Introduction

Before

Final mechanical system

The next generation of green thinking needs to be about something other than being green. Sustainability is important and is certainly something that needs to be taken into the design process, but it needs to be viewed different. This new movement of sustainability needs to be about making an emotional connection with a product to move forward with environmentalism in mind. The project here is meant to take that idea of excitement and emotional connection to sustainability, and put it into a vehicle. Motorsports are the ideal medium for showcasing excitement with a focus on sustainability and there is no better embodiment of emotional connection in motorsports than the motorcycle. To that end, a 1996 Suzuki GS500e motorcycle will be converted from a 2 cylinder, 4 stroke combustion motor to a mechanical hybrid, by means of an internal source of compressed air. What follows is the culmination of a two semester mechanical engineering design project at San Francisco State University resulting in the successful completion of the mechanical systems for this concept motorcycle power plant.