TreMoto is a startup company with a mission to take the developing leaning reverse trike technology and apply it to something with a bit more performance than what you usually see in the scooter world. Their Monstrosity prototype, shown here, is based on a Ducati 620. They developed a patented leaning suspension system using a composite monoleaf spring and Kayaba rotary dampers. With over 2500 test miles, they feel pretty good about what they’ve built.
The trike attacks wet roads and gravel trails with confidence and with a lean angle of 45 degrees, gives you much the same feeling as you would get on a two wheeler with the added stability of the third wheel.
TreMoto are currently in the design and procurement stage for the second prototype, which will serve as a pre-production model. This apex predator will share DNA with the 1100cc Ducati HyperMotard. Capable of lofting both front wheels, leaning up to 50 degrees, and weighing in under 450lbs wet.
As noted, they plan to build for production with deliveries beginning in the third quarter of 2011.
Thanks for the tip, Doug!
Link: TreMoto
Video below:
jeff_williams says
Seems jerky in the corners. Perhaps the driver (or is it rider in this case?) is just unfamiliar with the road.
Juanito the Clumsy says
I think lean angle is dependent on turn radius, not speed. Notice him having to hang off in the tighter turns, even though he wasn’t going that fast?
Peter says
Yes, they definitely need to put a real rider on that thing, because this guy sucks.
rfileger says
I have ridden the Piaggio tilting 3 wheeler and it is great. I have watched the Brudelli videos over a paved road course and around an ice track. This appears to be an awesome handling machine. I haven’t seen videos of the TreMoto but a Ducati would be a great basis for the TTW (Tilting Three Wheeler). Once one learns about them I can’t imagine them wanting anything else. All of the joys of the experience of a convential motorcycle with 97% of the issues removed from the experience.
IT’S THE ULTIMATE RIDING EXPERIENCE ! ! !
BobG says
I agre with Juanito. Looks like he really has to lean to get the thing to turn. Still pretty cool though. Looks like fun.
akaaccount says
Looks like he either tested the brakes or the front bumper at 1:00
The Other Larry says
Why?
akaaccount says
Downhill on bricks out of a curve into a stopped Ford Explorer pulling a trailer. He slowed down and of course he had plenty of room to stop but it is funny how they edited it so that the explorer just seemed to disappear.
zyxw says
“Why?”
+1
Paulinator says
Why not?
Juat a question with this design…why lean the front wheels? What if they use automotive rubber up front and leave the full tire in contact with the road. I don’t fully conprehend the linkage or its interactions with turning / leaning, but I think wide’n low front wheels would look better.
FREEMAN says
@ Paulinator:
auto tires up front and bike-only leaning would increase the width and weight of this setup.
Thure says
I think the ATV and dirtbike industry should pay really close attention to this. I think this is where this type of product could find a nice niche. With a more crash proof alternative to dirt bikes and a different riding experience than an ATV.
BobG says
“Capable of lofting both front wheels, ”
I’d like to see video of that.
coho says
I like it. It’s not a bike, it’s not a car, it’s something else. We need as much something else as we can get. Variety is, after all, the spice…
That said, in the interest of symmetry it seems a triple would be the most appropriate power source for a 3wheeler, though.
Perhaps a Speed Triple?
NIck5628 says
Sweet
todd says
Is this just like Tilting Motorworks or what? It would be interesting to see how everyone has to dance around existing patents (including H-D lawyers) to do the same thing.
If they’re going to do this with the 1098 they’ll need a better rider for sure. Maybe he was just coming up against the 45 degree lean stops, hence the 50 degrees for the 1098.
-todd
FREEMAN says
I took another look at the video and it got me thinking… I wonder if anyone has made a leaning reverse trike with all-wheel drive? That just might be a serious adventure rig idea there.
The setup looks great in action, but it does appears that a steeper lean angle would be beneficial.
Yeti B. says
This concept is nothing new and once again I’m not impressed. People have been toying with that same idea since the ’50s and every 5 years or so another company builds a similar prototype and claims it’s the greatest thing since sliced bread. They never make it to production before someone gets injured or killed proving that after 60 years of failure it’s STILL a flawed concept. The ATV industry won’t give this a second look as they’ve already been down that road and abandoned all thoughts of odd numbered wheels back in the ’80s due to all the class action law suits. And before anybody comments on how 3 wheeled Morgans and similar vehicles have been around for years, I’d like to point out that they are stable due to a very low, fixed center of gravity that doesn’t shift from side to side.
Vinnie Dee says
A cool design but definitely takes the fun out of lanesplitting.
Tinman says
I ride my brothers Cam Am Spyder now and then, That thing handles like a F-1 car!!Thats all Good, but the Spyder does not FEEL like a Motorcycle… If they can Lower the Tilt A Monster a bit without sacrificing lean angle it might be the best of both worlds.
Boxerfanatic says
I would like to see something like this… with a bit of a change.
A longer chassis, with a race-car driving position, ahead of the engine, and low in the chassis, but just high enough for tilting clearance and enough mass above the center of gravity to initiate the leaning action, or some sort of leverage assist coupled to the steering.
It would also need suspension at the hub, to maintain the suspension action vector with the tilt of the wheel, instead of trying to move a tilted wheel still vertically.
BTW… the stability characteristics of a three wheeled vehicle with two forward steering wheels is completely different than the dynamics of a tricycle-style vehicle, with two rear wheels, and a single steering front wheel, both paired with forward inertia.
A two-front wheel vehicle does not tip forward to the right or left under braking, and certainly not under acceleration. A simpler driveline for one driven rear wheel doesn’t require a differential or multiple axle shafts, and applies all the torque to a central wheel to motivate the vehicle.
Tilting adds lateral weight loading into the contact patch of the tires, putting the tires at an angle, rather than putting the force at an angle into vertical tires, trying to get the tires to slip or scrub sideways, and adds to the roll sensation that more resembles flying than driving.
Bryan Wood says
Car & Driver tested the Can-am Spyder and recorded .65g on the skidpad before the stability control kicked in. F1 cars pull more than .65g. Every time I see something like this I wonder why? Motorcycles are inherently unstable only to those who know nothing about physics, or have never ridden one. If you got you bike going 30mph and jumped off it would keep going in a straight line (mostly) until it hit something or stopped. The only advantage I see in 3 wheels is it won’t fall over in a parking lot. Come on, is it really that embarrassing that you need to devote your life to avoiding it? Everybody does it a few times and gets over it.
Now give me a Morgan, or a T-rex and you’ve got something. I like to tell people who think bike based trikes are sporty to try driving a Miata while sitting on the hood.
Vic says
Obviously a tilting 3 wheeler has the advantage of two contact patches on the front end. Having redundancy for front wheel traction could save lives and for people chasing performance it could extend potential over sketchier surfaces. I see win and win.
Tinkerer says
pardon if my ignorance leads me to mistakes, but: don’t motorcycles need to lean in order to compensate for their high Centers of Gravity pulling out when turning, by using gravity? More than a desireable and superior characteristic, it looks more like a necessary maneuver to compensate for an inherent design characteristic -or even “flaw”. The way I see it, the lower the Center of Gravity, the less tilting you need, so if you desing the vehicle from scratch instead of modifying the existing morotcycle design paradigm, you come up with a better vehicle. The example of the Can-Am comes to mind -no tilting but quite sporty and stable-.
Try with a low design, with a flat engine, and a hybrid hydraulic drive powering the three wheels, and forget about tilting. Heck, you can give it a very simple leading-arms front suspension -a la Citroen 2cv- to give it an even lower CG with great simplicity.
tim says
@boxerfanatic:
there was a dutch thing called the Carver that was like your description. Now defunct I think.
Now I see it had fixed upright rear wheels but the rest of it pivots… Fascinating.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/21/automobiles/21CARVER.html
tim says
It does strike me that you could do bitchin’ feet up donuts on the thing…. why oh why not get some video of that??
Eddie Smith says
Dear haters who say I can’t ride: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-PkIaTTVqk
Thanks for the interest in TreMoto, all! It’s definitely still in the prototype stage but we have a lot of tricks still up our sleeves…
tim says
that was cool. Is the road hell rough, or does it have way too much compression damping? Also, about the feetup donuts…….
NIck56289 says
@ Tinman
“I ride my brothers Cam Am Spyder now and then, That thing handles like a F-1 car!!Thats all Good, but the Spyder does not FEEL like a Motorcycle… If they can Lower the Tilt A Monster a bit without sacrificing lean angle it might be the best of both worlds.”
What are you talking about? They handle like garbage, everytime you take a corner the outside wheel lifts and it automatically chops the throttle, which makes it very slow in the corners. They do inspire confidence in the rain though so you can take corners relatively fast in that situation.
Dano says
It’s everything that I would expect out of a TTW. I rode the Vespa MP3 also and loved it. Since it is in the development stages have you tried a narrower front end, shorter “A” arms etc? It would reduce the weight and possibly add to the turning response time as well as allowing for an increase angle of lean . Does it lock up like the MP3 or must you use the side stand? Does it have or require a reverse?
Oh ya, Tim there was no doubt from the first video that you could ride but after that run down the logging road I believe all doubt has been removed. You were expieriencing under steer in the corners in the first video.
Keep on working at it, it looks good.
willy beamish says
this thing is a proven reverse engineered brudelli. i wondered when i saw the website last year and researched them how they are not being sued, not that its not cool, but its 100% just a reverse engineered brudelli front end design.
Evan says
But most importantly, can you wheelie it?
Jar says
Reminded me of another article here at Kneeslider, on the “Wesll 4 Wheel Leaning Suspension System” – which looked like much more fun….
Eddie Smith says
Hey guys, lots of questions…
@tim Yes, the road was very rough. Our spring rates/damping are not well sorted at this point, so there is a lot of room to improve.
@Dano We have a set of short arms, but actually they limit lean angle. We use the side stand, although we have experimented with a lean brake. No reverse, it’s low and 440lbs so it’s not required.
@Evan: No, but the next one with the 1000cc inline four will 🙂
Thanks for the responses, all.
@Willy: Tell it to the USPTO. We are the only group using leaf spring and rotary dampers.
New-Leaner says
I have a design that i feel will facilitate these peoples needs that I am currently developing, it will be in competition to the Can-Am Spyder mainly and others thereafter.
Advantages:
– Low Center of gravity
-1300cc liquid cooled Hayabusa motor; possible v-rod motor in a separate model
-Low Cost
-Best of all a primary and secondary system of leaning =)
Rick Delmonico says
The potential for tadpole trikes is good however, I think side by side seating combined with low center of gravity is the way to go. Leaning geometry will also prove to be beneficial.
Jeremy says
I think that drastically higher amounts of caster angle need to be incorporated in order for the rider to add steering angle while the front wheels are on an inward tilt.
I believe that is why the turning seems to be so jerky when they are tilting the bike…it relies on old-school bike geometry to make the corners where a four wheeler would use actual wheel angle.