Cycle World magazine must have gotten wind of the Motorcyclist EV issue. I just received the November issue and their new editor, Mark Hoyer comments about the Enertia and Zero S in his Up Front column. He test rode both bikes to work and back at least once (the article isn't too clear how many times he rode the motorcycles). His primary subject was his concern about running out of power during his 30-mile one-way trip at an average speed of 40 mph. He recommends electric motorcycles for rides of under 20 miles.
The next article is pretty much of a one-page press release about the Brammo Empulse on page 14. Nothing new here - except that it was mentioned that the Empulse electric motor is made by Parker-Hannifin especially for the Empulse, which was news to me.
However, the Roundup column on page 16 is very interesting. It describes the proposed "Re:gen e-SKB" hybrid super bike which would be powered by an electric motor and a 350cc rotary gasoline engine built by "Norton legend" Brian Crighton. According to the director of Re:gen, Rick Simpson, the compact single-rotor engine would be paired with an electric motor derived from a 700-hp electric race car being produced by ex-F1 designer Martin Ogilvie. The complete power train package weighs just 55 pounds and puts out 160 hp and 150 ft.-lb. of torque. The final drive is via the electric motor and no gearbox is used. The rotary motor will charge the bike's battery and "ultracapacitor". The battery will supply power for cruising and the ultracapacitor will deal with the demands of rapid acceleration. The motorcycle's weight is said to be 397 pounds. Simpson also plans to produce an all-electric race version for racing in TTXGP, TTZero, etc.
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Topic: Cycle World November issue and a rotary hybrid superbike (Read 1233 times)