The Spanish manufacturer specialist in motorcycle brake systems has taken active part in the first edition of this new competition for engineering and design students from all over Europe.
Barcelona is becoming on it’s own merits, the motorbike capital of Europe. And a good example of this is this first edition of the Barcelona Smart Moto Challenge, a competition in which design and engineering students of various European universities have four days to design, develop and eventually produce their own urban two-wheeled electric prototypes.
This new initiative, promoted by the Barcelona Knowledge Campus and Clúster de la Moto, counts with the collaboration and technical support of various companies in the bike sector, among them is J.JUAN. Well, the specialist Spanish manufacturer in motorcycle brake systems has been one of its most active and sought sponsors in the debuting of this University challenge, which has as objective participants working on a comprehensive project to build an electric motorcycle from start to end. That is, they conceptualise, design, and ultimately give life to a fully functional and approved electric bike for circulation in town, as well as developing a business plan that includes strategies for introducing your vehicle on the market.
Not surprisingly, almost all of the seven teams in its first edition have opted for different J.JUAN products in order to give life to their electric prototypes. “We have helped them to develop the front and rear brake, with the parameters of lightness and maximum performance that they needed for their electric models”, explains Jaume Rosines, Project Manager for J.JUAN and member of the Jury for the first Barcelona Smart Moto Challenge.
In this first edition a total of seven university teams have been involved, from Barcelona, Madrid, Cartagena, Wroclaw (Poland) and Moscow (Russia). They had to overcome various trials and challenges in two very different scenarios. Parcmotor Castellolí is where over three days of evaluation took place on the design of the bikes, as well as various static and dynamic tests on asphalt. And right in the very streets of Barcelona, on Paseo de Sant Joan, is where the teams presented their projects coinciding with the last and definitive test run, to decide the winning teams in the different competition categories of this 2013.
” Of the seven University teams registered only four went to the end of the fourth and final day: UPC (Barcelona), Cartagena, Wroclaw and Moscow. The rest were left out after failing to complete and submit their final model. And this is a good example of the enormous difficulties in taking part in a competition of this kind. The truth is that this first edition designs were very innovative with elaborate and researched technical solutions, so it was not easy to score. Despite this we still had to do it and all the jury felt the best project was undoubtedly the one shown by the University of Moscow. ”
The Jury for this first Barcelona Smart Moto Challenge, of which J.JUAN is a part, opted for Russian electric motorcycle “ because its proposal was focused on becoming a form of urban transport for the police in the Russian capital, with different settings of the PBX programming and ergonomics designed specifically for use as police vehicle for the city. “