Bikes from the Edge

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Lucky, a bush-mechanic from Central Australia and the guy behind the bike, built his idea of the ultimate V-twin. He started with the front two cylinders from a Rolls Royce Merlin V-12 engine that he found in an abandoned P-51 Mustang fighter plane. He mated his new 5.0-liter twin engine to a Holden 3-speed transaxle from a popular car in Australia. Note the Roots blower and Nitrous injection!




Yamaha USA
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Yamaha's Morpho concept bike featured adjustable attitude! The handlebars and instrument cluster are height adjustable. This bizarre feat of engineering used a hydraulically-actuated recirculating-ball steering system. The concept of a single-sided front swingarm actually made it into production in the form of the GTS-1000's RADD front end.




[IMAGE] Yamaha's GTS-1000 features the following technologies; RADD front suspension, Electronic Fuel Injection, ABS brakes (front and rear), a three-way catalytic converter, genesis-technology engine. The Omega frame uses the engine as a stressed member.










[IMAGE] In today's world of massive aluminum frames, Ducati's M900 Monster might look a little old-fashioned, but the Italian's use old-world craftsmanship to build a massively-strong perimeter frame that uses the engine as a stressed member. This allows good ground clearance and a clean appearance despite the fully triangulated frame. As is typical for a Ducati, the engine features Desmodromically actuated valves and a dry clutch.




[IMAGE] This very exclusive bike is a Bimota Tesi. It features hub-center steering actuated by control rods. Unfortunately, this bike suffered from an extremely large turning radius and required frequent adjustment of the steering mechanism.







[IMAGE] This is the Bimota Mantra. Bimota took extreme measures to make sure that their "standard motorcycle" would not be mistaken for a standard motorcycle. The Mantra provides excellent handling, a comfortable seating position and loads of attitude.






[IMAGE] The Elf GP bike put the spotlight on forkless frontends for several years. Although the Elf racing team is now using more conventional technologies, this design was quite competitive.
















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Don McClellan


Updated Wednesday, May 21, 1997