UBCO 2x2
Is it a farm bike? Is it
just a fun runabout? It seems that with the Ubco 2x2, whatever your purpose,
you can go your own way — as long as you don’t mind going slowly, and don’t
exceed your battery range.
Designed in New Zealand, the
Ubco 2x2 takes two-wheel-drive motorcycle technology to its next logical
progression. Instead of installing a complicated system that drives the front
wheel from the same engine that powers the rear wheel, as existing 2WD bikes
do, the Ubco 2x2 simply has an independent motor for the front and rear wheels,
housed in the hub.
It’s battery-powered so it’s
a pretty simply solution, and it’s surprising someone hasn’t done this sooner.
Decades ago, inventor R.G. Letourneau used independent wheel hub motors to give
AWD to his earthmoving machinery; this just applies that technology to
motorcycles.
Although the video below
shows the Ubco holding down duty as a light runabout, it seems the designers
actually had a utilitarian role in mind originally, as their site talks about
using the machine as a farm bike, and the battery pack has charging ports for
power tools.
The twin electric motors are
powered by a single 40 aH lithium-ion battery; it can handle a load capacity of
up to 200 kg. The bike itself is quite light, at 50 kg; the designers claim a
100-150 km range on flat terrain, and a 70-100 km range on rolling terrain.
Charge time is four hours. It charges from either 110V or 220V outlets. Both
motorcycle and battery carry a two-year warranty.
Up front, the bike has 36 mm
ATR forks with adjustable air preload and rebound damping; in back, there’s a
32 mm ATR shock with adjustable air preload and rebound damping as well. Max
torque is 66 ft-lb; top speed is 45 km/h.
The tires are 70/100×17,
which isn’t ideal for off-roading, but the Ubco 2x2 isn’t really a hard-core MX
machine either.
