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Anticipated 34 yrs ago, still not here


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In 1984, Kevin Cameron wrote an article in Cycle magazine about active suspension, how Lotus was testing real world models. Cameron considered it the future. Not the least because the systems we use today are quite inferior, even the suspension used in MotoGP. Simply put they cannot follow the road and they come with a harshness as well as harmonics detriment to handling, grip and stability. He also expected the active suspension to lower the bike under acceleration and braking and raising it for cornering clearance and bigger bumps. Not only for racing, but for everyday riding.

Cameron also expected to see power steering and stabilizing systems that allowed radical steering geometries far beyond what a human can control by him/her self. Like fighter airplanes that would shake apart in seconds if left alone to be controlled by a human with no computer assistance. He also wrote about putting multiple 'puters in the bikes to make sure that if one went down, there would still be several working - the bad one would simply be shut off together with an error message, but without disturbing performance. Furthermore, he expected the fork to be replaced by better systems (which only BMW have tried on a large scale) and traction control more sophisticated than even the best we see today.

Not everything happens as quickly as we (some) anticipate.

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  • 5 months later...
On 1/10/2018 at 3:04 PM, faffi said:

In 1984, Kevin Cameron wrote an article in Cycle magazine about active suspension, how Lotus was testing real world models. Cameron considered it the future. Not the least because the systems we use today are quite inferior, even the suspension used in MotoGP. Simply put they cannot follow the road and they come with a harshness as well as harmonics detriment to handling, grip and stability. He also expected the active suspension to lower the bike under acceleration and braking and raising it for cornering clearance and bigger bumps. Not only for racing, but for everyday riding.

Cameron also expected to see power steering and stabilizing systems that allowed radical steering geometries far beyond what a human can control by him/her self. Like fighter airplanes that would shake apart in seconds if left alone to be controlled by a human with no computer assistance. He also wrote about putting multiple 'puters in the bikes to make sure that if one went down, there would still be several working - the bad one would simply be shut off together with an error message, but without disturbing performance. Furthermore, he expected the fork to be replaced by better systems (which only BMW have tried on a large scale) and traction control more sophisticated than even the best we see today.

Not everything happens as quickly as we (some) anticipate.

Almost there

https://ultimatemotorcycling.com/2017/12/05/2018-kawasaki-ninja-zx-10r-se-electronic-suspension-model-usa/

 

4. The forks and shock have built-in stroke sensors that provide real-time stroke speed and compression information. The sensor coils provide input to the KECS ECU every millisecond. This is complemented by information provided by the IMU (acceleration/deceleration) every 10 milliseconds, and the FI ECU (vehicle speed) every 10 milliseconds. The KECS ECU then directs current to the solenoids to adjust damping as required by the situation.

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