If BMW is right, motorcycles in the distant future will look like the lovechild of a Terminator T1000 and a Rokon Trail-Breaker. Or, maybe not. The newly unveiled Vision Next 100 concept from BMW?s Motorrad motorcycle department isn?t meant to be a prediction so much as a daydream about what might be coming in the generations after the next generation of products. Think composite elastic frames that eliminate the suspension and steering fork, self-balancing gyroscopes, augmented-reality visors, and enough artificial intelligence in the safety systems that helmets won?t even be necessary. As we said, a daydream.
One of a handful of automakers that also produces motorcycles, BMW has incorporated its Motorrad division into a grand styling exercise called BMW Vision Next 100, a traveling roadshow headed to cities and auto shows and open to the public, in which all the Munich automaker?s brands present concepts that push the boundaries on styling and technology for the next century of motoring. The BMW, Rolls-Royce, and Mini concepts were previously shown in March, May, and June. Motorrad closed the loop this week in Santa Monica, California with this butch looking two-wheeler dubbed ?The Great Escape? that has both highly futuristic and nostalgic design elements meant to be an exciting wind-in-your-face counterpoint to the wave of automated transport pods that are assuredly coming.
To make it look unmistakably like a BMW, the creation team led by Motorrad design chief Edgar H...