Suzuki’s electric monkey bike
‘Extrigger’ concept to debut at Tokyo Motor Show
ELECTRICITY may never provide a practical alternative to the internal combustion engine unless someone can do something about battery range. But who cares about that when you’re terrorising good townsfolk on a 62kg monkey bike.
We can’t think of a more suitable motorcycle genre for battery power than the venerable monkey. Apparently Suzuki thinks it’s a good idea too.
The firm is set to unveil this concept, called the Extrigger, at the Tokyo Motor Show next month.
Powered by the motor and 0.58kW battery from Suzuki’s e-Let’s electric scooter, the Extrigger has upside-down forks, wavy disc brakes and an aluminium-trellis frame.
The seat height is 720mm, the wheelbase 960mm and the weight 62kg.
Oddly, the Extrigger features a data transmission system using visible light communication (VLC) technology to let “the rider receive information from the motorcycle shop or enjoy communicating with friends”. Because naturally we all need to chat with the bike dealer on every ride. And mobile phones have yet to catch on.
The Extrigger will be unveiled at the Tokyo Motor Show on November 23 along with a concept car, the X-Lander, able to carry the monkey bike on what looks like an extendable rear bumper.
