On the initial prototype, the front rubber’s contact patch was so large—nearly four times more surface area than a typical tire’s—that cornering was problematic. MotoMorphic’s team countered with a variable steering angle and a burly damper to soak up vibrations. To offset the increased forces from 100 pounds of extra weight—half from the beefed-up frame and half from the wheels and tires themselves—the engineers installed stiffer fork springs.

The adjustments helped, but the bike’s design left no room for a traditional gas tank. The team had anticipated this, so they sealed up the welds to let the frame tubes themselves serve as a gas tank. This had the added benefit of lowering the cycle’s center of gravity and improving its handling. “We never expected to make it ride like a sport bike,” Davis says. But the end product might actually perform better for a lot of riders. Score one for engineering from the pavement up.

Authors: Nicolas Stecher

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