Interesting AWD bike article.......

[Arizona Wayne]

.....http://www.motorcycle-usa.com  Go to Backmarker-Steve Christini's Better Moustrap.  A real legitimate AWD bike sold to the military. Quite a story why it isn't available as a streetbike.  :Beating_A_Dead_Hors e_by_liviu

[Arizona Wayne]

Studies have shown that 2 WD motorbikes don't work well in high traction situations . The Christini only delivers a percentage to the front wheel , and in street bike use the percentage would have to be really low to prevent the front wheel from pulling the bike off line .
 Sidenote . Geoff Aaron did manage to finish second at the Last Man Standing on a Christini , one of only two finishers that year .

  Dusty

Have you read this article yet?  I know Yamaha ran an AWD in the Paris-Dakar rally a few years ago.  It is suggested on the street an AWD bike is safer in conditions like in the rain than 1 wheel drive MC.  I know my MP3- 3 wheelers are much safer in  the rain than a 2 wheeler.  They're like driving a car then.   Safer in the dry too. 

[Sasquatch Jim]

 There is a reason that the Rokon doesn't go fast.
 They don't want to lose their customers.

[Sasquatch Jim]

 There is a reason that the Rokon doesn't go fast.
 They don't want to lose their customers.

[sib]

... I know my MP3- 3 wheelers are much safer in the rain than a 2 wheeler.  They're like driving a car then....

Well, that's the problem, isn't it.  Might as well drive a car, even safer.

[Arizona Wayne]

Well, that's the problem, isn't it.  Might as well drive a car, even safer.

Perhaps you don't know what a Piaggio MP3 is...............it LEANS just like your MC.  Don't know of any car that does.  Maybe if you rode 1 you'd understand better. 

[sib]

Perhaps you don't know what a Piaggio MP3 is...............it LEANS just like your MC.  Don't know of any car that does.  Maybe if you rode 1 you'd understand better. 

Point taken, I'll have to learn more about the leaning MP3.  Although, if I remember correctly, my old 1954 Buick Roadmaster used to lean a lot in corners, too. 

[Sasquatch Jim]

  But your old Buick toad master leaned the wrong direction.

[Arizona Wayne]

Studies have shown that 2 WD motorbikes don't work well in high traction situations . The Christini only delivers a percentage to the front wheel , and in street bike use the percentage would have to be really low to prevent the front wheel from pulling the bike off line .
 Sidenote . Geoff Aaron did manage to finish second at the Last Man Standing on a Christini , one of only two finishers that year .

  Dusty

Does this mean you are not willing to learn more info. on the subject?   If so, that's too bad.  The article says good current bike riders can't adapt to the different handling of an AWD bike because they have been programmed to ride only 1WD bikes  all their lives.  But a non-MC rider adapts to the AWD without the old riding habits of the seasoned riders.   In other words, non current MC riders LIKE the AWDs  because they don't have any pre-determined concepts of how they should handle.                   

[oldbike54]

Does this mean you are not willing to learn more info. on the subject?   If so, that's too bad.  The article says good current bike riders can't adapt to the different handling of an AWD bike because they have been programmed to ride only 1WD bikes  all their lives.  But a non-MC rider adapts to the AWD without the old riding habits of the seasoned riders.   In other words, non current MC riders LIKE the AWDs  because they don't have any pre-determined concepts of how they should handle.                   

 Sure I am willing to learn . Unfortunately the article read like an ad for Christini , and the other reports I've read over the years suggest that the design doesn't work well except in the dirt . It is a fairly complicated solution to a problem street bikes don't have .
 Oh , and the comparison of 2 WD tech to an MP 3 is a bit off . The MP 3 is still rear wheel driven .

  Dusty