Ever since Yamaha brought the Niken from the world of concepts to reality, its competitors are constantly working on their own versions of a three-wheeled motorcycle. Especially Kawasaki! Time and again, we have come across reports suggesting that Kawasaki is working on a three-wheeled motorcycle. Now though, patent images of the same have been released online, which gives us a hint of what the chaps at Kawasaki’s top-secret facility are working on.

The patent images suggest that the upcoming motorcycle will offer a sporty riding position. Moreover, Kawasaki recently bought Bimota, so we might see both manufacturers working closely on this project. In fact, Kawasaki and Bimota have already started working on a motorcycle called the Tesi H2.

Instead of turning the front wheel like in conventional motorcycles, this concept’s front wheel tilts sideways without turning, and the rear wheel does the same too, but its angle of rotation is much lesser than the front. Due to the difference in angle of rotation of the front and rear wheel, the bike will theoretically be able to turn by banking. The angle of tilt is also higher than the bike’s lean-angle, which should help in maintaining the rider’s balance. In essence, the rider shifts his/her weight and the onboard sensors detect the shift in weight and tilt the bike accordingly.

In comparison, a conventional motorcycle offers a direct linkage between the wheel and the handlebar, so the communication between the wheel and the road is felt instantaneously. You lean into a bend and countersteer to maintain the course. This isn’t the case in this concept and it remains to be seen on how good is the feedback from the front wheel to the rider. Also, it isn’t clear as to how this complex setup might work at crawling speeds. Since there’s no linkage to the handlebars, they are loop-shaped and are only to help the rider hold on to the bike, provide throttle and braking inputs. For braking, it uses conventional levers and the throttle is also the traditional twist-and-go type.

Unlike a conventional motorcycle, the several linkages at the front enable the motorcycle to lean. Interestingly, there are another set of patent images online that show Kawasaki already working on this technology.  For now, this radical motorcycle is still under development, but we think Kawasaki might be serious about this three-wheeled tilting motorcycle and we could see a concept version of this at the next EICMA. This could be one of the most radical motorcycles from Kawasaki ever. We might see a prototype version of this motorcycle at the next EICMA and  Patent images show that the motorcycle has a single shock absorber at the front. 

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