The Kneeslider

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Ducati Desmosedici 3 Wheeler Concept by Nicolas Petit

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Ducati Desmosedici trike concept by Nicolas Petit
Ducati Desmosedici trike concept by Nicolas Petit - click to enlarge

After looking over Nicolas Petit's design for the BMW S1000RR adventure bike, I noticed another re-purposed Superbike, this time, starting with a Ducati Desmosedici, he turns it into a trike.

Maybe it's a French thing. Although Ludovic Lazareth has built a few pretty incredible trikes, Nicolas pushes the envelope a bit further with this completely over the top transitional vehicle. Maybe the Can-Am Roadster strikes him as just too sedate, maybe all of those Desmosedicis on the market from owners tired of the impractical racer in their garage are a tantalizing supply of project material, who knows? Roland Sands turned one into a street tracker, so why not a trike?

Nicolas Petit Desmosedici trike
Nicolas Petit Desmosedici trike

Actually, according to Nicolas, he's aiming more in the direction of a high performance quad instead of some sort of Can-Am type vehicle, so non-leaning with lots of acceleration and great braking, but watch out for the turns!

Imagine riding up into a group of Can-Am roadsters and seeing the look on their faces.

Yes, someone needs to build this.

Link: Nicolas Petit

Comments

  2. The Ducatisti will be horrified, but they’ll miss the point. Put some wider car tires on it, find a good, twisty road, crank it up and hold on!

    • ………. and promptly put the thing rubber side up the first corner you overcook it in 😉

      • You have to hang off like a sidecar monkey. And note that the center of gravity is quite low with the heavier bits of the engine near the axle line. If you add your own weight by hanging off, you’ll really hustle around the corners. This is for someone younger than I am who can actually lean over and hang off…..

  4. If it doesn’t have a fancy electronic stability programme like the Can Am, with that short wheelbase and high centre of gravity things will turn expensive and painful very quickly!

    Looks great and if I was a lottery winner I would want one!

  5. Might be sacrilege, but for those who have a need for a three wheel vehicle it sure would improve the landscape among those currently on the market!

  6. Graft on an uprated Piaggio MP3 leaning front end and you’d have a serious weapon. Fixed geometry trikes just bewilder me. When I get too decrepit to haul my CB1300 around, I’d like someone to build a slick little bike with that MP3 technology.

  7. This is just the latest insult to what should/might have been the begining of what all true sportbike enthusiasts have always dreamed of..a REAL MotoGP bike with headlights.

    First, unsuprisingly, were who the buyers were..the Jay Lenos, investment banker, dentist, proctologist collectors who never had any intention of actually scrapping knees or (heavens) taking to a track day. No, their bikes were for their “Man-caves” & “Garage Majals”.

    Then the “investors” who mercifully got their due when the market became flooded & the prices plumeted..supply/demand is a bitch… hun fellas?

    Then Roland Sands’ utter abomination & this latest hopefully still-born stupidity

    I once came upon someone with a Porsche Carrera GT & during conversation he mentioned he drove the car regularly (had >10,000mi.). I shook his hand.

    For those of us who foolishly tried to put real race bikes on the street (me a TZ750 & RG500 Mk.8) bikes like the Desmocedici are something special not to be desecrated by butchers who don’t have a clue as to what the promise this bike represented.

    • bikes like the Desmocedici are something special not to be desecrated

      Bikes like the Desmosedici are motorcycles, not religious objects. If a designer wants to experiment and comes up with something like this or if an owner decided to take his and actually turn the design into a real trike, they are free to do so and many of us enjoy seeing their work and thinking about the possibilities.

  9. That’s what I like about this site. To each his own and speak your mind makes this site a park bench while watching all the pundits and pontificators rant their thoughts. Not a thing wrong with expression.

    BUT if you don’t pick up the wire welder and make the sound of bacon while executing the the thoughts in your mind you ain’t got crap.

    That said everyone should try a two wheeler with learning wheels. It teaches physics 101 that machine and body are going to part ways with some road rash as a result. It’s just simple physics.

    NOW, make the bike lean while imparting the physics of a two wheeler, the results are multifold for the “oldsters” who want to continue to ride while the “maker’s” warranty is fading with age. AND, provide rigid verticle stabilization at stop, allows another facet of the three wheeler to be that of “gunkholing” the back streets of neat towns while the “crotchers” are terrorizing the twisties.

    I like my conversion more everyday. Ride at least twice a day. Have 2000 clicks in a month on it. AND, the most fun of all is when you lay it into a turn or roundabout and see the expressions on the opposing faces. Priceless!!!!

  10. I expect the MK2 version will have a cup holder, lap belts and a roof.
    If you own a rarity like the Desmosedici and think doing this to it is a good idea, you clearly have no appreciation of what a motorcycle is, does or represents you should stick to cars.

  11. I’m with Roy why go through the effort and it doesn’t even lean? The leaning reverse trike is a great compromise between a bike and 4 wheels. They seem to really be gaining momentum these days because it is a good idea, much more stable no low sides better breaking and you get to fling it around like a real bike. I was doing a thought exersize on what would be the best minimalist vehicle for racing and it led me to the leaning reverse trike idea, of course many others got there before me but I think 10 years from now there be plenty more on the road.

    They did pick a good starting point though I will give them that much.