Honda to take the fun out of sidecars

Interesting, of course with a patent, Honda would lock down the tech. But maybe over time there would be some trickle down so that us Meer mortals could have some fun with it. 

Ironically, I had read that same news article several hours ago, much earlier than the BMW roundel tattooed racer from Pennsylvania thought to disparage Mother Honda with claims of Honda taking the "fun" out of Sidecars.

Oh, The Humanity !

Frankly, I found the news article to be insightful, not a "new" idea, but as Brian @MGV8 has suggested, possibly a move by Mother Honda to lock down the technology, so that if others follow through with actually building a similar device, Mother Honda can profit from the idea, without having to actually build one themselves.

Now, for those Sidecarist still frequenting ADVRider, in the HACKS section, you will note that I brought up a similar idea last year, within the discussion of how to power the Sidecar wheel. With all the e-bikes out there, many of which use a electric driven hub, it would be fairly easy to install a electric driven hub at the Sidecar wheel, with a thumb throttle on the left side of the handlebar, to press with your left thumb, to engage the driven hub on the Sidecar wheel. The farther you push that thumb throttle, the faster the Sidecar wheel will go.

Mother Honda's design takes all this out of the pilot's hands, by having yee and yaw sensors within the mounts of the Sidecar to the motorcycle, which senses acceleration vs braking, and senses right turns vs left turns, and activates the driven hub on the Sidecar wheel, to act accordingly.

Maybe.... just maybe.... Mother Honda got all those letters of suggestions I sent to them, and they actually bothered to read one of them.

Posted by: @miles-ladue

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 it would be fairly easy to install a electric driven hub at the Sidecar wheel, with a thumb throttle on the left side of the handlebar. The farther you push that thumb throttle, the faster the Sidecar wheel will go.

Man would that make for some fun parking lot antics.  And more than a few "thumb happy" based crashes on the road.

Nothing new- At least a couple manufacturers have figured out how to make all Wheel Drive hybrid cars by driving one axle with the IC engine and the other with the electric motor. Truck startup Illion has experimented with a tandem drive semi tractor with one rear axle driven by the IC engine and the other by electric motor, initially they powered the trailer axles but decided powering the tractor was more cost effective. I've played around with a hybrid converter dolly for the rear trailer(s) of double and triple trailer combinations, but don't have a few million $$$ laying around to test the concept. Honda's idea make sense, though some software tweaks to electric power steering would probably accomplish the same goal.

Somewhere in my ramblings on another website.

I talked about electronic sidecar aids.

Specifically I think at one point about a self steering sidecar wheel on a leaner.

The car people already do electric power steering. 

So it's a simple (for people smarter than me) proposition. 

May have even talked about an electric chair wheel.

Random thought!

Electric brake regeneration would supply a fair amount of battery power  for the peak power demand times.

Would such a Honda unit be constantly on?

Or as needed/desired.

A Honda only compatible unit?

Or a little more universal?

Where would it get its power from?

Batteries?

Charge overnight and be a more universal fit arrangement? 

Alternator? 

Self contained generator?

Solar panels? 

Hurryup Honda. 

I love this stuff!   

I used to think more then once of a starter motor to use on the driven sidecar wheel shaft in stop and go, (Better said stop and cook)  traffic jams.