP3, Yamaha Niken and Tricity, are all very different from conventional motorcycles: the chassis have a specific design and integrate complex suspension and steering systems to allow the integration of 2 wheels at the front. However, the new patent filed by Kawasaki presents a design that could be brought to any classic motorcycle, with minimal modifications.
The idea is remarkably simple. Typically, tilting three-wheelers such as the MP3 or Niken have two front axles linked together, pivoting in the center and with an individual suspension system – either forks or a link system – mounted at each end, one for each. front wheel. Kawasaki uses a completely different approach by placing the tilt system at the bottom of a completely conventional front fork system.
As with the other systems, the motorcycle and the two front wheels tilt together thanks to a parallelogram connection, pivoting in the center so that the front wheels adopt the same angle of inclination as the motorcycle, while remaining in contact with floor.
This idea, although innovative, has the disadvantage of adding the tilt system to the unsprung mass of the motorcycle, but it massively simplifies the development on the suspension and steering side and allows the use of a completely motorcycle frame. normal.
As far as management is concerned, this could be a huge advantage. The tilting three-wheelers on the market have a direct connection between the handlebars and the front wheels, which tends to deprive the rider of the feeling of the road that he is used to having with conventional forks, which give a direct connection between the rider's hand and the front tire. On Kawasaki's patented design, the entire tilt system rotates with the handlebars, with no linkage or articulation required.
But don't dream, a Kawasaki with a tilting three-wheeler isn't expected to hit the market anytime soon. For comparison, the Japanese company spent at least five years filing patents around the design of its supercharged engines before the Ninja H2 was finally launched with this engine having taken many hours of design. But with the presence of the Yamaha Niken on the market, and Honda working on the subject, it seems that this type of machine has a future on our roads!
