TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present subject matter relates generally to a two-wheeled saddle ride-type vehicle, and more particularly to a guard member for an exhaust passage for the saddle ride-type vehicles.

5 BACKGROUND

[0002] Generally, in a two-wheeled vehicle a body frame extends rearward from a head tube. The body frame acts as a skeleton for the vehicle that supports the vehicle loads. A front portion of the body frame connects a front wheel through one or more front suspension(s). Further, the body frame extends towards

10 a rear portion of the vehicle. A rear wheel is connected to a frame assembly through one or more rear suspension(s). An engine assembly is mounted to the frame assembly of the vehicle. The engine assembly is functionally connected to the rear wheel, which provides the forward motion to the vehicle. Typically, plurality of panels is mounted to the frame assembly of the vehicle that covers

15 various vehicle parts mounted thereon.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0003] The detailed description of the present subject matter is described with reference to the accompanying figures. Same numbers are used throughout the drawings to reference like features and components.

20 [0004] Fig. 1 (a) illustrates a left side view of an exemplary two-wheeled saddle ride -type vehicle, in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter.

[0005] Fig. 1 (b) illustrates a left side perspective view of the frame assembly, in accordance with the embodiment depicted in Fig. 1 (a).

25 [0006] Fig. 2 (a) depicts another left side view of the two-wheeled vehicle, in accordance with another embodiment of the present subject matter.

[0007] Fig. 2 (b) depicts an exploded view of the guard member employed to the frame assembly of vehicle, in accordance with the embodiment depicted in Fig. 2 (a). [0008] Fig. 2 (c) depicts a left side perspective view of the guard member, in accordance with the embodiment depicted in Fig. 2 (a).

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0009] Typically, in a two-wheeled saddle ride -type vehicle, the engine assembly is mounted to the body frame. The engine assembly is provided with an air-fuel supply system. Combustion of the air-fuel mixture takes place in a cylinder portion of the engine assembly. The combustion process either in two-stroke or four-stroke engine enables reciprocating motion of a piston thereby generating desired power/torque. An exhaust pipe is connected to the engine for scavenging and routing exhaust gas. The exhaust gas is hot due to the combustion process. Therefore, the exhaust pipe and a muffler connected to a downstream of the exhaust port of the engine assembly are heated.

[00010] Typically, the exhaust pipe is routed from below user foot resting portion. Therefore, the exhaust pipe is one of the lower most portion/points of the vehicle. Generally, the exhaust pipe carries some un-burnt gases that may enter the atmosphere due to improper combustion. Therefore, a catalytic converter is provided in the exhaust pipe, which is disposed in the exhaust gas path. The catalytic converter oxidizes the un-burnt gases thereby reducing the un-burnt gases from entering the atmosphere. Provision of the catalytic converter increases cross-sectional area of the exhaust pipe thereat. This further reduces ground clearance of the vehicle at the exhaust pipe. As well as, the catalytic converter is to be positioned near the upstream of the exhaust pipe, as the catalytic converter requires certain operating temperature for optimal performance. At the same time the catalytic converter is to be disposed not in proximity to the exhaust port in order to reduce the effect of any back pressure on the engine assembly. Therefore, the catalytic converter is disposed at a position that may be one of the lowest points of the vehicle, making it vulnerable due to bumps or the like.

[00011] Moreover, in certain two-wheeled vehicles used for commuting and cruising applications, the engine assembly is positioned at lower portion in order to attain high stability as the center of gravity of the vehicle is maintained at lower height from the ground. However, this makes the exhaust pipe and the catalytic converter vulnerable to being hit by bumps or stones. In addition, in a rider seated condition, the additional weight on the vehicle further reduces the ground clearance. To this end, when the exhaust pipe is hit, it is subject to deformation or damage that would affect the emission control, increase the noise, and affect the engine performance. Additionally, any damage to the structure or frame of the vehicle can lead to time consuming & costly repair cum maintenance of the vehicle. Thus, there is a need for addressing the aforementioned and other problems in the prior.

[00012] Hence, it is an object of the present subject matter to provide a guard member that is structural member for protecting the exhaust pipe.

[00013] It is an aspect of the subject matter that the guard member is having a rigid structure, and at the same time is provided with a compact layout.

[00014] It is a feature of the present subject matter that the guard member is lower most point of the vehicle, in a vehicle in motion or a stand in disengaged condition. Therefore, the guard member receives the bumps or hits thereby protecting the exhaust pipe. It is also an object of the present invention to provide a safe guard member which enables substantially smooth impact over obstacles like humps by enabling an angular entry path for the guard member to foul with the road obstacle & avoid sudden jerk to the vehicle rider & thereby enhancing his safety. It is also an object of the present invention to provide a guard member which enables substantially smooth entry & exit over an obstacles by enabling gradual optimum range of angle of the entry & exit portion of the guard member so as to avoid abnormal stoppage / stuck-up of the vehicle on the obstacle & provide appropriate audible cum physical shock impact to the rider to gauge the amount of impact thereby providing valuable information to slow down the vehicle or halt safely.

[00015] In a preferred embodiment, when viewed from side, a forward-rearward length of the guard member overlaps with at least a portion of the exhaust pipe that is vulnerable to hits, which is substantially at a mid-portion of the wheelbase. [00016] In another aspect of the present subject matter that the guard member is mounted to the frame assembly of the vehicle, wherein the frame assembly is a structural member and a rigid structure of the vehicle. It is an advantage of the present subject matter that the guard member is detachably-attached thereby providing ease of replacement.

[00017] The guard member is disposed substantially along a longitudinal axis of the vehicle. In other words, the guard member is disposed below the engine assembly and preferably laterally adjacent to the exhaust pipe. Therefore, it is another aspect of the present subject matter that the guard member does not interference with the exhaust pipe routing, engine layout, or frame layout of the vehicle. Further advantage being, the guard member is retrofittable thereby reducing the maintenance cost & time for the vehicle owner.

[00018] In an embodiment, the exhaust pipe is surrounded by at least a portion of the guard member, wherein the exhaust pipe is routed substantially along the longitudinal axis of the vehicle.

[00019] It is an aspect of the present subject matter that the guard member includes at least two arm members extending in longitudinal direction and spaced apart in lateral direction. The arm members are connected to each other through bridge members disposed therebetween. This forms a rigid yet compact guard member structure that reduced the probability of deformation of the guard member.

[00020] It is a feature that a front portion of the guard member is provided with a first inclined portion, which is at a first angle that is at an acute angle with respect to the imaginary horizontal line. This enables in providing optimum clearance for the vehicle to overcome any bumps and also enables brushing of bumps against guard member thereby reducing impact.

[00021] It is another feature that the guard member is provided with a second inclined portion, which is at a second angle that is acute with respect to an imaginary horizontal line. This provides compact mounting of the guard member to the body frame. [00022] In a preferred embodiment, the arm members are U-shaped, when viewed from side. However, the arm member is capable of having any geometric or irregular shape depending on the exhaust pipe routing. The ends of arm members are connected to the mounting brackets from mounting to the frame assembly.

[00023] It is an aspect of the present subject matter that the guard member is mounted to engine mounting bracket(s) of the frame assembly thereby eliminating the need for providing additional mounting points.

[00024] The aforesaid and other advantages of the present subject matter would be described in greater detail in conjunction with the figures in the following description.

[00025] Fig. 1 (a) illustrates a left side view of an exemplary two-wheeled saddle ride -type vehicle 100, in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter. Arrows provided in the top right corner of each figure depicts direction with respect to the vehicle, wherein an arrow F denotes front direction, an arrow R indicates rear direction, an arrow Up denotes upward direction, and an arrow Dw denotes downward direction. The vehicle 100 includes a frame assembly 105 that extends from a head tube 105 A, which is disposed in the front portion of the vehicle 100, towards a rear portion of the vehicle 100. The frame assembly 105 extends in longitudinal direction F-R of the vehicle 100. The frame assembly 105 includes a mainframe comprising a main tube 105B (shown in Fig. 1 (b)) extending rearward from a rear portion of the head tube 105 A and a down tube 105C (shown in Fig. 1 (b)) that extends rearwardly downward from the head tube 105 A. The frame assembly 105 may further comprise a sub-frame formed by a pair of rear tubes (not shown) that extend obliquely rearward from the main frame. An engine assembly 110 is mounted to the frame assembly 105.

[00026] The engine assembly 110 acts as the power unit of the vehicle 100, wherein the power unit may also include a traction/electrical motor (not shown). A front portion of a swing arm 115 is swingably connected to the frame assembly 105 and a rear portion of the swing arm 115 rotatably supports a rear wheel 120. The rear wheel 120 is functionally coupled to the engine assembly 110 through a transmission system (not shown). The transmission system includes a chain drive, a variable gear ratio, or an automatic transmission. A rear fender 125 disposed upwardly of the rear wheel 120 covers at least a portion of the rear wheel 120. Further, the swing arm 115 is coupled to the frame assembly 105 through one or more rear suspension(s) (not shown). In the present embodiment, a mono-shock rear suspension connects the swing arm 115 to the frame assembly 105. Similarly, a pair of front forks 130 supports a front wheel 135 and is steerably supported by the head tube 105A. A handlebar assembly 140 is connected to an upper portion of the pair of front forks 130. Further, a front fender 145 covers at least a portion of the front wheel 135 and the front fender 145 is mounted to the front forks 130.

[00027] A fuel tank assembly 150 is mounted to the main tube 105B of the frame assembly 105 and disposed rearwardly of the handlebar assembly 140. A seat assembly including a rider seat 155 and a pillion seat 160 is disposed rearwardly of the fuel tank assembly 150 and is supported by the pair of rear tubes. A pair of rider foot pegs 165 mounted to the frame assembly 105 of the vehicle enable in supporting rider foot.

[00028] Further, the engine assembly 110 includes an air- fuel supply system (not shown) that supplies air and fuel to the engine assembly 110. An exhaust pipe 170 extends from the engine assembly 110 towards a muffler 185 (shown in Fig. 1 (b)) that is disposed adjacently of the rear wheel 120.

[00029] The vehicle 100 is employed with a guard member 200 disposed adjacently of at least a portion of the exhaust pipe 170 and the guard member is mounted to the frame assembly 105. Further, at least a portion of the guard member 200 extends adjacently downward and beyond a lower most portion of the exhaust pipe 170 thereby protecting the exhaust pipe 170 from being hit.

[00030] Furthermore, the vehicle 100 includes various electrical and electronic systems including a starter motor (not shown), a headlamp 175, a vehicle control unit, and a tail lamp 180. In addition, the vehicle includes safety systems including a synchronous braking system (not shown), and an anti-lock braking system. [00031] Fig. 1 (b) illustrates a left side perspective view of the frame assembly 105, in accordance with the embodiment depicted in Fig. 1 (a). The engine assembly 110 is forwardly inclined and mounting points are provided on a crankcase of the engine assembly 110. The down tube 105C, in the present embodiment, includes two tubular frames that support the engine assembly 110 in the front portion through a first mounting bracket 11 OA. Further, the engine assembly 110 is supported by the main tube 105B at a rear bottom portion. The exhaust pipe 170 is having an upstream end connected to an exhaust port 110E of the engine assembly 110. The exhaust pipe 170 extends downwardly sideward from the exhaust port 110E and then extends rearward towards the muffler 185. The exhaust pipe 170 is disposed below the rider foot pegs 165. In a preferred embodiment, at least a portion 170P of the exhaust pipe 170 extends substantially horizontally from an L-shaped bend 170L of the exhaust pipe 170. Further, the exhaust pipe 170 includes a catalytic housing 170C (as shown in Fig. 1 (a)) enclosing a catalytic converter. The catalytic housing 170C is disposed along at least a portion of the exhaust pipe 170. This acts as a pre-catalytic converter. In a preferred embodiment, another catalytic converter, which is a second catalytic converter, is provided in the muffler 185.

[00032] Further, the guard member 200 is disposed substantially below of the engine assembly 110 and is positioned adjacently to the exhaust pipe 170. The forward-rearward length of the guard member 200 is capable of overlapping with the L:-bend and at least a portion of the horizontal portion of the exhaust pipe 170, when viewed from side. That is, the guard member is disposed substantially at the mid-portion of the wheelbase of the vehicle 100.

[00033] Fig. 2 (a) depicts another left side view of the two-wheeled vehicle, in accordance with another embodiment of the present subject matter. The forward-rearward length FRL (shown in Fig. 2 (b)) of the guard member 200 is substantially equal to a length of the exhaust pipe 170 disposed substantially at the mid-portion of wheelbase of the vehicle 100. Further, in a side view, the guard member 200 is in proximity to an imaginary horizontal line X-XD. The imaginary horizontal line X-XD is passing tangentially through a lower most circumferential point of the front wheel 135 and the rear wheel 120, wherein the depicted imaginary line X-XD is analogous to a road surface. In other words, a ground clearance GC of the vehicle with the guard member 200 mounted is lesser than the ground clearance of the vehicle 100 with respect to the exhaust pipe 170, which is without the guard member 200. The present subject matter enables the guard member 200 to be exposed to any bumps or the like that would otherwise potentially damage the exhaust pipe 170. Thus, the exhaust pipe 170 is protected from damage. Further, in the vehicle 100, with the catalytic housing 170C disposed in the mid-portion of the wheelbase of the vehicle 100, the cross-section of the catalytic housing 170C is greater than the cross-section of the exhaust pipe 170 thereby making the catalytic housing 170C being further down making it vulnerable to being hit by the bumps or the like. Thus, in a side view the guard member 200 is in proximity to an imaginary horizontal line X-XD passing through the circumference of the front wheel 135 and the rear wheel 120 thereby eliminating the risk of exhaust pipe or the catalytic housing 170C coming in contact with the bumps or the like. In other words, the ground clearance GC with respect to the lower most point of the vehicle 100 is taken from the guard member 200. In a main stand 190 disengaged condition, the lower most point of the vehicle is a bottom portion of the guard member 200.

[00034] The guard member 200 is disposed below the engine assembly 110 and is mounted to the frame assembly 105. The exhaust pipe 170 is extending downwardly sideward and then extending rearward towards the muffler thereby forming an L-bend 170L. The exhaust pipe 170 has a lower most portion through which a horizontal plane P is passing. In Fig. 2 (a), the horizontal plane P is depicted as line, as it is viewed from the side. At least a portion of the guard member 200 extends downward crossing the horizontal plane P. Therefore, the guard member 200 is disposed beyond the lower most portion of the exhaust pipe 170. In the present embodiment, the exhaust pipe 170 includes the catalytic housing 170C and lower periphery is the lower most portion of the exhaust pipe 170. The guard member 200 extends downward crossing the horizontal plane P whereby the guard member 200 acts as the lower most portion of the vehicle 100 from which the ground clearance GC is defined.

[00035] Fig. 2 (b) depicts an exploded view of the guard member 200 employed to the frame assembly 105 of vehicle 101, in accordance with the embodiment depicted in Fig. 2 (a). The frame assembly 105 includes a first bracket 105CA affixed to the down tube(s) 105C. In the present embodiment, the first bracket 105CA is made of a rigid material including any known metal. The first bracket 105CA supports the front portion of the engine assembly 110. Also, a front portion of the guard member 200 is mounted the first bracket 105CA and is secured through fasteners 301. Similarly, a second bracket 105BA is affixed to the main tube 105B that supports the engine assembly 110 at the rear portion. In the present embodiment, fastener 301 is used to secure the rear portion of the guard member 200 to the second bracket 105BA. Further, the rear portion of the guard member 200 is mounted to the second bracket 105BA that is made of rigid material including any known metal. The guard member 200 is detachably-attached to the frame assembly 105. Further, the guard member 200 is easily replaceable in case of wear and tear.

[00036] Furthermore, the frame assembly 105 rigidly supports the engine assembly 110 and the guard member 200. Further, any force acting on the guard member 200 due to bump hit is transferred to the frame assembly 105. The frame assembly 105, which is rigid structural member of the vehicle, is capable of receiving forces due to impact. The guard member 200 is provided with a structure that is rigid at the same time has optimal weight.

[00037] Further, the frame assembly 105 includes a sub-frame assembly 105DA, 105DB that extends inclinedly rearward from the main tube 105B. The sub-frame assembly 105DA, 105DB supports the seat assembly and ancillary parts of the vehicle 100.

[00038] Fig. 2 (c) depicts a left side perspective view of the guard member 200, in accordance with the embodiment depicted in Fig. 2 (a). The guard member 200 is made of at least two arms members 205 A, 205B. In the present embodiment, the guard member 200 includes a first arm member 205A and a second arm member 205B. The arm members 205 A, 205B are substantially U-shaped extending in the longitudinal direction F-R. The first arm 205A and the second arm 205B are spaced apart in lateral direction R-L. The arm members 205A, 205B are connected using a bridge member 210 disposed therebetween. Front ends of the first arm member 205A and the second arm member 205B are connected to a front bracket 215A and rear ends of the first arm member 205 A and the second arm member 205B are connected to a rear bracket 215B. The front bracket 215A and the rear bracket 215B are substantially U-shaped and are extending in a lateral direction RH-LH. The guard member 200 is made of a rigid material including any known metal. In a preferred embodiment, the guard member 200 is integrally formed by welding. The aforementioned structure of the guard member 200 provides structural rigidity to withstand force acting thereon during impact due to bumps or the like. In addition, deformation or damage of the guard member 200 is minimal. This enables protection of the exhaust pipe 170 and the catalytic housing 170C that are disposed adjacently of the guard member 200.

[00039] Further, a front portion of the guard member 200 is provided with a first inclined portion A, which is at a first angle a that is an acute angle with respect to the imaginary horizontal line X-XD . At least a portion of the first arm member 205A and at least a portion of the second arm member 205B are provided with the inclination that is at the first angle a. The first angle a is an acute angle in the range of 15-45 degrees. In the present implementation, the first angel is at 20degress. This enables in providing optimum clearance for the vehicle 100 to overcome bumps of varied sizes & shapes. Therefore, the first inclined portion A, which is a part of an L-bend of the guard member 200 (as shown in Fig. 2 (a)), protects the exhaust pipe 170 from downward direction Dw and forward direction F. Also, the first inclined portion A enables any obstacle like hump to brush against the guard member instead of hitting a fore most end of the guard member 200.

[00040] Further, the first inclined portion A includes an angular bend AB extending in a front direction beyond a lower bent portion 170L of said exhaust pipe 170 (seen in Fig. 2 (a)). This protects the exhaust pipe 170 from any impacts form the front direction thereof.

[00041] Further, in the present embodiment, a rear portion of the guard member 200 is provided with a second inclined portion B, which at a second angle β that is acute with respect to the imaginary horizontal line X-XD. This enables compact mounting of the guard member 200 to the frame assembly 105. The second angle β is an acute angle in the range of 45-90 degrees. In the present implementation, the second angle is at 60 degrees. In a preferred embodiment, an axis of the second inclined portion B of the arm member 205A, 205B is substantially in line with the centre of a mounting hole provided on the second bracket 215B. This enables transfer of force from guard member 200 to the fasteners holding the guard member 200 to the frame assembly 105.

[00042] In another embodiment, the guard member is made as a solid structure with the bridge member extending along a long axis of the guard member and connecting first arm and the second arm therebetween.

[0001] It is to be understood that the aspects of the embodiments are not necessarily limited to the features described herein. Many modifications and variations of the present subject matter are possible in the light of above disclosure. Therefore, within the scope of claims of the present subject matter, the present disclosure may be practiced other than as specifically described.