BMW Developing Safety Bike

[Hugh Janus]

IP filings from Europe show BMW working on a new safety bike design. (BMW/)

Providing crash protection for riders is something that’s usually left to clothing and helmet makers but BMW has long been one of the few companies to explore how bike designs themselves could mitigate injuries from accidents. Whether it’s the C1 scooter from the turn of the millennium, the Simple and Clever three-wheeled concept duo from the mid-naughts, or the carbon fiber, roofed electric bike that we revealed in BMW’s own patents last year, the Bavarian firm has long been trying to find a way to keep riders safe in the event of a crash. Only Honda has shown a similar level of interest in bike-mounted rider safety with its airbag-equipped Gold Wing and, a decade ago, long-since canceled plans for a VFR1200-based sport-tourer with a front crumple zone.

Unlike previous ideas, crash protection is provided by a roll cage arrangement rather than a full roof. (BMW/)

The latest design to emerge from BMW’s R&D department once again pursues crash protection but dispenses with the idea of a complete roof, instead featuring a tubular roll cage around the rider’s back and head. However, there’s an even more fundamental rethink in the bike’s layout as the rider is moved backward, away from the most likely point of impact and allowing for a feet-forward riding position.

It appears the rider will be positioned farther back, with the handlebar connected to a second steering tube also situated aft of the fork. (BMW/)

Unusually, these images haven’t emerged from a patent that protects technical elements of the layout, but from a European IP filing used to prevent the visual aspects of designs from being copied. Normally, you’d expect to see bodywork here, but in this instance the chassis is visually striking enough for BMW to want to protect its appearance.

To get the rider sitting as far back as possible, BMW has had to rethink the way the steering works. The bike features a front wheel gripped by what appears to be a cast alloy fork, presumably hiding a suspension spring and damper inside the steering head tube above it. However, the bars aren’t directly connected to the fork. Instead they’re atop a separate steering tube, parallel to the first but approximately a foot behind it. The designs don’t show how the two are connected, but presumably there’s a hidden linkage to make sure the front wheel turns with the bars.

The secondary steering tube connects to the bottom of the frame, creating a stout front section ahead of the rider to absorb impacts. (BMW/)

The secondary steering tube, which runs all the way to the bottom of the frame, creates a strong, triangulated front section of frame ahead of the rider, while his or her back and head are encased within the rear roll cage section. Although not shown, it seems certain that the idea would be to use a car-style seat, complete with belts to keep the rider in place in the event of an accident, while the elongated nose absorbs the shock of a head-on impact.

No seat is shown though we can envision a car-style unit taking up the space underneath the roll cage. (BMW/)

Although the power unit is missing from the design, it’s likely that this is intended to be an electric, urban-focused vehicle. The rear wheel hub incorporates a unit that could be the back of a scooter-style, swingarm/transmission package, or it could be a hub-mounted electric motor. Either way it doesn’t look like there’s space in the frame for a conventional combustion engine and transmission to be sited between the rider’s legs.

Given the layback design, it’s likely this will be intended as an urban mobility vehicle, possibly electric-powered. (BMW/)

BMW is already committed to electric power, and last year registered trademarks for a whole range of electric bikes and scooters. The first of those trademarks has turned into reality with the unveiling of the near-production EC-04 scooter, but the Bavarians still have another related name, EC-02, in their trademark armory.

Intriguingly, BMW filed these designs with the EU Intellectual Property office back in August 2018 but requested that their publication be deferred until now. The implication is that the firm intended to officially unveil the machine using this design before now. It’s quite possible, indeed likely, that the design was to have been shown at an event in 2020 (perhaps the Intermot or EICMA motorcycle shows) that was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Source

[Buckster]

That’s a lot of Chinese steel.

[XTreme]

1 hour ago, Buckster said:

That’s a lot of Chinese steel.