Noble J. Bhasi's monowheel.

Via: express buzz

"Noble J. Bhasi, 27, who claims to have developed the country’s first single-wheeled motorcycle, says his futuristic model runs just as well as your conventional two-wheeler, if not better. What’s unique about the design is that only a small section of the 60-inch wheel is in contact with the road when the bike is ‘rolling.’

``I built it as an experiment. It took me eight months,’’ Bhasi, who lives at Bakery Junction in the city, says. The single-wheel design, admitted, was not his idea. ``The design had been developed outside India before, but I think it’s the first such machine in the country,’’ he says.

The single-wheeled motorcycle, in reality, has two wheels. But only one touches the ground. In Noble’s bike, a 100 cc Kinetic Honda engine powers a small wheel which is inside the big one along with the rider, the seat and the rest of the bike. The small wheel and the big one act like cog wheels, moving in tandem. Inspired by the idea of building the bike, Noble went on leave for six months from Hyundai, at whose Thiruvananthapuram office he works as service adviser. The project has cost him Rs 50,000.

"You steer the bike with your body movements. I was able to ride it smoothly the first time I tested it. You can go at speeds between 35 and 40 kmph,’’ he says.

The bike’s not Noble’s first creation. This BTech holder had earlier designed and fabricated a mini three-wheeler tipper as part of a college project. Then came ‘Xyana,’ a three-wheeler two-seater car and ‘Pivo,’ a zero-turning car.

He had also built a single-seater aircraft ‘Falcon,’ which was not tested for air-worthiness, but which, he claims, was ‘fly-able.’

His latest project, the single-wheeled bike, is designed for one rider, but there is provision for fitting a pillion seat."