1987 Quantum 2
Part Bimota Tesi, part wild NASA experiment, part Doctor Who’s robot dog, this was biking’s brave future... and it was a real bike, not a balsa wood show queen
Remember when you’d toddle along to the NEC each year and gawp at bonkers concept bikes? It was hard to image hub-centre steering, vertical handlebars and rim-mounted discs would ever reach the road. But they did…
The fabulous Quantum 2 was created by Tony Foale, a Uk-based Aussie who started designing race bike chassis in the 1970s. In the 1980s he looked at separating load paths for steering, braking and suspension, and built the QL (Quantum Leap) to test his ideas – a Bmw-powered device with vertical ’bars, hub-centre steering and out-there bodywork. Pleased with his efforts, Foale cracked on with version two. A singlesided front swingarm cut weight and allowed swift wheel removal, with sci-fi ’bars turning the wheel via a tiller system and rose-jointed linkage. Gas shock absorbers were used for low weight and naturally progressive damping, allowing the rear unit to be side mounted as it didn’t need a linkage. Box-section plates tied the suspension to the engine; early designs had a Kawasaki Z1R inline four as a fully-stressed member, but the flimsier cases and mounts on newer, lighter motors needed these fabricated sections. ‘I am confident that this will make Suzuki’s own “lightweights”, the GSX-RS, seem positively obese,’ wrote Foale. With bodywork by a magazine competition winner and a keypad ‘rider interface’, Quantum 2 hit the road in summer 1987. Foale made six for buyers, each one different – you took your chosen engine and he built the chassis to suit, for around £10,000. That’s 30 grand in today’s money. Owners needed commitment. You had to detach the ’bars and remove all bodywork to access the battery. Discs were made from gauge plate and warped – not side-to-side but out-of-round, putting the wheel out of balance. Myriad suspension adjustment made set-up tough, there was no front-end feel at all, and the aircraft landing-gear shocks (with 200psi of pressure) were designed for a single impact, not constant suspension movement. It’s fair to say the Quantum 2 preferred smooth roads.
Yet despite its flaws and 35 years of bike evolution, try telling me you don’t fancy one. It’s got games-console handlebars.