Schaeffler Symposium: This Is How the Motorcycle of the Future Rides

For our 1000PS operational review, we visit the Schaeffler Automotive Symposium 2026 in Bühl and, together with experts from the technology group Schaeffler, take a look at the future of the motorcycle. Instead of dry theory, we head straight for the test track. We ride electric development vehicles, an early hybrid prototype, and a 150 kW side-by-side, talk extensively with experts Torsten Bellon and Didier Busquet, and draw our conclusion at the end. Anyone who wants to not just have the technology explained but actually experience it in motion will find the complete interviews, test rides, and McGregor's personal assessment of the future of the motorcycle in the 1000PS video.

When several hundred developers, manufacturers, and technology managers gather in Bühl, one might initially expect an event full of dry theory, diagrams, and closely guarded exhibits. At the Schaeffler Automotive Symposium 2026, however, it didn't stay at just looking at components under cold hall lighting. On the test grounds, prototypes could be ridden, automated shifting systems tried out, and electric drives experienced under load. Where tires scrape across asphalt, engines push forward, and gearboxes audibly do their work, an abstract future suddenly becomes something tangible.

Schaeffler presented more than 320 products from the fields of Vehicle Control, Chassis and Body, Powertrain, and Energy Management. For the first time, two-wheelers also received a comprehensive presence of their own. Alongside bearings and engine control units, automated gearboxes, electric drives, and solutions for connected vehicles took center stage.

Torsten Bellon, Head of the Business Unit 2-Wheeler & Powersports at Schaeffler, gives a sober assessment of the significance of his division within the group. The two-wheeler sector currently accounts for around one percent of Schaeffler's total revenue, but it's growing. His department therefore deliberately draws on the group's extensive technical toolbox. Components, electronics, and knowledge from automotive development are adopted and then specifically adapted for motorcycles, scooters, ATVs, and other powersports vehicles.

Schaeffler doesn't build its own motorcycles; instead, the company develops systems that are supplied to vehicle manufacturers. Much of this remains invisible to the rider, even though it works deep in the mechanical heart of well-known machines. As a concrete example, Bellon cites the engine management of the Ducati V4. Schaeffler supplies technology for fuel supply, air routing, and electronic control. The name rarely appears prominently on the tank, yet the corresponding components sometimes work directly between the throttle grip, injection, and combustion chamber.

According to Bellon, the history of the symposium goes back to 1978, when the event was still held as a transmission conference. Later it became the Schaeffler Colloquium, before taking on its current international form. Every four years, the company brings together customers, vehicles, and specialists. 2026 was the first year in which motorcycles and powersports products were represented in this breadth. The point wasn't just to put finished solutions under the spotlight, but to ride them, discuss them, and further develop them together with manufacturers.

Anyone who automatically thinks only of batteries and electric motors when it comes to future mobility gets a much more nuanced answer from Bellon. Schaeffler expects the combustion engine to remain relevant in the two-wheeler sector for a long time to come. The company no longer expects strong market growth there, but work continues on new components and cleaner control strategies. According to Bellon, a generation currently in development is set to go into series production for the first time starting in 2027.

The reason isn't just tradition or emotion. High-performance electric motorcycles continue to struggle with weight, range, and cost. While a small city scooter can be electrified relatively easily, a large touring motorcycle has to carry enough energy for the highway, mountain passes, and long daily stages. Every additional kilowatt-hour sits in the chassis like a heavy pillion. For high-performance motorcycles, the combustion engine therefore remains a technically and economically relevant solution for the time being.

Schaeffler is therefore continuing to invest in classic engine technology as well. The integration of Vitesco Technologies brought additional knowledge about engine control, electronics, and combustion processes into the group. In the future, according to Bellon, technologies such as more precise camshaft adjustment could also migrate more strongly from the automotive sector into motorcycles. This is less about even higher peak performance. Modern motorcycles usually have plenty of that already.

Didier Busquet, Product Group Head 2-Wheeler & Powersports at Schaeffler, also sees further development potential in the combustion engine. In the interview, he shows, among other things, individually shaped throttle bodies that can adapt air routing to different engine concepts. The goal is to combine performance and rideability with future emissions requirements.

Particularly interesting is the next generation of engine control units. The planned units are meant to control not only two-, three-, and four-cylinder engines but also an automated gearbox and a hybrid drive. Several individual boxes would thus become one compact unit. On a motorcycle, where tank, airbox, shock absorber, exhaust system, and electronics fight for every centimeter, such consolidation can save installation space, wiring, and costs.

Automated shifting systems are no longer an exotic idea, but elaborate solutions have so far mostly been found in high-priced motorcycles. According to Busquet, Schaeffler wants to make the technology accessible to the mid-range segment as well, and thus to a broader market. A corresponding prototype was developed within six months and could already be tried out by the 1000PS editorial team at the symposium.

This is not just about taking clutch work off the rider's hands. An automated gearbox can specifically connect the combustion engine and electric machine, control rotational speeds, and keep both drives within suitable operating ranges. At the same time, the rider should still be able to exert influence. It's still being worked out whether manual interventions should be made via a button or a classic shift lever.

With small two-wheelers, Schaeffler sees significantly more potential for pure electric drives. The initial focus is on 48-volt systems for Asian markets, particularly India, and on smaller vehicles in the 150cc-equivalent class, which can be electrified relatively easily. Bellon speaks of around 25 million two-wheelers per year, of which around two million are already electrified. Together with an Indian joint venture, an electric machine is being developed, while Schaeffler itself contributes the electronics.

This electronics is meant not only to control the electric motor but also to take over further vehicle functions. In addition, Schaeffler is developing a battery management system. Originally, it was assumed that such systems would be supplied by battery manufacturers. According to Bellon, however, existing solutions did not meet all the requirements for functional safety. Especially with an electric two-wheeler, current flow, battery condition, and possible faults must be controlled before a small deviation turns into a major problem.

48 volts are suitable primarily for smaller vehicles in the performance range of a classic 150cc two-wheeler. As soon as significantly more power is required, however, the current levels rise sharply. Cables then need larger cross-sections, become heavier, and require more installation space. For more powerful vehicles, high-voltage technology could therefore make sense in the long term.

The higher the voltage, the lower the required current can be at the same power output. This allows for slimmer cables and reduces losses. Ideally, little of this remains visible to the rider. He merely notices that the drive pushes powerfully, without oversized cable harnesses looming under the tank and seat.

The emotionally most exciting vehicle at the symposium was an early hybrid prototype. It combined a combustion engine, electric machine, and automated shifting technology. In slow city traffic, such a motorcycle could roll purely electrically and thus quietly. Outside the city, the combustion engine would take over and deliver the range, power, soundscape, and mechanical feedback that many riders don't want to do without.

Schaeffler considers cost to be decisive here. The hybrid must not cause a massive surcharge compared to a normal motorcycle, but instead has to remain a realistic alternative. Whether and when this will result in a production vehicle was still open at the symposium. The basic idea is nonetheless appealing: gliding silently through the city and later pulling power, range, and sound from the combustion engine back out on the country road.

In conversation, Busquet makes clear that Schaeffler doesn't want to sacrifice riding pleasure for the sake of all this technology. The goal is to preserve emotion, feedback, and familiar riding characteristics while reducing emissions and improving comfort and safety. The developers in the two-wheeler division come from the motorcycling world themselves and therefore deliberately look at new systems from the rider's perspective.

That may sound at first like a typical manufacturer's message, but it gains weight in connection with automated gearboxes and hybrid drives. A motorcycle may be efficient and still feel lively when you open the throttle. It may be easy to operate without feeling sterile. And it may become cleaner without suffocating every mechanical sign of life under several layers of software.

For Bellon, the future doesn't lie in a single drive concept. In his assessment, small and urban two-wheelers can be electrified relatively easily. In the field of high-performance motorcycles, however, weight, range, and cost remain major hurdles. There, the combustion engine will still play an important role for a long time, while hybrid solutions could open up an additional possibility between the two worlds.

At the same time, Bellon sees Schaeffler's strength in the combination of different areas of expertise. Through the integration of Vitesco Technologies, the company can view mechanical components, engine management, electronics, transmission control, and electrified drives more strongly as a shared system. The future is not meant to arise from ever more individual components, but from solutions in which several functions work together more closely.

This is exactly where Bellon sees the difference to a pure parts supplier. Schaeffler doesn't want to wait for a specific order, but wants to consider together with manufacturers what technology future motorcycles will need and how it can be brought to series production affordably.

After the conversations and test rides, the 1000PS editorial team draws a clear conclusion: the future of the motorcycle will not be determined by a single drive type. Combustion engines will accompany us for a long time yet, electric drives will gain importance especially in urban areas, and hybrid solutions could connect both worlds.

Particularly interesting here is Schaeffler's approach of viewing engine, gearbox, and electronics more strongly as an overall system. Which concepts will ultimately combine riding pleasure, everyday usability, and a reasonable price, however, won't be decided in the lab, but on the road.