Supporting Member maximNikenGT Posted December 17, 2020 Supporting Member Share Posted December 17, 2020 Saw this article who cited one of the Yamaha developers responsible for the Niken's LMW suspension as Mr. Takashi Kaieda. A search for Takashi Kaieda resulted in the link at Yamaha Corporate citing both Mr. Takashi Kaieda and Mr. Kazuhisa Takano as the developers responsible for the LMW suspension. 2018 YAMAHA NIKEN REVIEW – THE HOLY TRINITY PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOSH EVANS This cannot be right. It’s not a... Mr. Kazuhisa Takano (left) and Mr. Takashi Kaieda (right) are credited at the Yamaha Global site as the developers of the Leaning Multi Wheel (LMW) technology. Mr. Takashi Kaieda is General Manager of LMW Development Division, PF Model Development Section, PF Model Unit, Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. Takashi Kaieda was in charge of consolidating business strategy and served as the division’s general manager from the very beginning of Yamaha’s production LMW development. Looking back on the state of things when production model development began in 2011: “Because I had worked on developing industrial robots for more than 20 years after I first joined Yamaha, when I was put in charge of the LMW project it was honestly like changing jobs,” says Kaieda. “So it was basically starting out from scratch; I wasn’t able to use most of the know-how and connections I had acquired until then.” Mr. Kazuhisa Takano is Group Leader of LMW Development Division, PF Model Development Section, PF Model Unit, Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. 3 2019 Niken GT "Motorcycles - the brand is not important, the fact that you ride is." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supporting Member maximNikenGT Posted December 17, 2020 Author Supporting Member Share Posted December 17, 2020 Apparently Mr. Kazuhisa Takano filed the patents on behalf of Yamaha for what would become the Niken as shown at the following link. Kazuhisa Takano Inventions, Patents and Patent Applications - Justia Patents Search USPTO patent applications submitted by and patents granted to... What's interesting is not just the mechanism that makes up the LMW suspension is patented, but also the motion of leaning with three wheels in this manner is patented. I didn't know one could patent a motion. I hereby officially patent the drunken motion. I'm gonna sit back and wait for all my patent royalties to come in now... 2 2019 Niken GT "Motorcycles - the brand is not important, the fact that you ride is." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supporting Member maximNikenGT Posted July 19, 2021 Author Supporting Member Share Posted July 19, 2021 (edited) Stumbled across this article that credits the original 1977 scooter from Yamaha called the Passol which ultimately led to leaning multi wheel (LMW) technology being developed. This in turn led to the creation of the Tesseract concept in 2007 along with a Tesseract based OR2T concept. The Tesseract then led to the Tricity in 2014 and ultimately the 2017 Niken almost 50 years later from the original LMW patent filing. Fascinating read. Video of an original Yamaha Passol scooter : https://livingwithgravity.com/all-about-yamaha-nikens-past-present-and-future/ Just noticed that the Honda sticker at 0:29 is affixed to the rear mudflap, but the bike itself is actually a Yamaha. Using the Passol as the base platform to experiment with the wheel designs, this test platform would ultimately become the LMW patent that covers Niken and Tricity three wheel design today. Edited August 25, 2023 by maximNikenGT Photos 1 1 2019 Niken GT "Motorcycles - the brand is not important, the fact that you ride is." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supporting Member maximNikenGT Posted July 19, 2021 Author Supporting Member Share Posted July 19, 2021 Actual video of the OR2T prototype undergoing testing. Posted in October 2015. Two years later this led to the Niken. 1 2019 Niken GT "Motorcycles - the brand is not important, the fact that you ride is." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supporting Member maximNikenGT Posted August 25, 2023 Author Supporting Member Share Posted August 25, 2023 (edited) Interviews with the development team of the NIKEN GT ('23 BFD) are now available , 2 out of 3 interviews in total. The article is in Japanese, so please use a translation site to read it. Part 1https://response.jp/article/2023/08/23/374451.html Part 2https://response.jp/article/2023/08/25/374523.html Mr Hirakawa, the project leader for this project, was in charge of the chassis for the NIKEN (BD5). Hat tip to Matsumoto Kazuo for posting. Edited August 25, 2023 by maximNikenGT Added part one translation 2019 Niken GT "Motorcycles - the brand is not important, the fact that you ride is." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supporting Member maximNikenGT Posted August 25, 2023 Author Supporting Member Share Posted August 25, 2023 Part two of interview translated via Google. 2019 Niken GT "Motorcycles - the brand is not important, the fact that you ride is." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supporting Member maximNikenGT Posted September 22, 2023 Author Supporting Member Share Posted September 22, 2023 (edited) I would submit to the forum that this guy licensed Yamaha tech for his Batcycle. If it's good enough for Batman... Edited September 22, 2023 by maximNikenGT 2019 Niken GT "Motorcycles - the brand is not important, the fact that you ride is." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supporting Member maximNikenGT Posted October 13, 2023 Author Supporting Member Share Posted October 13, 2023 And of course the Niken wouldn't be possible without the fine men and women at the Yamaha factory out of Iwata, Japan. Video of Nikens being built and assembled off the lines of Iwata in addition to other Yamaha motorcycle models. 2019 Niken GT "Motorcycles - the brand is not important, the fact that you ride is." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supporting Member maximNikenGT Posted March 7 Author Supporting Member Share Posted March 7 Not sure why I didn’t encounter this before but here’s a link to the Yamaha 01GEN concept bike that debuted in 2014 (four years before the worldwide introduction to the Niken in 2018): https://www.revzilla.com/common-tread/yamaha-01gen-concept What’s interesting is that the 01GEN had the front double suspension tubes on the inside of the front wheels vs. the Niken production having the suspension tubes on the outside. I actually kind of like the double beak on the 01GEN. Makes it feel more adventure bike. 1 2019 Niken GT "Motorcycles - the brand is not important, the fact that you ride is." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yaman Posted March 7 Share Posted March 7 In 2018 Yamaha bought patent from a norwegian company called brudeli tech , it was patent of the front leaning suspension . The company are located 10 min from my home so i drive by them often . 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supporting Member maximNikenGT Posted March 8 Author Supporting Member Share Posted March 8 17 hours ago, Yaman said: In 2018 Yamaha bought patent from a norwegian company called brudeli tech , it was patent of the front leaning suspension . The company are located 10 min from my home so i drive by them often . Thanks Yaman. Fascinating. First time I’ve heard that Yamaha bought a patent for leaning front wheels from a Norwegian company. Upon further review: https://brudelitech.com/history-22385s.html, the Brudeli Tech company’s own website touts the sale of the patent in the following press release. I’ll have to do a patent lookup to see which patent specifically changed hands here but it wouldn’t surprise me if Yamaha did buy certain suspension patents to support it’s own Leaning Multi Wheel (LMW) tech. 2019 Niken GT "Motorcycles - the brand is not important, the fact that you ride is." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supporting Member maximNikenGT Posted March 8 Author Supporting Member Share Posted March 8 Did some further digging, looks like Yamaha is utilizing the patents it acquired from Brudeli Tech to refine its LMW tech to a second generation: https://www.carandbike.com/news/yamaha-patents-reveal-new-leaning-three-wheeler-2243396 Unclear if this is heralding a second gen Niken or if tech is to be used in its Tricities line or some other yet to be announced product. 2019 Niken GT "Motorcycles - the brand is not important, the fact that you ride is." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supporting Member maximNikenGT Posted March 8 Author Supporting Member Share Posted March 8 Curiosity got the better of me and I had to see one of these Brudeli’s 654Ls in action. What really caught my attention was when they dirt tracked and ice tracked the Brudeli. Pretty sure I would never dirt or ice track my Niken but the Brudeli looked pretty fun doing it. Shorter video with dirt tracking: Longer video with ice tracking: 2019 Niken GT "Motorcycles - the brand is not important, the fact that you ride is." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supporting Member Heli ATP Posted March 8 Supporting Member Share Posted March 8 Very interesting. Thanks for doing the research. 👍 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supporting Member maximNikenGT Posted March 8 Author Supporting Member Share Posted March 8 Unverified source but ran across this as I was looking for Brudeli videos. The video suggests that Yamaha has a hybrid three wheeler version in the works. Had to read the transcript since it was recorded in Hindi. Source didn’t cite where he got the images from, so this may just be internet vaporware. But this was posted 3 years ago right as Niken sales was discontinued in the US (presumably due to poor sales/general user adoption). With the price of a new full size EV in the US averaging about $55353 (source: The Average Price of an Electric Car Keeps Dropping (2024 Update) - CarEdge https://caredge.com/guides/average-price-of-an-electric-car-2024 ), this may be a solution for folks needing more affordable mobility. 2019 Niken GT "Motorcycles - the brand is not important, the fact that you ride is." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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