BIKES4US

The fuel cell-powered Suzuki Crosscage. Someday, we may all be riding bikes like this...

Pics: Motociclismo

Electric vehicles and fuel cell-powered motorcycles – that’s one vision of what the future’s probably coming to. And Suzuki are already off the block, with the hydrogen fuel cell-powered Crosscage. That’s right, within a year or two the Crosscage may be the first hydrogen fuel cell production motorcycle to come out of Japan, or indeed, anywhere else.

With its hydrogen fuel cell powerplant developed by British company Intelligent Energy, the Suzuki Crosscage is not production ready yet, but prototypes are already being tested in Japan, where, apparently, some journalists recently had a chance to take the bike out for a spin.

The Crosscage features an X-shaped chassis made of aluminium and steel, and instead of your usual petrol engine, there’s a fuel cell, hydrogen tank and lithium ion battery that provide propulsion here. According to a first ride report on Motociclismo, the bike weighs about 140 kilos, and with the equivalent of about 8 horsepower from its fuel cell, the Crosscage’s performance is said to be similar to that of a conventional 125cc machine.

The ’Cage rides on 17-inch wheels and feels very slim and agile on the move. Of course, the most striking thing about the Crosscage is the absolute lack of mechanical noise when the bike is running…

The Suzuki Crosscage features fully digital instrumentation, single-side front and rear suspension, single 265mm brake discs on both wheels, and… er, LEDs attached to the wheel spokes. Range is 200km, after which the bike has to be filled up with hydrogen… or recharged with electricity, or whatever.

Will the Suzuki Crosscage take over from the Suzuki GSX-R1000 someday? We hope that never happens. But if it ever does, you’ll be reading about it on Faster and Faster…