You might think that power steering has no place on a motorcycle but Yamaha has announced that this year’s works racers in the All-Japan Motocross Championship will be equipped with a prototype electric power steering setup.
The decision to race the system is intended to accelerate the R&D process on the idea, which is eventually intended to be used on a variety of machines and might well be appearing on road-going bikes in the not-too-distant future. Yamaha describes the EPS system as ‘a new rider aid contributing to improve motorcycle stability and agility.’
The whole lot is compact, with the only visible components being the control computer – a simple, small unit – and the servo actuator that’s attached ahead of the headstock. There’s still a direct connection between the bars and forks, so the ultimate control resides with the rider.
As well as assisting the bike’s steering – something that mainly happens at low speeds when riders are likely to use bigger steering movements – the EPS operates as an active steering damper at high speed. Because it can tell the difference between inputs at the bars and external influences on the steering, it can assist the former while counteracting the latter.
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