One massive development that we have seen at this year's Qatar test from the majority of manufacturers apart from Yamaha and Suzuki is the front Launch device built into the front suspension. As of right now, we have yet to see it used in a proper race start and how much of a noticeable difference it will make as we have only seen riders use it in practice starts. Still, we have seen some issues out of these starts that will probably be ironed out in the remaining test days.
As you can see from the photo above with this Ducati the front forks have this metal strip going around the carbon fiber forks and what this device does is just like the rear device it lowers the suspension and the idea of this being so that the motorcycle is lower to the ground and therefore will have a lower center of gravity and will then, in theory, give the riders more grip and will, more importantly, be able to keep the front wheel down with less help from the electronics so they will have a faster start and launch.
The Device is simple to activate in KTM's case since there is a simple black lever under the right handlebar. When this lever is pressed in by the rider's thumb on the start grid it will lower both the front and rear suspension when before it was just the rear so the bikes will no longer look like they it squatting at the rear. One reason why you would want to be able to be activated by the thumb is for quick use if it is needed out of corners for greater accelerating while the Ducati have to turn a switch by the handlebars for the launch device to activate.
As you can see from this video above is one of the issues that the device is creating for teams and manufacturers is that the rear is spinning upon and almost throwing riders off the bike which we have seen this happening to at least Lorenzo Savadori and Taka Nakagami now one of the reasons for this may be that they are producing to much grip to the rear but I think very very soon these issues will be sorted before the first round of the season.
This device has turned many heads around the paddock and although it has its issue it is a very exciting development and will most likely be used by every team in the near future.
As you can see from the photo above with this Ducati the front forks have this metal strip going around the carbon fiber forks and what this device does is just like the rear device it lowers the suspension and the idea of this being so that the motorcycle is lower to the ground and therefore will have a lower center of gravity and will then, in theory, give the riders more grip and will, more importantly, be able to keep the front wheel down with less help from the electronics so they will have a faster start and launch.
The Device is simple to activate in KTM's case since there is a simple black lever under the right handlebar. When this lever is pressed in by the rider's thumb on the start grid it will lower both the front and rear suspension when before it was just the rear so the bikes will no longer look like they it squatting at the rear. One reason why you would want to be able to be activated by the thumb is for quick use if it is needed out of corners for greater accelerating while the Ducati have to turn a switch by the handlebars for the launch device to activate.
As you can see from this video above is one of the issues that the device is creating for teams and manufacturers is that the rear is spinning upon and almost throwing riders off the bike which we have seen this happening to at least Lorenzo Savadori and Taka Nakagami now one of the reasons for this may be that they are producing to much grip to the rear but I think very very soon these issues will be sorted before the first round of the season.
This device has turned many heads around the paddock and although it has its issue it is a very exciting development and will most likely be used by every team in the near future.
