Flip It, But Why?
Most motorcycles try to get the weight low so it’s easy to manage, but the Italian motorcycle company Nembo says mass centralization is more important than getting that weight low. According to the company, by flipping the engine upside down, it can package most the weight closer together. This unique idea first appeared in 2013. Now the bike is ready for production, and Nembo needs some help.
The company doesn’t have money to produce its bike. To make this happen, it started a crowdfunding effort put together on Indiegogo. Unfortunately, the amount of money raised currently sits a big old goose egg. Yep, zero dollars. Call me crazy but this might have to do with the fact that the expected price is supposed to hover around $68,000. A bargain racer this is not.
The Nembo 32, as it’s called, features a 2.0-liter three-cylinder engine making 200 hp and 158lb-ft of torque flipped on end. The crankcase of the engine, due to its unique placement makes up a large part of the frame. This helps keep weight down. In its lightest form, the bike can weigh as little as 352 pounds, according to New Atlas. That means this bike is wicked fast.
I love that Nembo is thinking outside the box here. The bike is super cool, and as you can see from the video above, it sounds fantastic. Skip ahead in the video about a minute and you’ll see it roaring around a track. While I have no doubt that the bike would be fast, it’s a weird motorcycle, and one that not many people, or at least people with money to burn can get behind. That’s too bad. I like weird bikes and 200 hp would surely be one hell of a time.