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Just a few months since its first motorcycle, the Redshift, became available to the US market, Alta Motors is set to roll out a new concept model. Inspired by flat track machines, the Street Tracker is conceived as a road-legal battery-powered motorcycle built around the Redshift platform.
Californian startup Alta Motors spent six years setting up a production facility, organizing a dealer network, and developing its first model from the ground up ahead of its market launch in 2016. The Redshift is a lightweight electric off-road motorcycle available in a motocross (MX) and a street-legal supermoto (SM) version.
The American company builds the motorcycle's engine, frame and battery cases in-house, as well as all the electronic gear tasked with controlling the motor's 40 hp (29.8 kW) power and 122 lb-ft (165 Nm) torque output. These are complemented by equipment outsourced from industry leading brands, like WP suspensions and Brembo brakes.
Is there a market for silent motorcycles?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 09 2017, @06:43AM (11 children)
It is a sad fact that many motorists do not see motorcyclists (too small, evidently), even with engine noise to help make them "notice". Expect an increase in squished motorcyclists if these become popular. The noise is a safety factor.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by bradley13 on Sunday April 09 2017, @07:27AM (2 children)
So: I don't see silent as a problem. Cars are soundproof enough that you generally don't hear other vehicles anyway. The problem is a different one.
I don't ride a motorcycle, but I have commuted by bicycle quite a lot. While some motorists were a problem, even as a bicyclist I have to say that the biggest danger to bicyclists is: bicyclists doing stupid things, like squeezing between or alongside cars, where drivers have no reason to expect them.
Motorcyclists do the same things, only at higher speeds. "White lining", for example, is a stupid idea, because lane-changing cars aren't expecting it. When traffic is stopped at a traffic light, whipping around the traffic and pulling up in front of the first car: if the light turns green at the wrong moment, or "right turn on red" is legal, that can go very wrong. Just because a motorcycle (or bicycle) is narrow is no excuse not to occupy and use lanes normally.
Silent motorcycles? Yes please. Same for cars - requiring noisemakers is no different from requiring people with bells to walk in front of the first automobiles. Noise is also pollution.
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday April 09 2017, @11:22AM
Well, Bradley, I used to think very much the same as you, regarding "filtering". In California and most of Europe, it is legal, and expected. As a rule, the motorcycle should keep it's speed within about 20 mph of traffic, and he is totally responsible for moving safely through traffic. It works well. I do it, to some extent, my kid grew up with the idea, and he just does it without any special consideration.
But, you're right. I've seen it go horribly wrong. I watched a bike zip right past me on my bike, he misjudged the clearance between two cars, caught his big D-ring engine protector and flipped it. He got off lightly - the girl on the back skidded down the road a ways on her face. That one happened on Sunrise Highway on Long Island, I think it was the fourth accident I attended after getting my EMT diploma. Ugly.
(Score: 2) by dry on Monday April 10 2017, @02:04AM
There's something to say about noise. When I used to ride a bicycle, I listened as much as looked for traffic. Now that I drive, I have a rural driveway on a somewhat blind corner, I always roll the window down so I can hear a car/truck coming, especially if it is speeding. It helps. Last year I had an idiot pass me on the left as I initiated a left turn (and yes I was signalling and the signal worked when I checked after finishing the turn), would have been a nasty accident with my door t-boned if I hadn't heard him.
(Score: 2) by black6host on Sunday April 09 2017, @10:18AM
Hey, they could always take a hint from the auto manufacturers and have the bike go "Vroom Vroom" through the stereo system :)
(Score: 3, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Sunday April 09 2017, @11:17AM (4 children)
The reading that I've done suggests that it is mostly psychological. A massive 18-wheeler poses a very serious threat to a motorist, so motorists almost always see them as a threat, even when they are not actually a threat. Even more for trains. Smaller cars are sometimes missed, because they are not percieved as a threat to the guy in a one-ton truck, or a big SUV. Motorcycles aren't percieved as a threat by almost anyone, so they are often "seen" - that is the eye picks them up, but the brain does not catch the non-threat.
Of course, psychology doesn't explain it all. Simple physics goes a long way toward explaining that a smaller object is less likely to be noticed than a larger object. But, psychology comes back into focus, when masses of people take immediate notice of an armed man, but they take no notice of any of the unarmed people around them.
Engine noise doesn't help the typical motorcycle rider, because most of the noise is behind him. A slow V-twin with modified exhaust often warns people ahead that it is coming. A fast bike does not project much noise out ahead, with or without a good exhaust, regardless of the engine configuration.
Go to a track one day, get a nice seat close to the track, and listen carefully. That bike coming at you seems to be floating in near silence, until he is just about beside you, then the sound explodes over you. Cars do the same, but the effect is less pronounced, probably because they have better muffler systems.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 09 2017, @04:15PM (3 children)
That depends on the motorcycle. I live a few feet from a major arterial and I can here those blasted harleys from a mile away.
As with everything, this is a matter of degrees, most bikes will be somewhat audible to the sides and in front, but as you point out, most of the noise is backwards. With some extremely loud bikes I've heard, I couldn't even place the sound because it was so loud that it was bouncing off of just about every building in the area.
That being said, the real safety risk of electric motorcycles has nothing to do with the sound, it's the relatively smooth torque curve that doesn't require shifting. It's risky enough for new riders to have a bike that's capable of doing 50 in 1st gear, a bike that could do 70 or 80 in first gear requires a lot of restraint to not go too fast. At least with shifting, you're somewhat restricted in how fast you can go without purposefully doing it.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday April 09 2017, @04:24PM (2 children)
Good point - I hadn't thought about that. There are many videos on Youtube where some young dummy climbs on a crotch rocket, and rolls that throttle wide open. He has no idea what to expect, and he launches himself through a brick wall or something. Electric bikes will be prone to that very same thing. Experienced riders may well screw it up the first couple times. There is a world of difference between internal combustion and electric.
(Score: 2) by hemocyanin on Sunday April 09 2017, @05:54PM (1 child)
My very first motorcycle was a used and beat up 78 Honda 100cc -- single cylinder. I doubt the top speed on that was much more than 50 and it took a long time and a downhill slope to get there. It seems to me that having a horsepower limit for new riders would be a really good idea -- maybe not as anemic as my first bike was, but something reasonable. 100+ HP for a new rider is just crazy.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Monday April 10 2017, @01:35AM
That is a law, some places in Europe. I'm not European, so I'm repeating hearsay, but the kid gets a bike at age whatever, and he's licensed for it, based on horsepower. After so many month or years, he can go down and get relicensed. With his new license, he can go to a shop, and have his bike turned up.
Sorry, it appears this guy's first language isn't English, but he attempts to explain the scheme from days gone by, and compare it to today's scheme. The cutoff is 125 cc and/or about 15 hp. https://www.autoevolution.com/news/motorcycle-licensing-in-europe-explained-90006.html [autoevolution.com] A2 license goes up to 46.9 horsepower, and for anything more powerful, you need to return and get an A license.
Note that there are age restrictions, as well as experience restrictions. It all makes sense, if you read around the strange grammar.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 09 2017, @03:39PM (1 child)
Completely false. Sound makes absolutely no difference to motorcycle safety. It hasn't mattered since car windows and high wattage stereos were invented.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday April 09 2017, @04:39PM
I scoff at the "loud pipes save lives" crowd myself. But, I'm not entirely sure that sound "makes absolutely no difference". We talked in another post about silent electric cars, and the hazards they will pose. A reasonable motorcycle is hardly any louder than a car - and cars aren't silent. I can hear them most of the time when I am outside of the car. School kids can usually hear a car, pedestrians of all ages can usually hear a car approaching. The streets will be less safe with electric cars and motorcycles, unless they are required to make an audible hum or something. Gotta have some noise, even if it's just the knobby tires slapping the pavement - except, knobbies are usually illegal on the highway.