Manufacturer | Yamaha |
---|---|
Successor | Yamaha Tricity Concept |
Class | Concept vehicle |
Engine | Liquid-cooled, 2 cylinders, V-Twin and an Electric Motor [1] |
Suspension | Dual Scythe [2] [1] |
Dimensions | L: 2,115 mm (83.3 in) [1] W: 720 mm (28 in) [1] H: 1,065 mm (41.9 in) [1] |
Related | 4MC, Quadra4 |
The Yamaha Tesseract was a hybrid electric concept vehicle introduced by Yamaha at the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show. Although the Tesseract is technically a quadricycle, Yamaha has called it "The 4-Wheeled Motorcycle" [3] because it has a frontal profile nearly as narrow as a conventional motorcycle [4] and because it has a tilting wheel suspension that allows it to bank like a motorcycle. This suspension, which Yamaha refers to as a "Dual Scythe Suspension", [2] [1] is similar to that of the 4MC concept vehicle. [5] Yamaha experienced delays in its own patent filings with the European Patent Office as a result of patents held by the 4MC's inventor, Mike Shotter. [6] [7]
Yamaha's own patent filings indicate that it has continued to develop vehicles similar to the Tesseract [8]
The Tesseract was designed by Luciano Marabese. [9] [10] He and his family founded the Italian company Quadro Tecnologie, which develops similar tilting vehicles, like the Quadro4 (formerly the Quadro 4D Parkour).
A V-twin engine, also called a V2 engine, is a twocylinder piston engine where the cylinders share a common crankshaft and are arranged in a V configuration.
Piaggio & C. SpA is an Italian motor vehicle manufacturer, which produces a range of two-wheeled motor vehicles and compact commercial vehicles under seven brands: Piaggio, Vespa, Gilera, Aprilia, Moto Guzzi, Derbi, and Scarabeo. Its corporate headquarters are located in Pontedera, Italy. The company was founded by Rinaldo Piaggio in 1884, initially producing locomotives and railway carriages.
A tilting three-wheeler, tilting trike, leaning trike, or even just tilter, is a three-wheeled vehicle and usually a narrow-track vehicle whose body and or wheels tilt in the direction of a turn. Such vehicles can corner without rolling over despite having a narrow axle track because they can balance some or all of the roll moment caused by centripetal acceleration with an opposite roll moment caused by gravity, as bicycles and motorcycles do. This also reduces the lateral acceleration experienced by the rider, which some find more comfortable than the alternative. The narrow profile can result in reduced aerodynamic drag and increased fuel efficiency. These types of vehicles have also been described as "man-wide vehicles" (MWV).
Miguel Galluzzi is an industrial designer specializing in motorcycle design. Galluzzi currently heads Piaggio's Advanced Design Center (PADC) in Pasadena, California, where he manages the design of the Aprilia, Moto Guzzi, Derbi and Gilera motorcycle brands, working closely with the company's styling headquarters in Italy as well as its research and development centers in China, India and Vietnam.
An underbone is a type of motorcycle that uses structural tube framing with an overlay of plastic or non-structural body panels and contrasts with monocoque or unibody designs where pressed steel serves both as the vehicle's structure and bodywork. Outside Asia, the term underbone is commonly misunderstood to refer to any lightweight motorcycle that uses the construction type, known colloquially as step-throughs, mopeds or scooters.
Electric motorcycles and scooters are plug-in electric vehicles with two or three wheels. Power is supplied by a rechargeable battery which drives one or more electric motors. Electric scooters are distinguished from motorcycles by having a step-through frame, instead of being straddled. Electric bicycles are similar vehicles, distinguished by retaining the ability to be propelled by the rider pedalling in addition to battery propulsion.
The Piaggio MP3 is a tilting three-wheeled scooter by Italian manufacturer Piaggio. First marketed in 2006, it is noted for its combination of two front wheels and a single rear wheel.
A motorcycle fork connects a motorcycle's front wheel and axle to its frame, typically via a yoke, also known as a triple clamp, which consists of an upper yoke joined to a lower yoke via a steering stem, a shaft that runs through the steering head, creating the steering axis. Most forks incorporate the front suspension and front brake, and allow the front wheel to rotate about the steering axis so that the bike may be steered. Most handlebars attach to the top clamp in various ways, while clip-on handlebars clamp to the fork tubes, either just above or just below the upper triple clamp.
Öhlins or Öhlins Racing AB, is a Swedish company that develops suspension systems for the automotive, motorcycle, mountain bike and motorsport industries. Approximately 97% of all production is exported and Öhlins has distribution in over 50 countries worldwide. The company also produces other types of vehicle components, including steering dampers and ride height control systems. A two-wheel drive system for motorcycles has been produced in the past.
The history of the motorcycle begins in the second half of the 19th century. Motorcycles are descended from the "safety bicycle," a bicycle with front and rear wheels of the same size and a pedal crank mechanism to drive the rear wheel. Despite some early landmarks in its development, the motorcycle lacks a rigid pedigree that can be traced back to a single idea or machine. Instead, the idea seems to have occurred to numerous engineers and inventors around Europe at around the same time.
The Auto Expo is a biennial automotive show held in Greater Noida, NCR, India.
The wheel hub motor is an electric motor that is incorporated into the hub of a wheel and drives it directly.
A scooter is a motorcycle with an underbone or step-through frame, a seat, and a platform for the rider's feet, emphasizing comfort and fuel economy. Elements of scooter design were present in some of the earliest motorcycles, and motor scooters have been made since at least 1914.
The Yamaha Passol is an electric scooter manufactured by Yamaha Motor Company beginning in 2002, and sold only in Japan. Weight is 44 kilograms (97 lb) and claimed range 32 kilometres (20 mi). It was described as the first mass-produced electric motorcycle in Japan. It has a lithium-ion battery. A Passol-L model with the same motor and bigger battery was released in 2005, and a related electric, the EC-02, featuring a built-in iPod dock, also was released in 2005.
The Yamaha Tricity is a tilting three-wheeler motor scooter made by Yamaha Motor Company. It is part of Yamaha's LMW offering along with the Niken.
Rodolfo Frascoli is an Italian motorcycle designer.
Qooder SA is a Swiss manufacturer of street-legal vehicles. Its flagship product is the Qooder, a four-wheeled tilting street vehicle. Its other products include a three-wheeled tilting vehicle similar to the Qooder, as well as electric scooters. It operates in the United States under the subsidiary name Qooder USA.
The Yamaha Niken is a 845 cc tilting three-wheeler motorcycle, manufactured since 2018 by Yamaha Motor and sold worldwide.
Dual Scythe Suspension: This unique system features mantis-like arms that allow this 4-wheeler to lean into turns like a motorcycle. Even when turning, all four tyres grip the pavement, allowing for both a dynamic yet confidence-inspiring ride quality.
Like the Piaggio, the frontal profile is almost as narrow as a motorcycle[...]
Yamaha announced its Tesseract concept in late 2007, but it has stalled before reaching production, because its design was so close to Shotter's that the company will have to license Shotter's intellectual property if it wants to go into production.
According to Shotter, attempts by Yamaha to patent the Tesseract's suspension system have been knocked back by the European Patent Office because they are too similar to the patents he has already filed.
This patent shows a vehicle that differs from that concept not only in its engine — which has ditched the v-twin for a parallel-twin — but also in its suspension configuration.
The start-up is particularly exciting because the company is to be run by Luciano Marabese, the man who designed both the Piaggio MP3 three-wheeled scooter and the Yamaha Tesseract four-wheeled motorcycle shown in 2007.
[...]allo staff di Luciano Marabese si devono numerosissimi modelli di moto e scooter di successo, per la maggior parte appartenenti al Gruppo Piaggio, ma anche le stesse Moto Morini, le Beta Euro e Jonathan, le Triumph Urban Daytona, Speed Triple e Tiger 1050, la Yamaha MT-03 Café Motard e lo stesso, futuristico prototipo a quattro ruote Yamaha Tesseract.