The Brudelli Leanster

Thanks to the Yahoo! tilting vehicles group, I just discovered the Brudelli Leanster. The front end geometry is functionally the same as the Aprilia Magnet and the Tilting Motor Works design. One thing it does differently is that it has a tilt limit mechanism that keeps the bike from leaning over too far. As the photos show, the bike is able to lean over full tilt and not fall over. That’s what I want for Project Streetliner. It’s very nice to see that it’s possible. I’m also encouraged by the structural details of the frame and suspension components. They seem to be the kind of things that would be straightforward to fabricate. Very cool.

For more, check out their website: Brudelitech.com

2 thoughts on “The Brudelli Leanster”

  1. One thing that you may have a problem integrating with a tilting arrangement like this and your latest exterior design concept, is the arc that the A-Arms cut through the body when they swing from full left tilt to full right. Seems easy up front to just say that you’ll cut that part of the body away, but take a closer look at how much has to be removed and it probably makes a significant visual impact on your design. The narrower the nose is where the A-Arms attach, the smaller the arc they cut (circle’s radius).

    One thing that might work for you and fits in pretty well with the Alfettina design that you linked to is to make the body a perfect cylinder at the point that the A-Arms pierce the skin. Then you should be able to cut a ring from the body and let it move with the A-Arms so that the nose and rear tilt, but the skin at the section where the A-Arms protrude stays stationary (relative to the ground) with the A-Arms.

  2. This is one of the big reasons I’ll be building a series of scale models long before I knock anything together full size. Although, I’m not super worried about what you’re describing because some of that can be mitigated by the distance between the upper and lower swing arms. The reality is I simply won’t know until I’ve finalized the dimensions of the suspension. But even if there do need to be a set of slots to allow the swing arms to move through the body, I imagine those won’t look bad if they’re kept trim. If anything, they’ll be sort of a badge of honor to the unique character of the vehicle. “What are those slots for?”

    Disconnecting the nose or just that section of body work from the rest of the shell just seems like a ton of extra work. Although what I could do is have those slots open and have a flexible inner panel riding with the swing arms that visually fills the gap from inside.

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