THE BRADLEY REPORT
Sources : AMD , IDN , FT , Reuters , PSB , MPN , BDN , MCN , AP , Bloomberg , MSNW , Electrek , electricmotorcycles . news , RideApart . com , Motor1 . com , Cycle World , motorbikewriter . com
THE BRADLEY REPORT
NEWS
BRIEFS
Swedish head protection specialist MIPS has invested $ 1.3m for a 25 % stake in Quin , a Dallas , Texas based sensor-based technology company specialising in event detection and data-driven emergency response protocols , offering specialised sensor fusion and software to helmet brands since 2018 . " Quin ' s proprietary technology turns passive gear into smart companions , connecting the closest emergency services to those in distress ". The MIPS system is a helmet additive technology that , after many years of struggling to gain acceptance , has now become an important safety hallmark for leading helmet brands . The deal with Quin could pave the way for MIPS to further develop its brand ' s safety story .
The Energica Experia , the company ' s zero emissions electric touring model , has won the Motorcycle News ( MCN ) 2023 Best Electric Motorcycle award in the United Kingdom . Based near Bologna in Italy , and these days owned by Wall Street listed Ideanomics , Energica is no stranger to the MCN award , having picked it up in 2016 and 2017 , respectively , with the Ego and EsseEsse9 models .
Zero Motorcycles has scooped the Gold Award in the transportation category at the prestigious 2023 IDSA International Design Excellence Awards Ceremony for the Zero SR-X .
Independent of any regulatory investigation , it ' s all systems stop for BMW Motorrad USA as it issued a North American ' Stop Sale ' order to dealers in September for all new and used ICE units - following an " internal quality analysis ". The cause remained uncertain as IDN went to press , but is believed to relate to a fuel system issue . This does not affect the new BMW CE04 electric bike .
PSB reports that in 2022 the North American UTV market dropped in unit volume for the second straight year by -5.6 % in 2022 (" to just under 550,000 units "). This follows ten consecutive years of growth . Of the ten best-selling UTV models , four were made by Polaris and they accounted for 7.2 % of the market . For YTD 2023 , the ATV market ( as it is referred to in MIC data ) was down by a further -8.7 % to 89,724 units for the first six months ( -8,586 units ).
QJMotor developing electronic clutch
By Ben Purvis
Virtually every modern motorcycle already uses a ride-by-wire throttle that eliminates the mechanical link between your right hand and the butterflies , so it ' s not a giant leap to suggest the same idea could be applied to other controls . Now China ' s QJMotor is working on an electronic clutch actuator that opens the door to a wide range of semi-automatic transmission options . Revealed in a patent filed in China , the electronic clutch is actually quite simple . It features an actuator made of an electric motor and a small reduction gearbox that turns a shaft with a cam on it that engages or disengages the clutch . The actuator is mounted on the clutch cover and the system doesn ' t need any changes deeper in the engine , so the same thinking and components could be applied to a variety of different motors . In QJMotor ' s patent , it ' s shown on the company ' s 693 cc parallel twin . In its simplest form , the electronic clutch is , in operation , indistinguishable from a conventional cable or hydraulic design . There ' s still a lever on the bars , but instead of a mechanical connection to the clutch , it
China ' s Zonsen - the recently rebranded name for the company formerly known as Zongshen - has filed industrial design registrations for a new 650 cc parallel twin roadster that will be launched under its Cyclone brand and uses the Britishdesigned parallel twin that was originally intended for the Norton Atlas and Superlight models . Before the Stuart Garner-owned version of Norton collapsed in early 2020 the company was forging ahead with plans to launch a range of all-new parallel twin models using a 650 cc engine derived from its 1200 cc V4 . The Atlas Ranger and Atlas Nomad were scrambler-ish retro models , and the same engine was intended for the Superlight sports bike and was even shown in supercharged form in the carbon-framed Superlight SS concept from 2018 . However , shortly before Garner ' s Norton collapsed in a blizzard of controversy , the engine designs were licenced to Zonsen , and now TVS - the Indian brand that has revived Norton -
" semi-auto transmission "
only needs some electrical cables . A sensor on the clutch lever monitors its position and , via an electronic control unit , transmits that position to the actuator on the clutch housing . Even in that , basic form , it opens up several possibilities . For instance , the actuator and ECU could be programmed to stop the clutch from being released too fast , or to stop it from being slipped excessively . It could also be mapped to give a more gradual , progressive feel at the lever , be programmed to disengage the
Zonsen RE650 revives Norton twin By Ben Purvis
has little interest in bringing back the Atlas , Nomad and Superlight projects . That means the ' Norton ' parallel twin may only ever be seen in its Chinesemade form . Not that Zonsen has had it easy . The engine needed a substantial amount of work to be viable for production and the company turned to UK-based engineers at Ricardo - the company that also did the initial work on Norton ' s V4 - to bring the twin up to production standard . The engine has recently gone on sale in China in the
" British-designed twin heading to new Chinese roadster "
RX650 adventure bike and now Zonsen plans to put it in the retro roadster shown here . Called the Cyclone RE650 , the roadster is expected to be officially launched later this year and will be a flagship model for the Cyclone brand . Its styling means it ' s much closer in clutch if the bike is about to stall , or work in harmony with the ride-by-wire throttle to ensure the clutch and throttle are perfectly balanced when you pull away , even if the actual inputs at the controls are ' off '. The idea also opens the door to more sophisticated developments . Working with a ride-by-wire throttle and a conventional quickshifter , the electronic clutch could be programmed to make the clutch lever on the bars entirely redundant . It could automatically disengage the clutch when you come to a halt and feed it back in when you open the throttle to pull away . If a simple electronic actuator was added to the shift lever as well , the same system could easily be adapted for fully automatic gearchanges or a pushbutton shift on the bars , all without making in-depth engineering changes to the engine and transmission themselves . The engine that the system is illustrated on in QJMotor ' s patent is already used on the SRK700 model and the Benelli TRK702 , both models that are already offered globally .
spirit to the Atlas models that Norton planned , but like a growing number of Chinese machines it has technology that ' s still unusual in the West in the form of a front-mounted camera set between the headlight and windscreen . Upside-down forks , radial brakes and a direct-action monoshock on a castalloy swingarm show that despite styling with a nod to the past , the RE650 has modern components to accompany its 21st century engine . Zonsen is already developing a larger , 800 cc version of the parallel twin , expected to debut in an upscaled ' RX800 ' version of the RX650 adventure bike first , but sure to later filter through to the roadster seen here .
30 INTERNATIONAL DEALER NEWS - OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2023 www . idnmag . com