BMW PLOTS HIGH-TECH COURSE ON TWO WHEELS
Host of new technologies includes electric bikes, 3D printing and self-riding motorcycles, as David Booth explains.
BMW’s motorcycle division, BMW Motorrad, once the archetype of engineering conservatism, has now embraced change more assiduously than other motorcycle manufacturers.
To demonstrate its heightened focus on future technology, Motorrad invited media to its Miramas, France testing facility to see its latest engineering tech.
ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING
Additive manufacturing, more commonly known as 3D printing, is big news, the hype seeming to promise that 3D -printed cars, homes and even hand guns are right around the corner. The reality, at least according to BMW, one of the early adopters among car and motorcycle manufacturers, would seem a little less of a headlong rush.
BMW Motorrad recently made headlines for creating an entire frame for its class-leading S1000RR superbike via additive manufacturing.
An incredibly elaborate affair, it is an intricate latticework of organically shaped tubes that could not be replicated using any other production technique.
More importantly, though, it has yet to be tested.
Torsten Burkert, BMW’s project manager for additive manufacturing of metal, is confident it has all the strength and rigidity of the RR’s traditional aluminum-beam chassis.
The process sees a thin film — 50 thousandths of an inch — of aluminum powder laid down on a pristinely flat surface. Then a computer-controlled “printer” laser fuses specific patterns.
Eventually, layer-by-fused-layer, metallic shapes rise Phoenixlike from the aluminum “ashes” 50 mils at a time. Watching the process is to feel that we’re on the cusp on something really big.
Right up until Burkert explains that it took five days for the frame’s three components to “print.” As it turns out, it’s a lot easier to “additive manufacture” some small little doodad out of plastic than it is to conjure an entire frame out of metal. So, while BMW can say it has used the process in its mainstream manufacturing, it has been limited to small components on limited-production vehicles such as the new i8 Roadster.
Yet just because the process doesn’t yet live up to the hype doesn’t mean 3D printing isn’t one of the most exciting developments in motorcycling. Think of the revolution in customization that will occur when large-scale 3D printers capable of metal manipulation become affordable.
AUTONOMOUS BIKE
BMW surprised us all with not only its advances in autonomous driving, er, riding, but also with the intent behind its research.
On the first point, an incredibly re-engineered R1200 GS was able to ride completely without direct human input. It’s eerie to watch a powered two-wheeler doing figure eights around a parking lot, technology taking up what we humans can’t seem to do reliably.
However, Stefan Hans, an engineer in BMW’s driver assistance division, made it crystal clear that said human frailties are exactly what they’re trying to make up for. According to German statistics, car-related fatalities decreased some 73 per cent (from almost 6,000 to 1,642) — between 1996 and 2016. Motorcycle-related deaths, meanwhile, decreased only 38 per cent (1,000 to 632) in the same period.
According to BMW, that’s the result of automobiles gaining more advanced automatic driver assistance systems (ADAS) compared with the rather sparse and comparatively crude technologies motorcycles enjoy.
Despite having the ability to ride itself, however, BMW does not see the future of two-wheelers as riderless. Instead, it sees these new technologies as useful tools in developing technologies that can alert riders of impending doom. For instance, by simulating situations using a computercontrolled bike, BMW can design systems to alert the rider to the best trajectory to circumvent a dangerous situation.
ONE LAST INTRIGUE
Though not part of the presentation, we were surprised by an electrically powered prototype being hustled around the Miramas test circuit. No details were proffered but this much we could glean from our limited exposure: This two-wheel BMW EV, at least in prototype form, looks like a combination of Victory Empulse battery pack mated to BMW running gear. Also, it is even more silent than most electric vehicles, one observer noting it sounded like an airplane, the only sound seemingly air rushing past bodywork.
And lastly, it was mondo rapid, the electric motor’s instant torque easily visible in its superbike-like exit from corners.