Start-up company, Motorcycle Innovation Pty Ltd, is set to create a ‘Shockwave’ in the international motorcycle manufacturing arena.
Buoyed by a recent $250,000 cash injection from private Queensland angel investor ACAC Innovation, plus a matching $250,000 grant from the Queensland Government through its Ignite Ideas Fund, Motorcycle Innovation now has the impetus to break new ground using their patented ‘MotoinnoTS3’ chassis technology.
Intensive trials from 2012 to 2016 using Motorcycle Innovation’s Ducati 900SS-powered proof-of-concept prototype, confirmed that the TS3 technology delivers a more stable, safer motorcycle, eliminating the dangerous oscillation harmonics inherent in telescopic fork technology that has been the bane of engineers and riders alike ever since its invention. Empirical same-day testing also showed the prototype to be up to one second per corner faster than a Suzuki GSX-R750 comparison motorcycle both into and through and even on exit from a corner. This demonstrates that TS3 technology holds an exciting potential for race teams and manufacturers.
According to Colin Oddy, CEO of Motorcycle Innovation, these promising results signal the beginning of a genuine revolution in motorcycle safety and performance.
“We’re now in the process of designing, building and testing an all-new MotoinnoTS3 Shockwave model, employing a more powerful and more sophisticated power plant,” Mr Oddy said.
“This bespoke, high-end luxury road bike is based on the Ducati 1198cc Testastretta 11º engine – but that’s where the similarity to any other motorcycle starts and ends.”
Founder of Motorcycle Innovation and creator of the TS3 Triangulated Steering and Suspension System, Ray Van Steenwyk explains. “The Shockwave will use the Ducati Testastretta V-twin engine as a fully stressed chassis member,” he says. “This will entail front and rear swingarm structures entirely made of carbon composites, plus high-end metals designed to strengthen and lighten the motorcycle’s overall weight to around 110kg. That’s getting on for half the weight of the model from which the engine is derived.”
“With unique styling and patented componentry, the Motoinno Shockwave will set new standards in handling and braking, as well as in power to weight ratios formotorcycles,” Mr Van Steenwyk said.
In addition, Motorcycle Innovation will test its design technology in the most extreme and competitive of environments, with the planned build of its TS3 Moto2 racing motorcycle.
Following initial track testing in Australia planned for late 2017, the Moto2 test prototype will be transported to Spain for continued testing in the European CEV competition of 2018. This will enable a direct comparison with similarly set-up Moto2 motorcycles as an exhibition of the TS3’s qualities of greater inline stability, its ability to brake later and harder into and through a corner, its ability to turn tighter but with reduced lean angle, and its earlier return to the throttle to exit a corner quicker.
How far the Shockwave resonates world-wide is yet to be seen, but clearly Motorcycle Innovation has an exciting and potentially ground-breaking technology under patent.