Motorcycle Innovation invents a new suspension system

If there was ever a shrink for the front suspension on a motorcycle, the telescopic forks would probably be their best patient. Why? Well for starters, the front telescopic forks found on over 90 percent of motorcycles worldwide are essentially a compromise. It is the least bad idea humanity has when it comes to the front suspension on a motorcycle. But an Australian firm by the name of Motorcycle Innovation or Motoinno for short (their idea not ours) might have found a solution to the least bad idea that has stuck around for almost a hundred years. And the new solution claims to be a second faster per corner compared to the telescopic forks. But before we get into the solution allow us to explain why does the telescopic suspension desperately needs a shrink.

The telescopic issue 

 The front suspension of a bike especially on the high performance ones is always under tremendous amount of pressure from braking, steering and of course keeping the tyre stuck to the ground. The very simple reason for that is physics and Newton’s third law of motion. Every time you brake hard the hot front tyre constantly tries to push the suspension backwards, then there is the upwards and downwards motion every time you go over bumps and the pressure and flex only increases when you’re cornering. On a bumpy corner the suspension isn’t only moving up and down but has to cope with sideways flex as well. This makes the bike inherently unstable which means even the best handling bikes today are actually rather unstable. 

Now to counter the braking forces and to ensure the front suspension can take all that punishment, the headstock, where the front forks are mounted has to be massively reinforced with metal to reduce flex to a minimum. This not only adds weight but also puts a significant amount of weight right up front where you least want it. In addition, most forks on the bigger bikes these days are upside-down which are much stiffer than conventional ones but they still flex under hard braking and create stiction which makes harder for the suspension to absorb bumps. When you’re leaned over in a corner there is a bit of sideways flex as well which causes the front to wobble, it ultimately results in loss of traction and a lowside crash.

Forks also tend to dive under braking and this changes the rake and trail steering geometry making the bike harder to control, hence the notion, finish your braking before you enter a corner. However, a steeper rake does make a motorcycle handle better but at the cost of top end stability. So for years riders have been simply riding around these problems and manufacturers have been battling the top speed or handling conundrum. 

Although there is an alternative in the form of hub-centre steering like the one used on the Bimota Tesi 3D and the Vyrus motorcycles. Hub-centre steering basically mounts the front wheel on a swing arm reaching back to the engine. Now this does take the weight off the front and eliminate brake dive but then then the steering lock is almost non-existent which can be tackled by a wider swingarm but then that can drag on the tarmac and lift the front off the ground resulting again, in a lowside. Plus, this system uses complex steering system to connect the wheel to the handlebar and steering slop by up to one centimeter is quite common. Then there’s the lack of steering feel not to mention the sheer expense and difficulty of repair. That’s why you don’t see many manufacturers opting for this system.

So what’s so special about this new system?

Well for starters it looks like nothing we or the world has seen before. And it isn’t on the simple side, it is rather complicated so you’ll have to bear with us. The official name of the system is TS3 which stands for Triangulated Steering and Suspension system and unlike most motorcycles where a suspension is designed around a bike this is the other way round and looks like something straight out of a science fiction movie albeit with a Ducati Testastretta 11 900cc L-twin. 

The front suspension system in itself works like a parallelogram. The wheel is held by a triangular brace which remains at a constant angle. Then there are two more arms attached to the top and bottom of this brace which connect to the pivot points mounted on the top and bottom of the chassis. This helps counter the braking forces and helps keep the bike neutral. 

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Now, the top part of the triangular brace is connected to the handlebars. This beam moves independent of the entire system so the lower part of the triangle connected to the parallelogram on the pivot points remains firm when you turn the wheel. This is achieved thanks to the use of scissor links to connect the handlebars to the steering mechanism to isolate the suspension from the steering. 

The biggest advantage of this system is that it can be tuned to any preference. The rake and trail angles are adjustable so you can have it setup for the street one day and for the track on a Sunday. In addition, you can even dial in whatever brake dive you would like or none at all or even reverse where the front rises during braking, we’re not sure if that’s preferable though. Plus, the absence of massive tubes obstructing the handlebar help give the bike a tight turning radius as well. The closes we can put it is that it is quite similar to the MacPherson Struts used in cars. 

Unfortunately we haven’t ridden it yet but we know someone who has, two time Isle of Man TT winner, Australian rider Cameron Donald. The Motoinno team let him have a go on a Suzuki GSX-R 750 first and then on the TS3 prototype. The results were staggering. The TS3 shaved off a second off the Gixxer’s lap, per corner, not per lap, per corner. 

It might all sound quite farfetched but Motoinno is readying their system for racing and founders Colin Oddy and Ray Van Steenwyk hope to take it to the Moto2 races in the next six months. In addition, they also aim to produce bespoke motorcycles priced between $1,50,000 and $2,00,000. If this suspension system proves itself it could relegate the telescopic forks to the history books ushering in an era of the Triangulated Steering and Suspension System.