Photo: expemotion.com
If there was a dedicated category of motorcycles dedicated to crafting working bikes that are stripped down of almost anything that's not crucial, E-Raw could easily run for being the face of the segment.
This custom creation signed by the mysterious French-speaking Expemotion tells the story of how simplicity can yield amazing results. A steel tube frame like an exoskeleton incorporates the battery pack and partially, the motor. The simple, matching tube swingarm introduces a dab of drag-racing architecture, making the whole bike look way longer that it is, in fact.
The fellows behind Expemotion seem to be experts in mass centralization, and the way the E-Raw looks makes us believe it will handle like a dream both on the twisties and in the city. The handlebars look a bit too bicycle-ish and retro to us, and we guess that choosing modern ones could work wonders for the attire of the bike. Even so, they are consistent with the retro headlight and the simple design of the machine.
We even spotted a girder fork in one of the prototype drawings, and it would clearly be a better match for the round headlight. The fact is that the E-Raw concept offers quite a lot of possibilities, and this is great.
If anything, the structure looks great and is a most welcome departure from the classic seating solutions, but comes with two downsides. One is, obviously, comfort. We don't know the range the E-Raw is capable of on a single charge, but we can vouch it will not be the most pleasant of rides.
That is because having your behind bumping against a wooden plank is clearly not the best way to ride a bike. Some padding will solve the problem without a major impact on the looks of the bike.
Safety is the other concern, as laminated wood can't possibly be as reliable as a more traditional spring system. The laminated veneer acts like a leaf spring, but this will also create a huge amount of stress during the ride, and this will, in turn, lead to material fatigue and a crack, with potentially fatal consequences. Carbon fiber insertions and maybe some tweaks to enhance the strength of structure could be a very interesting upgrade.
We'd certainly like to hear more from Expemotion and their E-Raw machine. With no word on the motor, battery pack or range, all we know is that the E-Raw is a working prototype, as can be seen in the video below.
The fellows behind Expemotion seem to be experts in mass centralization, and the way the E-Raw looks makes us believe it will handle like a dream both on the twisties and in the city. The handlebars look a bit too bicycle-ish and retro to us, and we guess that choosing modern ones could work wonders for the attire of the bike. Even so, they are consistent with the retro headlight and the simple design of the machine.
Modern meets retro
Still, having upside-down forks command a slightly more modern approach to the E-Raw, possibly with a more aggressive headlight sourced from one of the newer Yamaha MT or Kawasaki's Z machines.We even spotted a girder fork in one of the prototype drawings, and it would clearly be a better match for the round headlight. The fact is that the E-Raw concept offers quite a lot of possibilities, and this is great.
A laminated veneer seat might cause problems
The one thing that catches the attention is, beyond any shadow of a doubt, the uncanny seat of the E-Raw. This strange, organic structure was crafted by laminating together no less than 80 layers of real wood veneer.If anything, the structure looks great and is a most welcome departure from the classic seating solutions, but comes with two downsides. One is, obviously, comfort. We don't know the range the E-Raw is capable of on a single charge, but we can vouch it will not be the most pleasant of rides.
That is because having your behind bumping against a wooden plank is clearly not the best way to ride a bike. Some padding will solve the problem without a major impact on the looks of the bike.
Safety is the other concern, as laminated wood can't possibly be as reliable as a more traditional spring system. The laminated veneer acts like a leaf spring, but this will also create a huge amount of stress during the ride, and this will, in turn, lead to material fatigue and a crack, with potentially fatal consequences. Carbon fiber insertions and maybe some tweaks to enhance the strength of structure could be a very interesting upgrade.
We'd certainly like to hear more from Expemotion and their E-Raw machine. With no word on the motor, battery pack or range, all we know is that the E-Raw is a working prototype, as can be seen in the video below.
Google News