The Ultimate Motorcycle Simulator?

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The German simulation firm has published new designs for an innovative, high-end motorcycle simulator. (German Patent Office/)

As computers continue to follow Moore’s law and get exponentially more powerful with every passing decade it’s inevitable that reality simulation has become more prevalent in every aspect of research and development. Bikes are no exception, and motorcycle simulators—which have lagged their four-wheel equivalents for years—are catching up fast. We’re not talking about the latest MotoGP-licensed console game here but the sort of high-end simulation that’s used at industrial levels to make the development of new products quicker and more effective than in the past. Most manufacturers use simulators in some form, but the design seen here pushes the boundaries to create a more accurate and immersive setup by simulating the forces on the rider as well as those on the bike.

The patent application shows how forces are introduced onto the rider using a frame attached to the rider’s back. (German Patent Office/)

On a normal motorcycle simulator, the bike (or a representation of the bike—often just a seat, tank, and bars) is fitted onto a moving platform that allows it to pitch, lean, and yaw in harmony with the image projected onto a huge, curved screen ahead of the rider. Although mostly convincing in the lean angles they’re able to achieve, these simulators alone can’t accurately replicate the inertia of the rider—the push backward as you accelerate, or forward under braking—and mimicking the centrifugal forces that push you into the seat as you’re banked in a corner is an even more difficult challenge.

Actuator-operated cords attached to the frame mimic the pulling and pushing action of braking and acceleration forces to give a more real-world experience. (German Patent Office/)

This new design, revealed in a patent application from German simulator specialist VI-grade GmbH, shows a simulator rig that solves the key problem of introducing forces to the rider as well as the bike. It uses a real motorcycle mounted on six hydraulic ramps that match its lean angle, pitch, and yaw to the inputs from the controls. That’s fairly conventional, but what’s new is the frame strapped to the rider’s back that’s attached to eight cords, each able to pull the rider in a different direction using actuators mounted under the simulator platform. Used in different combinations, the pulling action on these cords can simulate acceleration, braking, and cornering forces on the rider to give a more realistic riding experience.

Simulators like this can be a boon for race teams testing out new bike setups or looking to replicate different environmental conditions. (German Patent Office/)

What’s the point of a simulator like this? For a bike manufacturer it means it’s possible to run computer simulations of designs and setups across a variety of surfaces and weather conditions without having to ship prototypes around the world or wait for the right conditions for a test. While practical, real-world tests are still vital, simulations can reduce the number of them that are needed by eliminating development dead ends before expensive and time-consuming real-life testing starts.

There’s also a potential market for these types of simulators to help race teams train their riders and run computer simulations of bike setups and new components. Simulation is already a vastly important part of F1 racing, where rules mean real track testing time is severely limited, and every team on the grid has at least one ultra-realistic simulator running back at their base. VI-grade’s simulator patent appears to offer the same possibilities for bikes.

This particular simulator uses a full-size motorcycle mounted on hydraulic ramps to lend a more immersive quality to the setup. (German Patent Office/)

The German firm isn’t the first to try to simulate forces on riders. McLaren Applied Technologies, which is an engineering arm of the same McLaren that races in F1 and builds supercars, filed patents for a similar idea back in 2016, using actuators pulling strings attached to different parts of a rider’s suit and helmet to copy the forces felt during riding, though unlike the new VI-grade design it didn’t also use a complete, full-size motorcycle.

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