The Uno Electric Motorcycle, or MotorUnicycle

88 by LiveOAK Staff on May 8, 2008

Dubbed the Uno, this crazy Segway / crotch rocket hybrid is the result of teen, Ben Gulak's preternatural engineering skills combined with his desire to help the environment. This "motorUnicycle" actually has two wheels, side by side, and is reportedly easy to ride. Pictured above is an actual working prototype that weights about 120 lbs and runs for about 2.5 hours on an electric motor. The bike really has no controls other than the handle bars and the drivers ability to shift his/her weight. Similar to the Segway, the Uno uses two Gyros to keep itself upright and to operate. Simply lean in the direction you want to go... forward to accelerate, backwards to go back, and to either side...

Gulak came up with the idea after a 2006 trip to China where he noticed a lot of people riding internal combustion bikes and horrendous smog. According to Gulak, "The smog was so thick, we never saw the sun." The trip made him realize that there was a need for a compact electric vehicle that would ease congestion and not take it's toll on the environment.

All things considered this is great Green innovation, and its's amazing that it was developed by a teenager! Let me leave you with this question, will you miss the joy of popping a wheelie or is this like riding a wheelie all the time? [via: MotorcycleMojo]

Category: Cars+Tranportation | Tags: electric, motorcycle

About the Author:

Follow LiveOAK Staff on Twitter: @

sony

kinda looks like the machine invented by mr. garrison from southpark

minimiller

ATTENTION DUELISTS, HOLY CRAP I WOULD TOTALLY HAVE ONE OF THOSE, PERIOD

AND ALL THOSE NARROW MINDED JACKASS’S WHO LIKE TO PUT OTHER PEOPLE DOWN JUST BECAUSE YOU GOT BURNED BY A 19 YEAR OLD, LOOK AT THE FACTS FIRST. YOU DONT EVEN HAVE TO RESEARCH IT TO KNOW THIS IS A GREAT IDEA AND ALSO HAS A SUCCESSFUL PROTOTYPE, ITS ALL UP THERE IN THE ABOVE COMMENTS THAT SAY THIS IS ‘A’ OK

‘IN AMERICA’

Strung

Nah… There’s a photo of the seat and Mr Garrison would be disappointed.
Great concept though and a brilliant build by the look of it.
So what happens when you emergency brake from top speed?
Not a front wheel “stoppie”.
More of a face “plantie”.
http://www.worthpoint.com Antiques

that thing looks like a lot of fun. I’d totally love to try one out. I wonder if the balancing is easy or if its a circus act type of thing.
MII

vid plz…
sP00N

I think it uses the same type of stabilizer as the segway, thus counter balancing it during an abrupt stop.
neonguy

why not call it a municycle? (motorcycle/unicycle)
http://meatspin.com Anon

Has two wheels, there for it’s not a f@$!*^% motorunicycle or municycle. dumsh*@#!.

SB

Bad day?

Cpt. Obvious

Because neonguy, that would be far too easy. Most of us would much rather use six syllables instead of four. Plus, municycle would imply the devices intended use in cities.
Foppy

It seems like a excellent idea.. but a 2.5 hour motor.. kinda lame sacrifice the 120 lbs put a bit bigger battery in there make it run longer…. with good traffic in my town it takes 15-25 min just go down town… so if you alotta running around to that day school downtown to work back home…. i don’t think it would last you the whole time.. good idea but not every practical.. and whats the recharge time on the 2.5 hours any how?
http://www.themediazoo.com Josh Darville

This is pretty cool, I like it alot.

JoshD@themediazoo.com
http://www.TheMediaZoo.com – We Create Custom Website Videos
delux

DO A WHEELIE!!!!!!!!! ……wait
Watchit

FACE PLANT… OW!
Alan

That looks like an accident waiting to happen, bikes are dangerous enough as it is, why heighten the chances?

thedude

fuc u taint

Tuono

Just because you can do it doesn’t mean it’s a good idea…
Dave

Hey i’ve an idea, why not take the second of the two center wheels and put it at the front and put the other wheel to the back thus eliminating the need for a balance device, oh wait…

Ha still cool though
Pingback: ComicSearch.co.uk
Duncan

shopped…
Tim

How fast can it go?
Pingback: The Uno Electric Motorcycle, or MotorUnicycle - Pacific Northwest Riders
d

lmao you guys think this is genius? It’s one of the stupidest f@$!*^% things I’ve ever seen, if you were to stop you’d fly off, why go 2 wheels side by side over 1 wheel in front and another in back? This is f@$!*^% garbage, like you all, it’s stupid.

Justin

Hahahaa.

Actually your the fucking stupid one.

If you were the least bit knowledgeable with Gravity, and Balance, you would see where the footpegs are, and realize with the tiny brain of yours that it uses counter-weight. When you brake, the machine will yes push forward, HOWEVER, the position and force of your legs on the footpegs will COUNTER the g-force in the braking, keeping you balanced. This thing clearly doesn’t just face-fucking-plant you into the pavement jackass, or he wouldn’t be able to try it out and test it.

Apply common sense into your next posts, Dimwit.

corrupt3

Hear, hear!!!

0000

whats with the negative ppl leaving these comments? if you dont like it move on. and would it hurt to actually stop and try to understand the device? “if you brake you’ll fly off”. No. You wont. it maintains a balanced center of gravity, its not a seat on a rod connected to a pivot. and two wheels on the side? you wouldnt have the steering capabilities of which a motorcycle has, and this vehicle most likely does. go ride one then say stupid s@!&, because then there is backing.
0000

oh and onther thing.. “shopped” . .. pfff shut up. why is it shopped? you have never seen one, or it is an out of the ordinary device so its shopped? open your mind to new ideas, but then again ignorance is bliss..
Bosco

You guys aren’t reading the article very carefully…there are no brakes. so no emergency braking.

Hopefully the only way a face plant happens is if the software stops working.
http://www.itrush.com ITrush

That’s really cool, very nice idea.
Stumbled!

nhick
http://www.itrush.com
James

Not much hope for the future from the comments here. “lame”,” Stupidist thing I’ve ever seen”,” How fast can it go?” Looks like they should move the wheels to front and back and put in a gasoline engine, just to keep people happy. Oh, wait, we’ve already been doing that for 100+ years. News for the morons, IT IS A PROTOTYPE, NOBODY IS FORCING YOU TO BUY IT. Like all the concept vehicles from the regular car companys (the ones that give you more horsepower so you can kill yourself faster when you’re loaded), it is a test. If people like it, they will work out the bugs. If they don’t, it will fade away. Put away your big stick, drag your knuckles off the ground, and take a deep breath. You presume that the egghead that invented this can’t think of the simple things you latch onto. Get all the spec’s first, then rant.
http://ewanm89.co.uk/ ewanm89

So it’s a segway with bigger wheels and a seat, should be fine as long as both computers don’t crash/full power failure (someone did include backups?). And be careful of the Arianne V bug, both computers (main and backup) made same mistake
asdas

Hmm, I seem to be running out of fuel FACE PLANT!!!
Nobody

yea, that looks awesome, i would definatly like to try this, but…. if it has no brakes, just slam into a wall… you wont get hurt,
http://www.dutsi.com dutsi

I think you faceplant sayers are forgetting to calculate the angle of the rider from the center point of the bike when leant back to brake and the anti lock system on the brakes. bad I can not draw a diagram but I hope you will get this.
stef

The third flexigrip is gently inserted into the anus, to keep the driver in place…

lol
Bangorip

All you fools with the ‘faceplant’ comments: You lean back to stop so the only way you’d do a faceplant would be hitting an object and going over the top. The same as if you hit the object on a motorbike. Bet this would come off better than a motorbike though. You’d be injured all the same. If you cant understand the basic mathematics behind it you shouldnt be allowed to have any interactions with the outside world.
halfdeaded

Looks like a good idea, especially around campus or downtown Portland. They could probably put 6 of these in one parking spot. The near future will produce smaller, lighter battery packs with a much longer run time.
Backers look up Ben Gulak and get him going on a very lucrative investment. You won’t be sorry.
bhbbb

gay just use a motorcycle fuck the _POLICE
http://mikehawk.com Mike Hawk

But, does it run Linux?
shawn

Where and when can I buy one! Awesome idea. I was wondering when someone would invent a decent electric motorcycle. 2.5 hours for an electric vehicle is incredible if you people haven’t checked into current times/ distances on electric charge. Most cars are getting barely 1 hour per charge. Not to mention that here in California we can split lanes on motorcycles making our commutes much quicker. My current commute to work in my car takes me 1.5 hours and on my motorcycle 45 minutes. No back tire is brilliant in reducing the overall weight of the bike. I’m guessing that saves at least 50+ pounds not including the extra frame work required.
ExperiencedEngineer

(It’s amazing to me how dumb some people are-see comments above.)
The understanding of a teenager about gyros, etc., and his ability to actually build this Unicycle gives me hope for the future and that we, as Americans, will continue to design and develop new ideas keeping us competitive.
Kudos to you! Good luck in the future.

blank

He is Canadian.

fake!

wow this is sooooo photoshopped. you can tell because he obviously couldnt balance that way, and no teenager could build something like that. but the reflections and shadows look almost exactly rite, someone spent a long time on this.

Nickole

Wow. It’s not photoshopped at all. His website explains the processes, and the magazine “Popular Mechanics” actually went and checked out the thing. They’re the ones who took the photos. A popular motorcycle magazine also went and checked it out. They took pictures of it too. Plus, there’s a lot of pictures of the outer framing being made, as well as the internal structure, and the finished process. And using the internal computer, it’s easy to maintain balance, because it’s two wheels, side by side. Go read up on it.
TL;DR version:
You’re wrong, and an idiot.

tacha

i think the idea is a great one. i agree that the teen who invented it is quite smart and talented, a lot of thought and planning and calculating go into creating something like this. right on, congrats.
to all the idiots who dont get it? keep stumbling thru your browser, and go find something… like terrorists…to bitch about. at least this kid is trying to do something about the environment, instead of using a fuel powered earth killer like other motor cycles.
joshi

“d

lmao you guys think this is genius? Itâ€™s one of the stupidest f@$!*^% things Iâ€™ve ever seen, if you were to stop youâ€™d fly off, why go 2 wheels side by side over 1 wheel in front and another in back? This is f@$!*^% garbage, like you all, itâ€™s stupid.”

YOU are fucking stupid.
You accelerate by “LEANING” to front and vice-versa to break. So, with the G considered it’s almost impossible to make an immediate stop that would cause “you to fly off” of it.
Plus no one is claiming that it would go fast, it’s not a motorized vehicle, it’s an alternative to cycling/walking. And the important fact here is product being environmentally friendly.
READ THE FUCKING TEXT YOU ARE NOT CLEVER ENOUGH TO FIGURE OUT WHAT’S GOING ON FROM THE PICTURES.
joshi

“fake!

wow this is sooooo photoshopped. you can tell because he obviously couldnt balance that way, and no teenager could build something like that. but the reflections and shadows look almost exactly rite, someone spent a long time on this.”

WOW since they can do these kinda things in photoshop you might just wanna import a picture of yours and draw a brain inside your head. Maybe people will think it’s real.

learn to appreciate before fucking criticizing
joshi

“asdas

Hmm, I seem to be running out of fuel FACE PLANT!!!”

IT WORKS WITH FUCKING ELECTRICITY YOU MORON WHAT FUEL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT
joshi

ExperiencedEngineer

(Itâ€™s amazing to me how dumb some people are-see comments above.)

I sadly second that!
Bruno

Why can’t people see the benefits of this kind of innovation? Congratulations!
Ray

Looks like a lot of American kids are leaving comments. I’ve actually seen this device in person, running. You can do a full, safe, panic stop from 60km/hr. Due to the extreme light weight, it stops shorter than most sport bikes, and a fraction of any car. The use of the electric motor torque is brilliant to maintain pitch. The use of the motor as brake is also done on Segways and hybrids -it doesn’t wear out and work when wet.
If they hope to sell this in the US, it will have to burn gas, make smoke, and get a much wider seat.
The fact that these young guys made this is amazing, and it’s obvious that few that leave comments could even understand this technology.

TDF

I am greatful to be an american teenager that hasnt been brain washed and desentitized to a good idea. If this was to be sold in the US it would have to be gas because we cant see it any other way and adatp to change. The big seat would be for our MC supersized ass’s. I completly understand this technology and wish to thank this dude personaly to show my graditude to the future and to make it a better place

Pingback: Wednesdays Insanity « Madnessletters
Val Creek

Way to Go!!!Go!!!Go!!! This is a great idea…I’ve tried the Segway…and currently ride an electric Tricycle…but this looks too fun.
Deffinately innovative…congrats.
Banjo

This is tits!
Investigate better

Quite simply, not shopped… too many photos of the same concept in various levels of completion. AND
And if you’re smart enough to read, one photo has another website in ON IT. http://www.motorcyclemojo.com/articles/the-uno/
After you use the clues available you can unmask the good guy like shaggy and scooby!!! The Magazine’s legit and THEY took the photos.

How hard is it to understand that someone added a seat to a Segway? It’s not like asking someone to believe in god, this is technology that is already available… being applied in a new way.
Jesus

how much would this cost somebody?
Pingback: The Uno « EnerGeoPolitics Blog