Craig Vetter, who most of you know as the designer of the Vetter fairings and who also held a number of fuel economy contests in the 1980s, was at Vintage Days with a lineup of streamliners. Craig is also behind the concept of the Freedom Machine, one that gets far better mileage and allows us to import less oil and the key to its success, is streamlining.
Craig is currently working on, what he calls the last Vetter fairing. It’s a plastic work in progress surrounding a Honda Helix scooter. Although it’s gas powered, when I asked Craig about his next mileage contest, I was surprised that he seemed less interested in raising mileage these days and is instead working on the aerodynamics to be applied by the guys working on, what he considers, the next logical step in energy for vehicles, the electrics. He wants competitors in his next contest to harvest the energy they’ll need for the race. He outlined some rules which sounded like it would be tough to go any direction but solar. We’ll see what develops.
The display of streamliners also included a Peraves Ecomobile, the first one I had ever seen in person. It looks relatively roomy and probably works very well but I can appreciate the natural resistance many motorcyclists would have to climbing inside a vehicle with 2 wheels.
Streamlining obviously makes moving through the air easier and more energy efficient but we’re not accustomed to seeing fully streamlined motorcycles and the oddity factor probably means acceptance will be slow. Interesting concepts though.
taxman says
for me all those recumbent enclosed vehicles don’t really seem like motorcycles. and not quite cars either. some sort of combined hybrid that is different and all it’s own. and the more i think of it being it’s own thing and not a motorcycle the more i can live with them being different and i sort of like them.
Tinker says
How do you get a passenger on the back? If you can’t carry a passenger, why not simply ride a bicycle? A longbike, (a specially designed/modified bicycle for heavy loads) or a bakfiets (bicycle with a box in front for carrying loads, and children) is expensive in bicycle terms, but remarkably cheap for any sort of motorized vehicle. Seriously. Is any motorcycle more efficient than a bicycle? Even two bicycles? Given that a load carrying bicycle, probable is not going to be a very efficient commuter. Yeah, I thought so.
I think a small displacement engine designed to run 35-40 mph, with the best possible mileage, and the ability to mount it on a bicycle frame, so that it runs efficiently in both modes (powered/unpowered), will be what we need.
Because motorcycles are NOT very fuel efficient. Maybe we need a recumbent, with a fairing to make them more efficient? An open motorcycle, fuel injected for best gas mileage, better tuning and efficiency, with a screen on the front to direct wind around the body and frame, designed as a recumbent bicycle, that could be converted by the addition of a 50cc engine? Sounds efficient to me, great ‘thundering’ herds of them, running down the Interstates, thru the concrete canyons of our major cities.
Oh! the THRILL of it all! Okay possibly NOT so thrilling, but efficiency is seldom as fun as excess.
todd says
The Vetter High Mileage Scooter reminded me of Clive Sinclair’s ill-fated C5. I couldn’t imagine riding that around in traffic:
http://www.sinclairc5.com/
-todd
Michael McClellan says
I think any 2 wheel streamliner should have the ability to use the rider’s legs at low speeds……springloaded and/or electric doors a la airbrake would be so simple. The hard part of any design is getting it back to basics……what works . My old Schwinn 10 speed bicycle has been getting around 60 miles per quart since 1980…..simple roller on the rear wheel and a spring…..with a lever for neutral. Food for thought……
Les says
How would these things do in high winds? They look kind of death trappy to me.
The one time i was a bit silly and ran out of road at high speed i was very lucky to be ejected from my bike which did a few cart-wheels down some farmers field.
Euge says
It’s may be even dangerous…
Tin Man 2 says
Wow that Yellow Streamliner must be an early Prototype, It looks like something built by The Little Rascals!! Design by Vetter? Looks like design by Alf Alpha and Buck Wheat. I guess creation like sausage making can be an ugly process!!
kneeslider says
That little yellow streamliner is, as I said above, a work in progress. He can change the shape and size very quickly to test ideas. When I spoke to Craig, he also said his testbed was driving up and down the windy California coastal highways where it is amazingly stable in winds from all directions.
JC says
The yellow streamliner is a prototype, Vetter has written practically a book on it on his website, including comments on the handling and side winds. IMHO it’s worth a read.
The problem with adding motors to bicycles is you end up with a heavier bike and pretty bad motorcycle. Would you want bicycle tires and bicycle brakes on your motorcycle?
I find it interesting that it seems there is a limit to the mpg that can be achieved without resorting to a small engine, it seems we can’t have our cake and eat it too, but we can certainly make big improvements.
Claymore says
He certainly is a doer.
marvin says
The high mileage scooter reminds me of the quasar http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quasar_(motorcycle) while the ecomobile looks to me like something from the cover of popular mechanics from the fifties. In both cases I mean this as a very sincere compliment. Peraves seem stuck in that we don’t make many so they are expensive so we don’t sell many trap. I would love one but for the cost I could have 2 or 3 other dream bikes. It seems that to own one I may have to find a crashed K100 a knackered fighter trainer plane and a whole lot of nous and skill behind the sofa.
David says
a square peg, round hole exercise
DucatiGuy says
As a former motorcycle courier I’m more aware than most of the need to re-engineer the motorcycle. The way I see it, the riding position was designed for people who previously rode horses, and it’s never moved on from there. Even the best (mainstream) designs are dangerous, hard to control, uncomfortable, and hopelessly aerodynamically inefficient.
FF designs like those above are functionally great – the Ecomobile gets my vote in the comfort stakes, the Quasar (dated now) looks promising – but do they have to look so dorky? The fact is, the General Public don’t buy their transport for practical reasons, otherwise why buy a Hummer? Or a (new) Fiat 500?
What’s required here is something like the combination of Italian design and American money and marketing that’s been so good for Ducati lately.
Joe Gioielli says
I think this is the shape of things to come. Here in the south you just cook under the sun and bake in the heat. A streamliner would make an ac unit possiable. No more redlight heatstroke.
As for it bing unsafe, a “cage” will save some and kill others. Same as helmets and seatbelts. All you can do is play the odds.
This will be more a replacement for a car, than a motorcycle.
Andyj says
Joe Gioielli,
No way would Mr. Vetter put an aircon in his draughty hyper mpg bike. It would take all 250cc’s to power the air con! His goal is 100mpg doing 70mph into a 30mph wind while carrying four bags of groceries.
Todd:
A C5? His bike is made from a Honda 250 Scooter. Not small! – and it is bright yellow. For scale; The headlights are off a Prius. The Peraves unit is taller than a van.
Anyone who wants to fuss over taking a passenger. *Yawn*. Easy!
Reshape the front seat slightly near the hip. Build another seat 18″ behind the front one and fit pegs.