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1956 Avolette Tourisme (de Luxe)
In the Mid-50's Egon Brutsch sold the license for building his three-wheeled vehicles to the Cessna aircraft distributor for France, named Societe Air-Tourist. Not satisfied with merely reproducing the open three-wheeler, they designed their own vehicle with a tubular body frame. Construction took place in an aircraft hangar near the Paris airport. The Paris Salon of 1955 saw the introduction of five versions of their egg-shaped doorless vehicles.
The suspension by Neidhart was rubber-in-torsion; the steering was ... Read more »
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Over more than one hundred years of motorcycle development a variety of front fork arrangements have been tried, several of which remain available today.
BMW's version of oil-damped telescopic fork, on a 1939 R12
Telescopic
A telescopic fork uses fork tubes which contain the ... Read more » |
Front telelever.
In 1993, when paralever II appeared on the R1100GS, BMW also introduced their new telelever front end suspension system. The problem with traditional telescopic fork suspension is that all the forces acting on the front of the bike are transmitted to the handlebars, and thus the rider. Some people think this is A Good Thing - it keeps the rider "informed" as to what is going on. Others argue that it is a necessary evil and that telescopic forks are an unfortunate accident of history (see the section on forks above - it's the same reason we got VHS when Betamax was the better system). BMW fell squarely into the second camp, and developed telelever as a method of separating the braking and suspension forces from the steering force. With telelever, there is now a single strut/shock unit in place of the combined spring/shock functions of telescopic forks. Telelever still has front forks, but their primary function now is to make a stiff frame for t ... Read more » |
BMW and their contribution to the world of motorbike suspension.
Bayerische Motoren Werke: those teutonic Germans and their incessant need to be at the pinnacle of engineering excellence. BMW are responsible for a lot of developments in motorbike suspension - not just the quirky ones. The first hydraulically dampened telescopic fork on a production motorcycle (1937), the longitudinal swinging arm ('50s and '60s), and the long-stroke high-comfort telescopic fork (1970). Because of this, I've given them an entire section to try to explain some of their innovations for which we should all be thankful. Well perhaps not all, but those riders who have chosen BMW as their steed of choice will know that their bikes have what could best be described as some pretty funky and unconventional suspension systems. BMW, it seems, are never quite happy with the status quo. Why use ... Read more » |
Twin-shock, regular swingarm
The classic motorcycle suspension system. An H-shaped swingarm is pivoted at the front to the motorbike frame. On either side there are basic coilover units which provide the suspension. The shocks are inside the coilover units. This is about as basic as you can get on a motorbike and has been around for as long as the motorbike itself. This style of suspension began to fall out of favour in the 80's due to weight considerations and the availability of newer, stronger materials. It was also not a particularly robust design by modern considerations. It all got a bit bendy and flexible under extreme riding conditions, and the only way to make it stronger was to add more metal, which added more unsprung weight, which reduced the efficiency of the suspension.
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A little background.
Motorbikes, or motorcycles if you're American, have a similarly varied selection of suspension systems as cars. On bikes, of course, you only have two wheels, so bike suspension systems tend to be a little more highly engineered because there is more at stake. By far the most common setup now is the single rear coilover shock system with either a regular double swingarm or a single-sided swingarm. At the front, telescopic forks are still the most prevalent. It's surprising that there's still a large number of cruisers out there that are 'hardtail' bikes - bikes where there is no suspension at the back. The wheel is simply axled straight on to the frame. This is a throwback to the very first motorbikes which were basically bicycles with an engine strapped to them. (In the 1920s, motorbike suspension consisted of the springs in the saddle and the air in the tyres.)
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1908 Indian Twin
One of history's first production racers
When you think of production racers, you probably picture 600cc Supersport bikes topping out at 160 on the Daytona trioval. But the concept originated a little farther back, with bikes like this 1908 “Torpedo Tank” Indian.
 ... Read more »
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1906 Harley-Davidson Single
The Bike that helped build Harley
A lot of American companies attempted to get into the motorcycle business in the early 1900s. But by 1906, this bike proved that Harley-Davidson was in the business to stay.
Like most of the 65 or so motorcycle builders in the U.S. in the early years of the 20th century, Harley-Davidson had humble beginnings. William Harley and brothers Arthur, Walter and William Davidson began producing motorc... Read more » |
1905 Indian Single
One of the bikes that built Indian
Life was good for the Hendee Manufacturing Company in the early 1900s, and this motorcycle is part of the reason why.
It was the heyday of early motorcycle transportation, and George Hendee and Oscar Hedstrom were building a name for their Indian machines. With basic chassis designs derived from Hendee’s bicycle-building experience, and motors drawn from Hedstrom’s self-taught engineering skills, Indians were w... Read more » |
1911 Pierce Four
When two cylinders were not enough
In 1911, few machines could leave an impression like the Pierce Four. After all, most other motorcycles of the time still showed their spindly bicycle roots, with skinny tube frames and diminutive, single-cylinder motors or, occasionally, twins.
Not the Pierce. With a massive frame and a beefy, four-cylinder engine, it commanded respect in the fledgling motorcycle world. It’s easy to imagine Pierce owners taking pride in ... Read more » |
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