3 Wheel Yamaha?

Yamaha Purchases Three-Wheeler Patents from Norwegian Firm

Photo courtesy of Rune Baashus @ www.baashus.com

If the new, high performance NIKEN hasn’t convinced you that Yamaha is serious about leaning three-wheelers, this news should. Yamaha has just completed the purchase of patents from a small Norwegian firm, Brudeli Tech Holding AS, related to leaning three-wheel technologies.

As you can see from the photos, the Brudeli machines can lean at severe angles for aggressive cornering on-road and off. It is not clear from the following press release exactly what unique technology has been acquired by Yamaha, but it is a safe bet that the NIKEN will not be the last high performance three-wheeler from the Japanese firm.

Here is a press release from Brudeli:

Brudeli Tech Holding AS have completed the sale of the patents known from the Leanster vehicles Brudeli 654L and 625L. The buyer is Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd., Japan which is a world-class leading motorcycle and powersport manufacturer.

“I see this as an incredible honour that Yamaha have decided to acquire this technology that we started to develop here in Norway” says Geir Brudeli inventor and owner of Brudeli Tech Holding AS. He also states that: “Knowing the competence, knowledge and passion of Yamaha it will be exciting to see their future products.”

Photo courtesy of Rune Baashus @ www.baashus.com

The history of the Norwegian company Brudeli Tech Holding AS goes all the way back to 2001 and the concept vehicle was unveiled at the EICMA 2005 at a time before this new and growing market of leaning vehicles with two wheels in the front was established.

A very competent group of partners and investors did contribute from the very early years. A large thanks to all of them!

Since 2010 a major part of the day to day business have also been to provide mechanical and mechatronic design consultant services to a major automotive system supplier.

Brudeli Tech is located at Eiker Næringspark (http://eikernaeringspark.no/), an industrial estate which is continuously modernised and growing. Eiker Næringspark was founded by entrepreneur Svein Rust who also was a mentor and investor in Brudeli Tech in the start-up phase.

Yamaha’s NIKEN will be on sale later this year.