The Dark Knight Batcycle

[Bale]

The Bat Cycle: Hard and simple like the Tumbler. Thumbs up ! The same style. Is that a machine gun in front of the cycle ?

 

[360sculptguy]

Its quite possible that this isn't a working bike, just a look alike.

Also I remember reading in the article that the engine is in the front wheel.

Yeah, thats the problem with being a movie vehicle. Even if you think you see something recognizable it may just be for looks and not have any real purpose. Likewise, I agree, one of the bikes at an event like this might not be a 'completely ready for the road' version.

This is from the LA Times article that was posted on the SHH front page:

"The front and rear tires are both a monstrously huge 508 millimeters, and the engines are in the hubs of each wheel."

Every other article I've seen has just paraphrased this article or quoted it directly. I thought I looked pretty extensively and the only other article I saw that kind of suggested some more ideas on the engines/motors was this one. This lead me on the chase for the electric motors. I looked up the MIT City Car that it references and its pretty ambitious in all that it wants to accomplish with its in-wheel motors. I'm sure if the Batpod is using electric motors in the wheels they wouldn't need to be nearly as complicated as MIT is making them. That is to say your basic electric vehicle motors are nothing new. Its just using them inside the wheels of a motorcycle that complicates things.

If you think you are remembering correctly (about the front wheel) could you try and find the article again and send me the link?

Cool to hear from someone with knowledge, thanks! I couldn´t talk about bikes to save my ass...

Regular motorcycles I can talk about with some level of intelligence but I'm really just taking shots in the dark with this thing. Thanks though.

Man, that analysis was awesome!

Are you a mechanical engineer?

And 360sculptguy, thanks for being probably the most sensible person in this thread. That was a great breakdown. I've been looking at all the pics of the bike to do a similar analysis, but you beat me to it. Are you an engineer? If so, where'd you go to school?

Umm, No. Lol. I'm a sculptor and small business owner and work at my city's art museum during my off business hours. My grandfather opened an appliance sales and repair shop after WWII. He ran that successfully for 48 years and I pretty much grew up there. My dad went to the Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics to be a commercial flight mechanic and apart from other jobs worked as an electrician making high voltage test equipment for 25 years. So no, not an engineer by degree, just grew up fascinated and surrounded by machinery. That and a finely cultivated sense of BS might make me sound more informed than I am. t:

Oh, and I got my BFA in Sculpture and Metalsmithing from the University of Toledo. Conference table and high side table and guest bath vanity. Two examples of things I've made through my business.

Holy off-topicness, Batman!

Back to the Batpod!

 

[Steelsheen]

If you think you are remembering correctly (about the front wheel) could you try and find the article again and send me the link?

ah, it was the LA Times, and looks to be your right, it did say both wheels. me foggy memory thought it was just at the front tire.

 

[jeemer]

Looks like turd.

i almost tried to squash the fly in your avatar, sitting in a dark room at the end of the evening thinking ahh! the wee bastard!

 

[jeemer]

ok, i read through 37 pages of this and i can't take any more right now

i don't know much about motorbikes, but for the people wondering how it will handle, when i saw it and thought about how it might move in the film i immediately remembered that crazy dutch motorbike/car crossover, the carver;

http://www.carver-worldwide.com/Movies/LoadMovie.asp?S_ID=64&nc=1

it kinda angles its front wheel and the 'cockpit' part leans into the turn, the back wheels keeping it stable... i wonder if the big fat wheel at the back of the pod will allow it to function in a similar way, with the body of the bike leaning with batman into turns?

additionally, re; the name, "the pod" - im thinking, even if the vehicle is not going to pop out of the tumbler, but is instead assembled from similar parts, that it still may be assembled from the 'core' of the tumbler, the part that batman slides forward into, so that it has the same computer panel right under your face, voice controlled?

 

[360sculptguy]

Ok , the article mentioned that the Bat pod is steered by shoulders rather then arms.

So do you think the big tires are more purpose then looks when it comes to steering and manuevering?

I don't see how the front fork will work in terms of moving from side to side, does it even move?

The article says:

Steering isn't by hand but by shoulder, since there aren't handlebars. Instead, there are shields that fit each arm like sleeves and have the ability to rotate around the bike's frame.

The more I think about it I think this implies that the bars actually attach at the bottom of the frame (not directly to the fork like what would be conventional) and lean from side to side to signal a control box that actually turns the wheel.

My feeling on the tires has changed somewhat. Really wide tires on the front of a bike does not make for great maneuverability, particularly at low speed. Have you ever driven a car that has lost its power steering? It would be something like that. However, I think that is able to be mostly overcome with some crafty mechanics and I think the arm sleave things necessitate this anyway.

Looking at it from a possible real world application? I would say this design looks like one that is trying to be just as at home off-road as on. Off-road vehicles (or ones expecting to do a lot of jumping) don't usually have tight fenders because they limit the vertical movement of the tires over rough road. The kind of tread shown in the pics is really a road tread. That width of tire at least, whether it was on pavement, mud, or sand, allows for quicker transfer of power. Think race slicks on a drag car. The huge size of rubber meeting the road is to transfer the huge amount of power as immediately as possible. Makes for super instant acceleration. In the case of acceleration of a motorcycle a long wheel base would help to keep the front end from just popping off the ground if all the power were conventionally being transferred to the rear tire.

But if what we hear is true the bike has power at the front end and the rear end and that would dramatically alter handling in fast corners. Its like the difference between a rear wheel drive car thats ass end will slide out of a turn if given too much power and an all wheel drive car that can power through a turn because the front wheels are gobbling up road surface as well.

Where I think this bike would perform poorly is in slow speed maneuvering. Leaning a bike with that broad of a tire effectively at slow speeds would be really hard and I'm not exactly sure what the whole steering mechanism is able to compensate for. Luckily, Batman probably wont be doing any leisurely strolls down the Gotham strip.

 

[GoogleMe94]

sounds like the way you drive it will be like the way you drive the batmobile when it goes into that cockpit mode.

 

[SmileX]

Looking at that hi res pic and judging by the foot pedals it looks like he may be in a laying down position when he rides it. I don't think I like a laying down position.

 

[GoogleMe94]

Looking at that hi res pic and judging by the foot pedals it looks like he may be in a laying down position when he rides it. I don't think I like a laying down position.

I'd say, judgeing from this pic.

she looks like shes going to hump that thing, the ways shes riding it. same with batman, more likely then not.

 

[darknight7]

Kind of like the laying down position he was in when he drove in the cock pit in the Tumbler in BB??

--dk7

 

[GoogleMe94]

Kind of like the laying down position he was in when he drove in the cock pit in the Tumbler in BB??

--dk7

sounds like the way you drive it will be like the way you drive the batmobile when it goes into that cockpit mode.

lol, seem similar?

 

[darknight7]

lol, seem similar?

I did not see your post GoogleMe94...I apologize

--dk7

 

[darknight7]

What was the point of the cockpit mode anyways?...was it so he could be perfectly centered, helping him to aim??? Like, what was the reason for that...lol

--dk7

 

[GoogleMe94]

What was the point of the cockpit mode anyways?...was it so he could be perfectly centered, helping him to aim??? Like, what was the reason for that...lol

--dk7

LOL, i wondered that too. well, i guess in order to "shoot" something, it needs to go into that centered "gunner" mode. reminded me of something out of star wars. also, no need to apologize, i was just pointing out that we thought the samer thing, lol.

 

[darknight7]

LOL, i wondered that too. well, i guess in order to "shoot" something, it needs to go into that centered "gunner" mode. reminded me of something out of star wars. also, no need to apologize, i was just pointing out that we thought the samer thing, lol.

Ya, you're right...that does make sense. Maybe when he is sitting normally, is almost like the "safety" is on...and then when it is in the cockpit mode...it allows the Tumbler to fire.

Good point.




And...they say: Great minds think alike

--dk7

 

[Matchbox]

What was the point of the cockpit mode anyways?...was it so he could be perfectly centered, helping him to aim??? Like, what was the reason for that...lol

--dk7

Well, the most accurate shooting position is the prone position, so I'd imagine that's the purpose.

-Matchbox

 

[Untilteld]

I'd say, judgeing from this pic.

she looks like shes going to hump that thing, the ways shes riding it. same with batman, more likely then not.

dayyyuuum, such a sexy .... bike

 

[ad101867]

[B89's Batmobile] was the best for the direction the franchise went for at the time, and it´s a cool design. But the Tumbler has a far superior performance.

See, this is the thing I like about Nolan's "functionality" approach. If you had two guys squaring off in real life as vigilantes, one with B89's car and the other with the Tumbler, the Tumbler would absolutely destroy the B89 car. That's one of the cool things about Nolan's approach: you can actually imagine that car being on the street in real life and doing at least some of the things you see it doing in the movie. That whole approach is why Begins simply felt more "real" (by degrees) than B89 or other Bat-films.

What did the tumbler do that the keaton mobile couldn't?

That can't be a serious question. Tell me that's not a serious question.

Whenever people start to bash realism in Batman movies, I feel like saying, "hey, wouldn´t it be cool if Batman fought a dragon in the movies?" like it´s for serious and then watch the reaction...

[markaudette]Even if the name is a bit weird, the cycle is still cool with it's militiristic look and feel.[/quote]

Dude, seriously, do you actually believe they're going to call it the "Batpod" in the movie?

It looks like the cape could very easily get caught in the cycle's rear axel if you ask me.

Dude, seriously, do you actually believe nobody in the film production, least of all Nolan himself, ever thought of what to do with the cape?

Some people's kids.......

 

[Seth71]

It looks more like it belongs in a Star Wars movie than Batman. If you take the wheels off, it looks a lot like the ESB Empire bikes from the forest scene.
Are those machine guns?

 

[millennium movies]

Cool shirt!

 

[SmileX]

For those of you that say the B89 Mobile sucks, you must not be Batman fans at all. At the time B89 came out the Batmobile was an upgraded take on what we've already seen. The tumbler isn't a take on anything. Nolan just wanted a tank. Sorry but except for a little black paint the Nolan Mobile was never customized to make it say Batman. There was nothing iconic about it.

 

[TheBat812]

I've never seen a version of the Batmobile i've liked in comics. Ever. The only Batmobile I liked before the Tumbler was the BTAS one. That doesn't make me not a Batman fan, it just means I didn't like what they had. Once again, just because it's in the comics doesnt make it good.

 

[Figs]

Does anyone think this is going to be the Terminator 2 of Nolan's Batman franchise, what with all the reports of a motorcycle chase, large vehicles being used by the villian, and cars and other **** blowing up real good.

I wouldn't doubt it.

I was kinda hoping they wouldn't have yet another chase in a batman film but it sounds like they will. Especially when apparently they made 10 of the Batcycle or whatever everyone is calling it. Must be doing a number of different functions/actions in the film. If they had it like in BR, just as an emergency escape for a short scene I dont' think they would need a full 10.

 

[cryptic name]

what i said, and still say, about the tumbler. they really need to ditch this whole concept of batman HAVEING to need a tank to defeat evo.

good thing he doesn't use a tank in any of nolan's movies.

 

[3 Dev Adam]

good thing he doesn't use a tank in any of nolan's movies.

Suuuure. It was nicknamed "Tankman Returns" just for kicks.