Tech on two wheels: the future of motorcycling

Like all fields of technology involving mechanics, cycling and style, motorbike electronics have developed very rapidly over time, making a significant leap in the last decade. In the past, the intervention of electronic systems in the management of the bike could still be uncompromising, but today technology has made great strides, capturing a result that only a few years ago seemed impossible: ensuring a natural human-machine relationship while using electronic systems that deliver a high safety margin.

Every motorcyclist has a well-defined relationship with their bike, and if a system intervenes between the two that disturbs them, even slightly, even if it involves safety, then it immediately becomes annoying. This was the case in the past, when electronic controls first entered the motorbike world with as yet immature technology.

We're referring to the first traction control devices, which made their first appearance in the 2000s. This type of system consists of two sections: the first section must identify the hazardous situation (in this case the rear wheel losing traction); the second section must intervene on the engine by reducing the torque output in order to avoid excessive slip and with it a probable fall.

In the first systems, the loss of adhesion of the rear tyre was easily identified by the phonic wheels (already available for the ABS system), which read the rotation speed of the wheels: when the rear turns faster than the front, it means that there is a slip; in this case, the system instantly limited the torque delivered by simply cutting off the ignition.

Of course, the danger would be averted, but the sudden cutting of the engine would eradicate the pleasure of riding since it felt like a kind of malfunction. The same is true of a slight lift of the front wheel, the system also works as an anti-wheelie. In fact, even then, the rear wheel turns faster than the front (because it has lost contact with the ground), and the device then generates a corresponding cut to the engine, again quite invasive.

That is why the primordial traction (and wheelie) control systems were understood more as a riding disturbance than a safety advantage.

Over time, things have changed completely. On the one hand, new systems have arrived, first ride by wire, then the inertial platform and finally the increasingly powerful control units. Ride by wire allows the injection throttles to be directly controlled independently of the throttle rotation, thus allowing the optimum opening angle to be chosen; the inertial platform allows the position of the motorbike to be instantly known, i.e. the pitch (sinking or lightening of the front and rear), the roll (the bend angle) and the yaw (the “lateral slip”, the slide); the system also reads acceleration and braking. In addition to the phonic wheels, a much more sophisticated system for the recognition of a dangerous situation is now available, which allows the loss of grip to be managed in a much more refined way, making it possible to evaluate it even when leaning.

In addition, powerful control units have enabled much more complex software functions to be created, which effectively manage the engine by intervening on the ignition no longer with drastic cuts, but with variations in the advance, and with a parallel and fine control of the position of the throttles and the fuel injected into the combustion chambers. The result is a much more refined management of the various functions, and particularly in a ‘natural motorcycle' way: the engine responds in an absolutely neutral way, without any sharp cuts, just as if we were the ones adjusting them with the delivery.

A similar argument applies to the anti-lock braking system: ABS. Increasingly sophisticated controls have made it “invisible” and highly efficient, so much so that it can be used on the track. Again, the inertial platform makes its contribution, and the anti-lock software even manages braking with the bike leaning in a bend, a function that could not have been contemplated in the past.

Ultimately, electronics have grown exponentially, and today it offers two major advantages: there is no noticeable intervention; safety has been significantly increased. This is also because there is another element that plays in our favour, for riding satisfaction, for performance and for safety: the evolution of tyres.

A high level of safety and dynamic effectiveness is achieved through the joint work of all development teams: each part needs to be integrated with the others. The design of a motorbike therefore involves the close collaboration of the engineers of electronics with those of mechanics, of the chassis and now also of style, who must take care of the aerodynamics. Finally, tyres are a key element, which is why they are developed in symbiosis with the motorcycle manufacturers' engineer teams. They need to provide optimum support: the electronics work on the tyre's response; the tyre offers the best support for the interventions of electronics.

That is also why they have been the subject of an equally important development in recent years. Compounds, structures and profiles have grown: today, every application has its own specific product, on the road, on the track, in dry or in wet conditions. Between tyres and electronic systems (we are referring to high-end products) we have reached an extraordinary technical maturity, so much so that the possibility of error, and therefore of falling, has been drastically reduced. This is because the limit offered by tyres is very high, and in the event of approaching it, the electronics intervene in advance with natural corrections, even in difficult situations such as when leaning round a bend, in wet conditions, always offering maximum safety.