| Author | Message | ||
     Bott |
strange as hell front end, torsion bar swingarm,some wild stuff here! http://www.romoto.com/tema.html | ||
| Spiderman |
SIMPSONS' DID IT!  | ||
| Bott |
makes ya love our 'pods' all over again LoL | ||
| Brumbear |
sorta looks like brokeback motorcycle | ||
| Froggy |
I love on the second page, invisible chain! | ||
| 46champ |
One of the things I like about motorcycles is SIMPLE & ELEGANT. That motorcycle is not. | ||
| Garyz28 |
If it weren't for the handlebars, I wouldn't be able to tell the front from the rear. | ||
| Richsm2 |
Johnny English spycycle. | ||
| Rick_a |
I'm a fan of these    | ||
| Mndwgz |
I met Frank Romanelli in the early '90s when I was sourcing parts for a project bike my buddy Ted and I had started building. He is another guy that thinks beyond the norm and has the credentials to back it up. Ferrari racing team mechanic in the '60, Canadian Ducati and Bimota distributor in the '70s and '80s, and he holds a buch of patents from a bicycle front suspension, which I think he licensed to Marzochi, to, well just look around his site. On a bench in the back of his warehouse a chopped up DB series Bimota frame, circa late '80s was under attack with the mock-up front suspension you see in the pics. Also on another bench back there was a pair of four valve and six vale heads and other bits and pieces for a Harley Sportster engine sitting next to them I think he was trying to license to H-D at the time. Ted and I learned a lot of Italian history that day, saw some truly rare and unique bikes over in another corner (close to 60 or so), tons of parts from his distributor days, and we spent a few bucks on a pair of Marzochi forks and Brembo full floaters, 3 calipers, and a bunch of odds and ends, all new in the box. Thanks for the link Bott, have a look at the rest of his site... He's had a few ideas similar to someone else we know. http://www.romoto.com/   (Message edited by mndwgz on November 22, 2009) (Message edited by mndwgz on November 22, 2009) | ||
| Ulynut |
The engine is a 75° V-twin 965cc with 6 valve cylinder heads and a Formula 1 management system that includes a computerized cooling system One of the things I like about motorcycles is SIMPLE & ELEGANT. You got that right. I wouldn't know what to do if that thing broke. But I'll bet it's really nice when it's running right. | ||
| Barker |
ur going to need 2 rear stands. | ||
| Chadhargis |
The Tesi is an awesome bike. Saw one at the Barber museum. Talk about great technical design. It's awesome! | ||
| Jaimec |
I always liked Parker's RADD design for a forkless front end. Unlike the Tesi/Vyrus design (which uses a Rube Goldberg type system of linkages to steer the front wheel), it uses a simple telescoping tube directly from the handlebars to the front end. It was actually used in a production bike in the early 90's, the Yamaha GTS1000. I rode that bike and it was awesome, only problem was that it looked too "weird" and cost a bit more than people were willing to pay for Yamahas back then. Typical of Yamaha to be ahead of their time.  (Message edited by jaimec on November 22, 2009) | ||
| Rocketman |
http://www.tonyfoale.com/ | ||
| Ferris_von_bueller |
Is there an advantage to having a front end like that? | ||
| Jaimec |
Actually yes. The telescopic fork has a lot of shortcomings that we've learned to live with, but it isn't optimal. For one thing, the fork is providing both the steering force AND the suspension. These alternative front ends separate the two. When the brakes are applied hard on a motorcycle with telescopic forks, two things happen: First, the suspension is fully compressed so it can no longer act to absorb road imperfections, AND the wheelbase of the motorcycle (and the trail) is shortened by the compression (shortening) of the fork. The BMW telelever and duolever front ends eliminate the fork compression on braking, but doesn't completely separate the steering and suspension as the Vyrus or RADD systems do. As to why we don't see them used more in racing, it's because tuners the world over KNOW how to work with telescopic forks. Racing is oddly conservative when it comes to some things. I was VERY disappointed the the BMW S1000RR Superbike was introduced with run-of-the-mill telescopic forks. I was hoping for more from BMW. | ||
| Cyclonedon |
OMG! after seeing those motorcycles, it just made me feel even stronger about needing Erik Buell back building motorcycles again! Those were totally UGLY! | ||
| Malott442 |
KISS and unsprung weight prohibit a monstrosity like that from maintaining a contact patch over other than perfect surfaces at an other than astronomical price, not to mention reliability with that many wear parts undergoing stress. It would be like building a bridge out of toothpicks. Too many failure points to worry about. BTW, just my opinion. | ||
| Rocketman |
Ron Hasslam's NSR500GP Elf / Honda  Rocket | ||
| Swordsman |
Engineering aside, that's the gayest company logo I've ever seen. Surely to goodness they could think of something Roman that didn't involve babies sucking on a canine's teats...? ~SM | ||
| Drkside79 |
Now that is an Ugly bike | ||
| 46champ |
>>>that's the gayest company logo I've ever seen. Surely to goodness they could think of something Roman that didn't involve babies sucking on a canine's teats...?  Good spot swordsman | ||
| Mndwgz |
Romulus and Remus, all you need to know and then some... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romulus_and_Remus | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
If Yam had brought out the GTS1000 with a shaft instead of a chain, they'd have cleaned up with it, but the good old FJ was already blocking the niche they wanted to slot the GTS into & it just didn't have any advantage over the FJ for the extra money.. | ||
| Rocketman |
I know Lazareth have a wild looking GTS on their inventory of custom builds, and it looks typical of Laz's style these days. See their supercharged XB and you'll know what I mean. But some years ago and I'm sure it was Laz' before they stuck with this current style they seem to apply to most of their creations, they had a very cool looking streetfighter based on a GTS. That's to say, not like the Lazareth GTS they show today. It was much more 'ordinary' but obviously not ordinary if you know what I mean. I don't seem to be able to find any reference nor pictures of such a creation anywhere. What a shame. Grumpy, you're in Lazareth land? http://www.lazareth.fr/ Rocket | ||
| Jaimec |
Mr_Grumpy: I think you nailed ONE of the problems with that bike. At the same time Yamaha introduced the GTS1000 (their FIRST bike with ABS, it also had the alternative front end AND fuel-injection), BMW introduced their radically new R1100RS for the SAME price. Like the GTS1000, the R1100RS had an alternative front end (it introduced the Telelever), ABS brakes, and fuel injection. Like the GTS1000, it had available hard luggage, but there were two things working AGAINST the GTS1000: The first you mentioned. The second was that both bikes sold for the same amount of money. The difference is, BMW customers were USED to paying that much for a BMW. Yamaha customers were NOT. Another thing was "looks." As I pointed out above, motorcyclists are a surprisingly conservative lot, and are suspicious of anything too "different." The Telelever had the advantage of LOOKING like a traditional telescopic fork (at first glance). The RADD front end did not (and the BMW boards at the time were full of postings over just how ugly they thought the GTS1000 looked... ironic when you think of what modern Beemers look like today). What I think would've made that bike more successful? I think Yamaha should have used it in a direct GoldWing competitor. Touring bike riders LOVE gadgets and new things, and they're used to paying more money for those things. It would've been a success in a Venture-successor. Unfortunately, they put it in a chain-driven sport-tourer and it was only built for two years. | ||
| Malott442 |
Not to mention sport tourers are the biggest hit or miss bike out there. Every single one out there is a love it or hate it look. Toss in untested technology and you have a wet fire. | ||
| Gaesati |
A point of trivia about the Yamaha. Australian motorcycle news used to test bikes' top speed with a police style radar gun. The GTS Yamaha stumped them because the radar gun could not detect it approaching. "A stealth motorcycle" pity they couldn't make that a selling point. | ||
| Jaimec |
The American magazines had the same issue with the Aprilia Futura. The lines on that bike were vaguely reminiscent of the American Stealth bomber. Shame Aprilia doesn't sell that bike anymore. |
