A.3.W. Motiv concept: One wheel too many!

Sopan Sharma    28 May 2009

This outlandish inline-three wheel concept bike comes from France with a bunch of interesting engineering and design theories

The alien-looking contraption on wheels that you see here in the pictures almost did not make it to our two-wheeler special since it had one wheel more than our stipulated limit for this particular edition. It has made it through, nevertheless, since French designer Julien Rondino's A.3.W. Motiv concept is very much a motorcycle - only with an added wheel to increase the margin of safety and ease of riding a bike.

Rondino likes to call his creation an 'axial-three wheel' vehicle, but it's fundamentals are very much those of a motorcycle. Powered by a (theorised) KTM V-Twin engine fitted in an aluminium-steel chassis, the striking feature of the concept is a free rolling third wheel, with a uniquely vague 'auto-steering' hub that compensates its movement according to the bike's lean and speed.

But why use three wheels to do a job that two wheels have been doing (competently) for more than a hundred years? Ask any seasoned motorcycle racer, or any newbie learner - more wheels mean more traction, and hence a greater degree of control and safety. Even though the A.3.W Motiv features a wheelbase that rivals some of the most stretched out custom cruisers, Rondino maintains that this will not hamper the handling of the bike. The physics behind this lie in the fact the central wheels remains the driving wheel, while the third wheel just adds stability and traction but not at the cost of nimbleness. The short distance between the steering and powered wheel imply that the bike will be nimble enough, and the third wheel's auto-steering mechanism will allow it to trail freely, thereby letting the bike take the tightest of corners with ease.

That's what the theory says, and we'd definitely want to ride the bike once it is (if ever) enters production before we pass our verdict on it. The concept of channeling a bike's driving force will definitely make it easier to exploit, but the jury is still out on whether and by how much the revolutionary design will dampen the spirit of carefree freewheeling that only two wheels have been able to offer, at least until now.