FELINE

Designer Yacouba Galle reveals the Feline One, his latest motorcycle project. Unlike other of his ideas, the Feline One will actually become available in 2016, but it will be a treat to those who are both bold and wealthy. That is, bold enough to throw a leg over such an uncanny motorbike, and wealthy because the rumored price tag reads a hefty $280,000, which in Europe today weighs around €250,000.

Yacouba himself describes the bike as being much more than a motorcycle: “FELINE is the combination of sophistication and high technology for highly demanding customers looking for innovative and unique novelties,” he says. “During 10 years I tested the best machines around the world and my conclusion has been to make a synthesis of two worlds: the best that I encountered and my vision of the motorbike of the future, FELINE was born!” adds he.

Modern design meets high-tech materials

Feline one is not just another bike concept with futuristic looks. Yacouba Galle has studied a lot of bikes from multiple perspectives, including functionality, ergonomics, power and torque feel and deployment, technologies used and many more. The Result is the conundrum of all his findings and experiments, a bike which is supposed to encompass the best bits and pieces from all over the motorcycling world.

If you liked the Minority Report action movie, you’ll most likely enjoy seeing a high-definition digital dashboard on the Feline One. With digital elements separated between a cluster on top of the fork and one on top of the tank, Feline One is capable of delivering a huge amount of information on about anything. Of course, everything is customizable.

Motivation comes from a 801cc 3-cylinder 4-stroke liquid-cooled engine which produces around 170 horsepower. As if this was not enough, how about telling you that the Feline One has a 155 kg (342 lb) dry weight? Already sounds a lot more interesting, doesn’t it? Throw in a manual 6-speed transmission and you’re goo to go, track and road, alike.

The light weight is attained by making extensive use of carbon fiber and aerospace aluminium combined with titanium. The frame of the Feline One includes all these materials, with the single-sided swingarm and the anti-dive dual swingarm anti-dive fork being also crafted from carbon fiber. The dual front shocks and the rear one also come with carbon fiber springs, as this is about the most advanced technology available to the public. Does that weird-looking fork remind you of something even weirder? Well, you’re right: it’s a design similar to that of the shape-shifting Geco project!Feline One also comes with carbon rims and fairing, saving even more weight. Braking power comes from a no-nonsense 4-disc front array, with the 230mm rotors squeezed by 4-pot calipers, aided by a 220mm single-disc system in the rear. 

At 1,400 mm (55.1”) the wheel base is quite short and thins should make turning quite sharp and the saddle floats 808 mm (31.8”) above road level. Frankly we are already sad because we know we’ll never get to ride the Feine One. It’s just too expensive and will be extremely hard to get, as Yacouba envisages only a 50-unit run. Anyway, we’re kind of hooked, though pondeirng between the Feline One and the amazing ChakMolot.