Yamaha has recently filed a patent application for a trike that appears to be an evolution of the Niken GT… and which may be capable of leaning on its own.
Motociclismo reviewed the newly submitted documents, which refer to a ‘leaning vehicle’ – with two wheels at the front and one at the rear.
It features independent motors for each of the front wheels, which could play a role in tilting the trike and can be activated either by the rider or automatically based on sensor data.
According to the description, ‘it is difficult to design a leaning vehicle so that the holding force is always constant regardless of speed and turning radius’ – while several riders mention the importance of the steering support force remaining steady.
On the other hand, there are also riders who prefer variable support force, and it’s not possible to design a tilting vehicle that maintains that force either constant or variable depending on the rider’s individual preference.
This is where the patent aims to offer a solution: ‘If the driving forces of the left front wheel and the right front wheel can be controlled independently of each other, it is possible to perform a control such as varying theholding force depending on the rider’s preference’. Thus, the Japanese proposal aims ‘to provide a leaning vehicle and a method for controlling a leaning vehicle having a left front wheel arranged leftward relative to the head pipe and a right front wheel arranged rightward relative to the head pipe with regard to a vehicle left-right direction in which the driving forces of the left front wheel and the right front wheel can be controlled independently of each other’.
Among the sensors, the system may include a bank angle detector for the frame, a speed sensor, and a control unit linked to both to manage the motor on each wheel based on the bank angle and vehicle speed. There could also be a sensor that detects objects ahead – such as a vehicle in front or a marked driving lane on the road. The rider may be alerted to the presence of such objects when the leaning vehicle is travelling at relatively high speeds.
