James Parker

I read with interest the article on Parkers RADD design in the January edition of Motorcyclist. I just love new technology. Just a few observations from a non-engineer. "Compared to a traditional fork, the RADD front end looks complex". Well I would say it's quite a bit more complex. Let's see a traditional fork has two sliding sections that only travel up and down, I'd say that is quite simple. I wonder how the RADD design would do on a bike that has it's front wheel up in the air and slamming back down onto the ground constantly. Also one of the photos had a caption that noted "some instability", Barry Burke had and "energetic case of steering oscillation" under high cornering loads. That sounds like a MAJOR tank slapper to me Whoa! I just don't see how this front end is going to replace the standard front fork any time soon. Complexity, cost, and predictability all have to be sorted out. I also noted the Future Think page had a bike with a BMW logo on it. This bike appears to have one of Parker's RADD front ends on it. BMW has spent untold gazillions developing their own non-traditional front end designs, and I find it highly unlikely they would jump ship and adopt the RADD. Still anything can happen in 43 years right?
Keep up the good work. Parker you are WAY smarter than I am. I do enjoy your monthly contribution to the magazine. Who knows maybe someday I will be riding a bike with a RADD design and loving it.
Gary  

As a former owner of a Yamaha GTS1000 I feel somewhat qualified to respond to this.  The bike Motorcyclist rode is a test mule, once it is sorted out any weaving or steering oscillation should be gone.  When the GTS was originally tested one of the complaints noted was it didn't feel any different that a bike with telescopic forks.  

I would imagine the RADD front end would perform better than telescopic forks in a "bike that has it's front wheel up in the air and slamming back down onto the ground constantly".  Instead of having a vertical arrangement of bearings to wear and loosen there are horizontal bushings that take most of the abuse.

Unfortunately many motorcyclists have a preconceived notion of what a motorcycle should look like and it includes telescopic forks.  Once Mr. Parker gets the new RADD system set up I think it will outperform traditional forks in many ways.  If I recall correctly the GTS1000 set a record stopping distance 60-0 of something like 87 feet that still stands today mostly thanks to the RADD suspension.  This was back in the early 90's.