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

For our 1000PS operational review, we visit the Schaeffler Automotive Symposium 2026 in Bühl and, together with experts from technology group Schaeffler, take a look at the future of the bike. Instead of dry theory, we head straight to 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 conclusions at the end. Anyone who doesn't just want the technology explained, but wants to experience it in motion, will find the complete interviews, the test rides, and McGregor's personal assessment of the future of the bike in the 1000PS video.

When several hundred developers, manufacturers, and technology officials gather in Bühl, one might initially expect an event full of dry theory, diagrams, and closely guarded display pieces. 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, automatic shifting systems tried out, and electric drives experienced under load. Where tires scrape across asphalt, engines push forward, and transmissions audibly do their work, an abstract future suddenly becomes something tangible.

Schaeffler presented more than 320 products from the areas of vehicle control, chassis and body, powertrain, and energy management. For the first time, bikes also received a comprehensive presence of their own. Alongside bearings and engine control units, automatic transmissions, electric drives, and solutions for connected vehicles were at the center of attention.

Torsten Bellon, Head of the 2-Wheeler & Powersports Business Unit at Schaeffler, gives a sober assessment of his division's importance within the group. The bike segment currently accounts for around one percent of Schaeffler's total revenue, but it is growing. His department therefore deliberately draws on the group's large 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 within the mechanical heart of well-known machines. As a concrete example, Bellon names 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 associated components sometimes work directly between the throttle, injection, and combustion chamber.

According to Bellon, the symposium's history dates back to 1978, when the event was still held as a transmission conference. It later 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 on this scale. The aim was not just to display finished solutions under spotlights, 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 in the bike segment for a long time to come. While the company no longer expects strong market growth there, 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 lies not only in tradition or emotion. High-performance electric motorcycles continue to struggle with weight, range, and cost. While a small city scooter can be electrified comparatively easily, a large touring bike must carry enough energy for highways, mountain passes, and long daily stages. Every additional kilowatt-hour sits in the chassis like a heavy pillion. For high-performance bikes, 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. According to Bellon, technologies such as more precise camshaft adjustment could increasingly migrate from the automotive sector into motorcycles in the future. This is less about even higher peak performance. Modern bikes usually already have enough of that anyway.

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.

The next generation of engine control units is particularly interesting. The planned units are meant to not only control two-, three-, and four-cylinder engines, but also be able to control an automated transmission and a hybrid drive. Several individual boxes would thus become one compact unit. On a bike, where the tank, airbox, shock, 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 often been found mainly 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 isn't simply about relieving the rider of clutch work. An automated transmission can deliberately connect the combustion engine and electric machine with each other, control engine speeds, and keep both drives within suitable operating ranges. At the same time, the rider should still be able to exert influence. Work is still ongoing on whether manual interventions should be made via buttons or a classic shift lever.

For small bikes, Schaeffler sees significantly more potential for pure electric drives. The focus is initially on 48-volt systems for Asian markets, particularly India, and on smaller vehicles in the 150cc-equivalent class, which can be electrified comparatively easily. Bellon speaks of around 25 million bikes 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 to not only control the electric motor, but also take over further vehicle functions. In addition, Schaeffler is developing a battery management system. It was originally assumed that corresponding systems would be supplied by battery manufacturers. According to Bellon, however, existing solutions did not meet all the functional safety requirements. Especially with an electric bike, current flow, battery condition, and possible faults must be monitored before a small deviation turns into a big problem.

48 volts are suitable primarily for smaller vehicles in the power range of a classic 150cc two-wheeler. However, once significantly more power is required, current levels rise sharply. This means cables 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 current required for 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 forward 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, an electric machine, and automated shifting technology. In slow city traffic, such a bike could roll purely electrically, and thus quietly. Outside the city, the combustion engine would take over, delivering the range, power, soundscape, and mechanical feedback that many riders don't want to miss.

Schaeffler considers cost to be decisive here. The hybrid must not cause a massive price premium over a normal bike, but must 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 drawing power, range, and sound from the combustion engine on country roads.

In the 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 bike division come from the world of biking themselves and therefore deliberately view new systems from the rider's perspective.

This may initially sound like a typical manufacturer message, but it gains weight in the context of automated transmissions and hybrid drives. A bike is allowed to be efficient and still feel alive when you open the throttle. It's allowed to be easy to operate without feeling sterile. And it's allowed to become cleaner without smothering every mechanical sign of life under multiple layers of software.

For Bellon, the future doesn't lie in a single drive concept. In his assessment, small and urban bikes can be electrified comparatively easily. In the segment of high-performance bikes, however, weight, range, and cost remain major hurdles. There, the combustion engine will continue to play an important role for a long time, while hybrid solutions could open up an additional option between both 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 consider mechanical components, engine management, electronics, transmission control, and electrified drives more strongly as a joint system. The future is not meant to arise from ever more individual components, but from solutions in which multiple functions work more closely together.

This is precisely where, for Bellon, the difference lies compared to a pure parts supplier. Schaeffler doesn't want to wait for a concrete order first, but rather to consider together with manufacturers which technology future bikes 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 bike will not be determined by a single drive type. Combustion engines will stay with us for a long time to come, electric drives will gain importance especially in urban areas, and hybrid solutions could connect both worlds.

Schaeffler's approach of viewing engine, transmission, and electronics more strongly as an overall system appears particularly interesting here. However, which concepts ultimately combine riding pleasure, everyday practicality, and a reasonable price won't be decided in the lab, but on the road.