SWIGZ electric racing bike bests internal combustion competition, mostly (video)

Make room, Brammo , MotoCzysz , and Mission Motors , there’s a new motorcycle from Chip Yates and SWIGZ Pro Racing looking to join the electric bi-wheeled racing elite. The bike is doing its best to hasten the demise of the ICE with a 194hp DC motor (50+hp more than its EV brethren), putting down 295 ft-lbs of torque, which carried it to second- and third-place finishes against gas-powered competition in the WERA Heavyweight Twins Superstock and Superbike races at Auto Club Speedway in California on January 9th. Also on board is a first-of-its-kind front wheel KERS system that recharges the batteries en route to give the motor the juice it needs to hit racing speeds of up to 158mph. For those who’d like to own such an engineering marvel, keep dreaming, as Mr. Yates states the bike is a technical showcase that’s not meant for production. However, patents are pending on the KERS technology and the plan is to license it out — so gearheads can have a similar bike eventually — for a not-so-insignificant sum, we’d imagine. See the bike in action after the break. Continue reading SWIGZ electric racing bike bests internal combustion competition, mostly (video) SWIGZ electric racing bike bests internal combustion competition, mostly (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 08 Feb 2011 09:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

Posted by on February 8, 2011. Filed under News, Tech. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry