BALANCING BIKES

Honda appears to have an R&D budget to rival that of Wayne Enterprises. The latest madcap mash-up to come out of its mucking-about barn is this motorcycle with self-balancing tech.

At speeds below 3mph – when a rider would normally be instinctively taking a foot off the pegs – the system electro-twerks the fork angle and rake to keep the bike upright. The tech comes from Honda’s work developing the Uni-cub, a one-wheel vehicle for people with mobility issues – think sit-on Segway. Its engineers have basically bolted one of these to the front of a Honda NC750 street bike.

At this point you’re thinking, “So what? I’m pretty sure I’m capable of riding a normal motorcycle, but I don’t because I have a car. Which has a heater.” Fair enough. But, you’ll have noticed, car ownership on our crowded streets is becoming progressively less viable and/or enjoyable. Coupled with the ongoing catastrophe of Britain’s expensive and shambolic public transport system, an Asia-aping move towards mass transit on two-wheelers makes a lot of sense – and so any new tech that could make riding in traffic easier and safer is sure to raise our eager eyebrows.

But forget all that socio-economic stuff, because we’re missing out on the real reason this is cool. A bike that balances itself doesn’t even need a rider! Which means it can be summoned from its parking space – possibly by shouting “To me, Batbike!” But that’s at your discretion.