“Heraclitus, I believe, says that all things pass and nothing stays, and comparing existing things to the flow of a river, he says you could not step twice into the same river.” So said Plato, and I think he had it pinned. I kind of wonder how the ancient Greeks came up with this thought, seeing that relatively little changed in their lives apart from occasional Persian invasions. Today, with the juggernaut of technological and social evolution almost pounding our heads into the sand, that same thought is irresistible.

If you need a concrete example, consider that my mother saw the first Zeppelin flying over Berlin. I watched a man step onto the moon, and now there is an inkling of technology that may make it possible to travel faster than light. All in a century.

Whether we like it or not, transportation will be significantly different from what we see today. Whether we like it or not, propulsion will continue to transition towards electric cars – and motorcycles. While greater stress on things like shared mobility and autonomous driving will not particularly affect motorcycles, there will be changes for us, too. If nothing else, we will eventually find it difficult to fill our bikes’ tanks with petrol.

While the change to autonomous or at least more automatic driving will make the whole system a whole lot safer and efficient, drivers will lose much of the sheer pleasure of driving, and the next generation of connected cars will have less emotional connection with the driver. This problem will be even more pronounced in the case of motorcycling. The design of urban spaces in the cities of the future will have very little to offer in the way of enjoyment when riding a motorcycle, and much of the freedom that offers now will simply evaporate.

Enter cross-terrain off-roading and adventure riding.

As the roads become ever more controlled and sterile forest, desert and bush will offer an escape. But that does not mean that things won’t change there, as well. For one thing, it is likely that you will have little option but to ride electric bikes there, too. With admirable foresight, India-based designer Neeraj Jawale from the motorcycle industry hub of Pune has thought about the potential this offers, rather than the restrictions it might bring. He believes that electric adventure biking will be one of the very few ways to experience the thrill and freedom of riding a motorcycle in the future, and he has put his mind to imagining the way that a BMW adventure motorcycle concept might function. He may just have given us a look into the future of two-wheelers. Jawale’s BMW D-05T concept motorcycle leverages advancements in technology while hanging onto the so-important emotional connection between rider and machine.

That isn’t all. He has explored the advantages that such a bike might offer over a current adventure bike. Going well beyond downloadable route maps, his electric BMW features technology that can create a detailed plan for the next adventure trip based on the inputs of the riders who’ve already explored the terrain. This isn’t necessarily as attractive as Jawale seems to think it is. We aren’t likely to constantly want to follow the path others have beaten for us, are we. Still, we do create guides like the TAT.

但there is another advantage to Jawale’s idea of detailed plans. Probably the main limitation of electric power is the limited range that comes with it. In a novel, if rather weird and highly unusual way to tackle this, he suggests a series of service hubs located in remote locations where you can swap out the drained battery for a fully charged one. The idea is that these hubs will also offer travel essentials so that the rider can choose to travel light without having to carry supplies.

The whole thing seems to carry overtones of Disneyland in the wilderness to me, but this is the future we’re looking at. Probably the idea of PIRBs and other locator beacons would have struck riders of a few decades ago as just as nannying. Jawale has not eliminated the possibility of carrying supplies on his bike entirely. In fact, he has a neat option for luggage: magnetic holders to easily attach accessories including storage containers.

If you do go and explore uncharted, unpredictable and potentially dangerous terrain, Jawale has you covered as well. His D-05T is equipped with a drone that will function as a flying navigation assistant and will boost your phone signal. While the drone is helping you navigate in real-time by showing you details of the terrain ahead from the sky, it can also take videos and still pictures of you. Not only that: at night the drone turns into a watchdog which can alert you about approaching predators in the woods. It could no doubt scare bears if they decide to partake of your limited supplies.

Presumably this would be more useful in India where they still have a few wild tigers in the jungle. But wherever and whatever you ride, and no matter how weird this idea might seem, the future is bringing change. And remember, as Benjamin Franklin said, “When you are finished changing, you are finished”.