Desirable Micro Mobility
PiperMoto J1 Super Scooter
John Piper spent 40 years in motorsport designing F1 cars, Le Mans racers and land speed record vehicles. His next project was a scooter. Not just any scooter — a 690cc, 67 horsepower super scooter that would go on to top Bike EXIF's most popular bikes of 2023. Matt was brought in for six weeks to solve the cooling system.
Duration: 6 Weeks
Stages: Ideation to Prototype
Basis: Freelance Project
-
The J1 uses a 690cc engine from a KTM Duke as its donor powerplant. That engine was designed to be cooled in a very different vehicle with very different packaging constraints. The challenge was to design a custom cooling system that worked within the J1's unique geometry while maintaining equivalent thermal performance to the original.
-
Working in Solidworks, Matt designed the complete cooling system layout, including radiators, hoses and expansion tank, within the tight packaging constraints of the J1's custom chassis. A key requirement was matching the equivalent coolant system length of the donor KTM to maintain consistent thermal behaviour. The resulting CAD files were used directly to produce the prototype parts for the homologation build.
-
The cooling system was delivered within the six week brief and integrated successfully into the homologation prototype. That vehicle went on to debut at the Bike Shed custom motorcycle show in 2023, top Bike EXIF's annual chart and generate coverage across the global motoring press. Not bad for a scooter…
Coolant hose routing ideation and research
Automotive 3D packaging layout design completed in Solidworks
Overview of the scooter's complete cooling system in 3D CAD
Prototype mock-up on the scooter's bare chassis
Homologation prototype vehicle with the cooling system fitted