IT’S not every day that you get to ride a concept bike. So when Proton gave me the chance to ride its two-wheeler, I was ecstatic. There I was at the Proton plant in Shah Alam, feeling a bit dizzy in the afternoon heat. The photographer, a fellow journalist and I had been waiting for some time to get clearance for our camera equipment. There were a lot of paperwork and phone calls to be made, but it was worth the wait. As our hosts ushered us into a room at the Proton research and development department, there in front of us was this colossal orange chopper.
At first, I didn’t quite know what to make of it. It was like something that Paul Jr had just built on American Chopper. But instead of a V-Twin in the rigid frame, there was a 1.5-litre Megavalve engine from a Wira nestled snugly in the frame. No. This bike is obviously not a product from the days during which Proton owned MV-Agusta. For starters, the bike would look more at home on the set of Mad Max rather than in a motorcycle showroom. The battery was uncovered and the alternator jutted out next to your right foot. The tank had an angular, simple geometry. The rear wheel was a 17-inch Proton car rim, shod with 210/50 motorcycle rubber, while the front is a 21-inch rim with an 80/90 motorcycle tyre. To drive the wheels, the R&D team removed one side of the drive shafts from the Wira gearbox and used the other to power the rear wheel via a 90-degree joint. A car caliper and brake pads completed the rear wheel assembly. The exhaust was custom-made from stainless steel. All in all, an estimated 90 per cent of the parts on the bike are sourced from car parts. Even the R&D team acknowledged that their work was a little “raw”. Nevertheless, ever since they built it, excitement has been growing and rumours have spread that Proton was going to produce a motorbike. This was the first thing I asked Mohamad Nazrel Mansor, lead engineer of Proton R&D. “No, we are not planning anything for production yet,” he said. We were a bit disappointed but we also realised that there were not many car manufacturers in the world that also ventured into building motorcycles. BMW, Suzuki and Honda of course, are some of the more well-known exceptions. But many car manufacturers have, just like Proton, toyed with the idea as a test-bed for their research and development capabilities. In America in 2003, Dodge, for example, unveiled the Dodge Tomahawk, a radical 500hp bike with an 8.3-litre V10 engine from the Dodge Viper. Only 10 replicas were made and sold but Chrysler executives had said that if the Tomahawk were put into production, it would draw attention to the Dodge brand in ways none of their ordinary sportscar could. Looking at Proton’s prototype, I wondered what kind of performance this orange monster had. As the R&D prepped the bike and I climbed aboard, I said a prayer and hoped that I didn’t drop the bike which took seven men half a year to build. The gears are pretty much a puzzle. To shift through the gears, you have to operate a lever near your left foot as well as a little handle with your right hand while at the same time pulling the clutch. As I hefted the bike straight up, it took some effort to balance the 300-plus kilos coupled with the long forks. I let go of the clutch, and the bike surged forward. Acceleration was not as brisk as I thought it would be. I had thought the bike would accelerate much faster since it was pulling about 30 per cent of what it was designed to pull. Despite the massive displacement, throttle response was not as instantaneous as what you’ll normally get with a bike engine. Nazrel said the drive shaft was still not designed efficiently enough to transmit power from the gearbox to the wheels. Cruisers are also normally V-Twin powered, and they tend to have strong torque at the bottom end but the in-line four powered Proton bike surged forward in a linear fashion. It was in many ways — and quite expectedly so — like riding on top of a 1.5-litre Wira. The Proton test track was undergoing renovations, so I was not able to ride it on the track. I managed to get the bike only up to third gear in the Proton compound but the bike felt like it would be pretty sweet cruising at higher speeds, although turning it at low speeds is another story altogether. Proton R&D is planning on building another bike using the Campro engine next year, and rumours are that it may be a trike. We are hoping with a 1.6 litre four-cylinder engine to fit in the new frame, they should instead consider building a high-speed tourer to make short work of the PLUS Highway. That is, of course, if Works Minister Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu hasn’t banned superbikes on highways by then.