Creating a two-wheel-drive motorcycle has been tried many times before but the complexity of getting power to the front wheel has usually ended in compromises that hamstring the idea.
Sure, there have been successes – Christini’s 2WD kits are well respected, for instance – but two-wheel-drive has never shown much sign of breaking into the mainstream. Electric power could change all that by granting the ability to add a cheap and simple hub-mounted motor to the front wheel of an otherwise conventional bike, and that’s just what Wunderlich has done on its prototype X2 hybrid-drive R1200GS.
Wunderlich might be an early adopter, but both KTM and Honda have, in the past, filed patents for bikes with a similar drive system, so the idea is clearly already in the minds of big manufacturers.
The X2’s front motor only offers 10bhp (7.6kW) but it’s enough to power the bike at low speeds with the ‘main’ engine switched off, and can be run backwards as well as forwards, potentially helping when it comes to manoeuvring the hefty GS into parking spots. With the 1200cc twin powering the bike as well as the front motor, the front wheel motor helps in terms of traction off-road.
Italian electric specialist Evolt has helped create the installation, and while it’s not likely to appear widely just yet, it’s a technology that could be more widely adopted in the future.
