Hossack Ducati - The want needle is pegged.

"BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast." (boxerfanatic) 08/29/2013 at 14:57 • Filed to: None

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Norman Hossack has finished his latest motorcycle.

A 2nd-generation Ducati SuperSport, an 800cc mid-range bike to be more specific.

The steel tube trellis frame has been modified to locate race car/sports car like double wishbone front suspension, with a steered tubular trellis steered upright. (a girder steers both the upright and the control arms, and has geometric issues with that compound action)

With a single IKON shock handling the front end, Hossack's front end saves about 30lbs, has 4 degrees more steering range, proper geometry, no stiction, and a more comfortable handle-bar height.

And it looks like it belongs there. (a matching Monster S4R tubular trellis single-sided rear arm would complete the bike, but the aluminum double-sider is probably a bit lighter for equivalent or better rigidity, just not as easy to service the rear wheel/tire, or look as cool.)

A single-sided front upright with a rim-mounted brake (like Buell and some other customs) would be awesome, too... but probably not as light weight to have to reinforce the rigidity of the upright.

http://thekneeslider.com/

desertdog5051 > BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. 08/29/2013 at 15:02

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Very unique design.

BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. > desertdog5051 08/29/2013 at 15:31

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For a motorcycle, yes.

He actually developed it after working on racing teams as an engineer, on cars.

He basically converted and applied a tubular double wishbone suspension like most race cars, to the front of a motorcycle, with the wishbones above the wheel, and axial to the bike.

He made several prototypes in the 80's and 90's.

BMW waited until the patent ran out, and then adopted it as Duoloever on their K1200 and K1600 bikes, without giving Hossack much of any credit, or payment. I am a BMW fan, and I want a K-bike because of the Hossack suspension, but it is a black mark on my opinion of BMW Motorrad for slighting Hossack that way.

Hossack basically went bankrupt developing and building prototypes on his own dime, and then never got a payback. This is his first prototype bike since after BMW started using his design, and again, on his own dime.

It's a "Porch-uh" > BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. 08/29/2013 at 15:45

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Everybody keeps talking about what a bad design standard forks are, and guys like this keep coming up with new ideas (that seem to work very well), but none of the major manufacturers want to bite.

BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. > BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. 08/29/2013 at 16:33

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I wish I could buy a Hossack-built bike. If I were to ever buy an K1200R-Sport, I would put big Hossack decals on the front end uprights to give credit where credit is due.

If I were to somehow windfall into some cash, I would commission Hossack to build me a bike... Maybe a BMW R1200... maybe a MotoGuzzi, maybe an air-cooled ducati like this.

I like the Terblanche-era 800SS... but if I could get this front end on a bike wearing earlier 900SS-CR bodywork, all the better.

With this rear swing arm.

With that, given the same slightly higher handle bar position that Hossack used on his 800SS for humane ergonomics, That would be a kickin' street bike.

Turk > It's a "Porch-uh" 08/29/2013 at 17:01

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Have you ridden a somewhat modern BMW?

I will paraphrase the discussion I've heard cuz I couldn't say it better myself: riding a 10-year old K I would brace / loosen for the dips, bumps and potholes, as I'm accustomed to doing from all my conventional-fork bikes, in my first half hour of riding, then I'd go over them and something amazing happened: NOTHING. Zero drama. Smooooth. Then I switch back to a conventional fork and spend an hour or two of the first ride wondering why the bike feels the need to tell me about every 1 mm gravel bit it finds within a mile of the contact patch.

I still ride a conventional-fork bike. But, if there were a half-decent telelever or whatever track day option that wasn't too expensive (no need to be stupid powerful either) I might give it a shot. The conventional wisdom says they can't use em in MotoGP etc., because they're just too different, the riders wouldn't be able to make sense of em, and then manufacturers couldn't make their super-primo MotoGP sales pitch.

It's a "Porch-uh" > Turk 08/29/2013 at 17:31

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Yeah, forgot about BMW. But nobody seems to want to use non-fork tech on sport bikes. Even BMW's liter-bike uses conventional forks.

I test rode a K1300 (I think in 2008) and liked it (Oh the power!), but it wasn't enough of a ride to tell the difference in the front-end setup over my VFR.