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How about a Harley that won't fall over?


fourteenfour

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Bill_Walker

I had a Road King, and I found that the gyroscopic effect of the engine flywheel was noticeable at low speeds.  Just slip the clutch and give it more revs to help with balance! So this doesn't seem far-fetched at all.  But would anybody buy it, or even admit to needing it?

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59 minutes ago, Bill_Walker said:

I had a Road King, and I found that the gyroscopic effect of the engine flywheel was noticeable at low speeds.  Just slip the clutch and give it more revs to help with balance! So this doesn't seem far-fetched at all.  But would anybody buy it, or even admit to needing it?

One tipped over right in front of me on hwy 58 while coming to a stop for construction in one of the banked turns.  He had a passenger too.  Ouch.  Would this gyro help in this situation?

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From the article:

 

Quote

For new riders it means the gyro could be removed once they’ve gained the confidence to ride without it, and for ageing motorcyclists the design means they could retrofit their existing bikes to add the balancing system so they’re not forced off two wheels purely due to weakening legs.

 

The better to get inexperienced riders on a 900 lb bike, or allow old farts (like me) to deny reality for another few years? If my legs are weakening, so is the rest of me. To everything there is a season, and seasons pass.

 

This seems like a solution in search of a problem.

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Rider1200RT
19 hours ago, Veefore said:

Why do I see a recall coming for the gyroscope spinning up mid corner?? 🙈

 

You're evil.... :rofl:

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RandyShields

Actually, this is a great idea that should help sales.  One of the biggest fear of the aging HD market is the inability to handle a 700+ lb heavyweight bike at parking lots speeds and stops.  Particularly if two up.  That is where most of the tip overs occur based on my experiences riding HDs before moving to BMWs.  (Not that I ever dropped a motorcycle. . . . .:mad:)  If gyroscopes can help prevent the slow speed tip over (and not sure that it can), I think it will boost the sale of HDs into the future; and I wouldn't be surprised to see the concept picked up by other manufacturers.  Would love to hear from the engineers on this one.  

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Probably a shit ton...but if they could mount it low and out of site, not eating up storage room. BOOM, it'd be the gadget that keeps the grey beards buying their big touring bikes! :old: PS...not making fun of grey beards, if I could it'd be grey too. :grin:

 

Honestly, seems like fantasy to me at this point but ya never know. :dontknow:

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Maybe more of a proof of concept at this point than an actual planned unit, especially mounted up high in the trunk.

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On 6/14/2020 at 1:49 PM, Veefore said:

Why do I see a recall coming for the gyroscope spinning up mid corner?? 🙈

 

The way it is designed, the gyroscope is always spinning. At low speeds (3 mph and under) a clutch locks the roll axis on the gimbals.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hmmmm................  Just announced  a layoff of 700 employees. I don't think this idea will be much better than their electric motorcycle.

 

Their customer base is aging out, too many used ones on the marketplace at cheap prices that have thousands of $ invested in chrome.

 

Forced dealers to invest millions of $ for stand alone stores and wouldn't let them sell used bikes other that Harleys.

 

The marketplace has changed, they haven't. Too bad for them, their investors and employees. 

 

OTOH, BMW has continued to bring out new models with significant improvements while investing world wide in India and South America to sell smaller bikes to emerging markets.

 

 

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roadscholar

No sympathy here, they gorged at the trough for three decades. Built an image based on a fad, one so popular it spawned a plethora of copycats. For the imitators it was just a segment of their operation but Harley was all in, they were afraid straying into other segments would alienate the customer base and is partly true. The attempt at recovery may be too little too late, it’s been said the last people to recognize the failure of a business model are it’s owners. 

 

 

 

 

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