At a time where electric is all the rage across the automotive and motorcycle industry, there is an iconic bike maker who is looking to another, more abundant, resource that engineers have yet to crack — H2O…
The vision of Austrian designer Maxime Lefebvre, the Yamaha XT500 H2O is a water-powered re-imagining of the original Yamaha XT 500 — which was built from 1975 to 1981, and fitted with a four-stroke 499cc single cylinder engine, good for 160 km/h.
Maxime’s new design was commissioned by Yamaha back in 2016, but has taken five years to get to this prototype stage.
With motors that resemble a Dyson vac, this bike loses the unsustainable fuel engine and replaces it with a closed-loop H2O engine that continually pumps water through it for power. The engine builds pressure and then shoots the pressurized water to inject it into the ‘turbine’, which then turns the rear wheel. Beyond the unusual power source, the design itself stays true enough to the original while wearing new futuristic threads. It retains the signature large knobbly-tyre front wheel, but also picks up an extremely thin supermoto-style seat and floating panels.
The bizzarely placed handlebar and fork are not directly linked, so there seems to be some other gadget wizardy inside of the frame that takes care of the steering. The front end sports a duo-lever-type suspension, while a monoshock suspension is setup at the rear.
The alien-like styling is impressive as all get up, but it’s the water pistol power package that is most click-worthy. So will water ever become a mainstream fuel source? Only time and water restrictions will tell. The bike is due for wide release in 2025, but after enduring 2020 — we’re used to waiting. ■
By Bill Varetimidis
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