LiveWire’s 6 Axis IMU, the proverbial friend who keeps you out of a bar fight.
What does the LiveWire’s 6 Axis IMU do?It makes good riders become great riders.
You see it discussed in marketing material, but it doesn’t tell you what a 6 Axis IMU does for you.
From our perspective, as riders, we don’t need to hear all sorts of technical bologna, so let’s get the tech stuff out of the way. IMU stands for Inertia Measurement Unit, but who care’s necessarily what IMU stands for as much as what it does for you.
First, the 6 Axis IMU is not something new. It has been in superbikes for a few years. It’s what it does on the road that is so exciting. Also, fun fact, you won’t even know it’s making you a better rider, which creates a marketing challenge. You leave that corner on the 2021 LiveWire thinking you’re a superstar. Sure, you can ride a motorcycle, but the 6 Axis IMU makes you that much better of a rider in ways you’ll never realize. This is one more reason why some riders that don’t understand how the 6 Axis IMU works will tell you: “I don’t need that, I’ve been riding since you were in diapers, in fact, I always remove the ABS system from my bike.”
Think of it this way; cars have very little trouble analyzing the environment and building formulas when going straight, 65 miles per hour, no braking, dry road. They can add traction going around a corner or when the road is slippery. Similarly, when a motorcycle is going straight, there are very few formulas that are that much different than a car. In contrast, it’s when a motorcycle is cornering and the front wheel is doing something very different than the rear wheel that you need some different formulas. Stated differently, when a motorcycle is leaned over in a corner, the front tire is actually a different speed than the rear wheel. The more leaned over, the more these two tires differ. Would you also agree, things get more complex when the motorcycle rider is cornering hard on a hot day (sticky) versus a rainy day (slippery)? Add in another additional common scenario,where the front tire diameter is different than the rear tire and the formulas continue to increase in complexity.
This is where the 6 axis comes into play.
So, what does the 6 Axis IMU do?
Using tiny mechanical (yes, mechanical) silicone springs, smaller than your eye can see, living inside a vacuum, it can provide data that analyzes the lean angle, pitch, acceleration, deceleration, and lateral movement. Think of a Nintendo controller joystick. Nah, think of an Atari controller. One joystick for each piece of data, it’s just that these joysticks are smaller than the tip of your eye lash. There are six (6) different movements that can be analyzed. Three (3) are linear and three (3) are rotational.
When the data comes in, this system adjusts the following:
ABS (anti-lock brakes),
the throttle (electronic throttle)
The traction control system,
The wheelie control, and
Rear wheel lift on the Harley-Davidson LiveWire.
These allow the motorcycle to adjust ABS, traction or acceleration. In fact, the computer knows well before you that the motorcycle is in an unsafe position. It knows when to rein you in, and also when it’s safe to give her hell. The 6 AXIS IMU is quite possibly the proverbial buddy who keeps you out of a bar fight. Thus, ensuring that good riders, become great riders.
