Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/570763
MOTOINNO TS3 TEST RIDE P110 ford down the years than I did on the TS3, although it was repeat- edly briefly pushed off line riding over a bump on the apex of the right-hand exit while still off the throttle, most likely due to too soft a setting on the front shock to cope with the weight transfer going downhill. However, after 25 laps or so I started getting the front end chattering on the only true left-hand- er on the circuit, the last off-camber bend before the pit straight. There wasn't any trace of this on all the many right-hand bends, only there. After narrowly avoiding hitting the dirt the second or third time of asking, I stopped to investigate, and after some searching the cause was identified by eagle- eyed Paul Barker, who'd brought the bike down from Queensland in his truck. The bolt holding the upper triangular link where it pivots in the left frame spar had sheared in half, with imaginable consequences. Still, that's test- ing! Ray Van Steenwyk reckons it should be made of high quality steel rather than stainless, and that's a given throughout such an unconventional bike as this, where unexpected forces are being fed through so many dif- ferent components. But I got enough seat time on a lot going for it. The constant front end geometry it offers at all times, even braking hard on the angle, means it has optimum sta- bility yet a superior level of feel compared to other hub-center systems I've tried. This gives you more confidence. A key problem I had in racing both the Tesi and the Saxon Triumph was front tire feedback, and I can honestly say what I had in riding the Moto- inno was comparable to a tele forked bike's. It's more agile and lighter/quicker steering than one of those, and has a better turn- ing circle, plus there may well be more suspension travel at the front, though I didn't measure that. But I do think the system that Ray Van Steenwyk has come up with deserves to be tested on a faster, more potent platform, so I hope he and Colin Oddy are able to source the third party financial support that'll persuade the Govern- ment giveaway mob to uncork the taxpayer's money bottle to finance the building of that Testastretta- powered streetfighter, and thus create a 21st century version of the late and not entirely lamented Bimota Tesi. Australia is the can-do coun- try, a nation where problems are opportunities, adversity a challenge, and a glass is always half full, rather than half empty, a place where people don't wonder if they can overcome any problems or difficulties, only how that can be done. It makes you wonder why with the excep- tion of John Britten in New Ze- land, nobody Down Under that I know of, at any rate, ever tried to design an alternative-framed motorcycle until now. But now the partners in Motoinno have gone and done it and good luck to them. CN the TS3 before that happened to be convinced that Oddy and Van Steenwyk are on to something here. Apart from looking pretty good in a completely radical kind of way, my hands-on assessment is that the Motoinno concept has With the TS3 design, there is no chance of the front swingarm making contact with the tarmac.