Feet forwards motorcycle

The machine was known as a TAC-Wilkinson, and was manufactured by the Wilkinson Sword Company[2] Ten years later in America Carl A. Neracher designed the Ner-a-Car[2] It had a feet-forward riding position, a pressed steel frame and hub centre steering[3] but in other respects was somewhat similar to a conventional motorcycle.

[4] Designed by Sir Alliot Verdon Roe in 1926, the Ro-Monocar used a 250 cc Villiers two-stroke engine, and featured a high degree of enclosure for the rider and a bucket seat.

[6] Thomas Engelbach's own design of a feet forward motorcycle came in 1980, with the innovative patent for an automatic stabilizing system that incorporated outrigger wheels.

Following the outstanding successes of the all-electric E-Tracer, X-Tracers and Zerotracer the MonoTracer-E MTE-150 went into production in 2012 and the company ceased making the petrol driven MTI-1200.

The company website said they would make a maximum of 36 vehicles per year from 2013 but sadly, production ceased with no more than some ten all-electric machines built.

[10] In 2010, Dutchman Allert Jacobs, creator of the Quest velomobile, streamlined a Honda Innova underbone motorcycle to more than double the fuel economy from 1 liter per 48 km (113 mpg) to 1 per 101 (237mpg).

[11] In 2013, Suprine Machinery, Inc and designer John Chelen, introduced the EXODUS, a 1200cc BMW flat four with five speeds and reverse, where the rider is safely surrounded by a roll cage and a skid plate.

There has been a revival of interest in the motor scooter as a means of personal transportation, and in some respects these vehicles have some features in common with FF motorcycles.

As the FF design moves the rider from an upright or Head First (HF) posture to a recumbent position (as in the Quasar and Dan Gurney's Alligator), the machine becomes lower and may make it harder to see in traffic.

Redesigning the motorcycle is necessary as a contributor in the autonomous vehicle arena and the FF design with the power plant moved to the back of the rider better distributes the weight and increases potential to lower the center of gravity.