Feet Forwards Motorcycle
A Feet First (FF) Motorcycle is a class of motorcycle design that seeks to look at the two-wheeled concept afresh, and create a new form of practical personal transport. The name "feet first" (also referred to as "feet forward") was first used by Royce Creasey and refers to the rider's seating position, with feet ahead in a position (like a car), rather than below and astride, as with conventional bikes. As there are other types of motorcycle (e.g. choppers) that have a 'feet forward' position, an alternative term sometimes used is Advanced Single Track Vehicle.
To be classed as an FF the originators of the 'modern' FF - Malcolm Newell and Royce Creasey - came up with the definition that:
- an FF would have a seat base less than 20 in (500 mm) from the ground, at normal ride height
In practice this is not strictly adhered to, and this has developed into:
- an FF two-wheeler is defined as a single track vehicle where the rider(s) sit in tandem in much the same attitude and at much the same height as car passengers. The seat provided is similar, and sometimes identical, to a car seat
and that:
- a feet first two-wheeler has a low-mounted seat and seat back like a car
The Feet Forward motorcycle differs significantly from the conventional scooter (e.g. the Piaggio Vespa), and the maxi scooter (e.g. the Suzuki Burgman), in that the expectation of the design is that it should outmatch a conventional motorcycle in terms of handling and performance, as well as in rider comfort.
Read more about Feet Forwards Motorcycle: History, Rationale, Problems Faced
Famous quotes containing the words feet and/or motorcycle:
“This world has many rings, like Saturn, and we live now on the outmost of them all. None can say deliberately that he inhabits the same sphere, or is contemporary, with the flower which his hands have plucked, and though his feet may seem to crush it, inconceivable spaces and ages separate them, and perchance there is no danger that he will hurt it.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Actually being married seemed so crowded with unspoken rules and odd secrets and unfathomable responsibilities that it had no more occurred to her to imagine being married herself than it had to imagine driving a motorcycle or having a job. She had, however, thought about being a bride, which had more to do with being the center of attention and looking inexplicably, temporarily beautiful than it did with sharing a double bed with someone with hairy legs and a drawer full of boxer shorts.”
—Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)